My late father, Fred Hogger was in Royal Signals, posted to 67th Medium Regt RA, Signals Section - Taken prisoner at Tobruk June 1942 Where would I look for War Diaries etc. I am totally ignorant as to the way the Royal Signals worked. Did they have their own command or would Dad have come under the command of the 67th? Would the men in the Signals Section have been a separate unit to the men in the 67th? Any help would be much appreciated, Thank you Susan
Hi War diaries are at National Archives UK. For WW2 they are not online, you have to go there to view them, or pay someone. Here are some -http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1005460 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1002301 one mentioning signals - http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1006316 None fit in your date though! Maybe a bit of mucking around with search options may pick it up. Here is a quick overview also - http://www.ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/med/page30.html regards Robert
Hi, You may find he completed a liberation questionnaire on repatriation - not all did. They are not available online so you would need to visit the National Archives at Kew. Some forum members offer a look up service. Keep an eye on the Red Cross (ICRC) website. They are currently digitising all their WW2 files - as they did for WW1 files that went online in August - no charge for look up/downloads. Good Luck. Steve Y
Hi Susan There is only one Signal Section war diary for this regiment which is the one Robert found (Bofors). The actual Artillery war diaries will be your best bet to find out what his unit was doing and where but there may be little mention of the signals with in the diaries, that said the signals wouldn't have been far from the Regimental HQ and then some would have been with each battery etc. Think of the role of the Signals with an artillery unit like this: The Artillery need to shell somewhere so the Signals chaps get the messages and pass them on to the HQ. The HQ will task the batteries within a regiment with a fire order via the signals unit attached to the regiment. Closer to the action there would be observers who would communicate back, via the signals how accurate or effective the fire mission was. Observers could sometimes communicate back via the signals there own fire missions. These were commonly done via a field telephone with a cable that had to be laid by the signals. These lines got broke due to artillery fire, air attacks etc so these very brave signallers used to go out, often under fire and either repair the line or lay a new one. Basically they are the unsung heroes of the war, The British Army's Battlefield Communicators, without them no one would know what was going on and no one would be able to talk to each other.....Then again I would say all of that being ex Signals myself
Susan, Fred is now on my list for look-ups for his Liberation Questionnaire. I will see what l can find next week. Regards, Nick
thanks so much for help I have applied to National Archives for the War Diaries and particularly look forward to reading the one relating to the Signals Section of 67th Med Regt. thank you Robert Drew5233 your explanation of the role of the Royal Signals was excellent and really tells me a lot. I have been able to track down which POW camps 20 out of the 38 men in a photo of Dad;s Signals Section were sent to and from that I think he was probably an Observer. 10 of the men went to Camp 65 so were probably captured together at HQ.? I have a photo of Dad standing beside what looks like a radio truck in the desert. he had a Group B Class III Wireless Operator licence and held a War Office Driver's ID card, he spent sometime in Camp PG54 with at least two others from his Signals Section. Boston and Simons. in June '43 dad was transferred to Camp PG115 and it was from there he escaped at time of Armistice and with help of Partisans made it back to Allied lines in Nov ;43 and home Jan 44 . he said there were three of them who escaped together but they split up to get a better chance, out of all 20 men I tracked down to Italian camps only 3 did not have a record of a German POW camp as well and they are Dad and his two pals - P Boston and SA Simons. national archives did a thorough search for me for an Escape and Evasion report for Dad but this was not found. I have located one for SA Simons though and should hear today of an estimate charge for a copy of that, i have been quoted £149 to get copies of the index lists to see if there is a report for P Boston. i am disabled so cant travel to the archives and cant pay £149 just to look at WO 208/5393! is there any other way i can see if there is a report for P Boston. thank you all so much for the great help you have given me to fill in the blanks on Dad;s story. best regards Susan
Susan, Had a good look yesterday but could not find a Liberation Questionnaire for your Father, sorry. Not everyone did fill out the form and the Army guys tended not to provide them so it is not unusual. Regards, Nick
