Deciphering Statement of service record!

Not sure wether Surry or Survey have blown it up

 

Can,t find any mention of 4th Surreys in WW2, and they would have been infantry, not gunners?

 

4th Survey Regt
Gateshead 1938
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Greece, Crete 1941
Middle East, N Africa, Tunisia 1941-3 - 8 and 9 Army Troops
Alamein 10/42 - 8 Army Troops
Sicily & Italy 1943 - 5 AGRA
D-Day 6/44
NW Europe 1944 - 30 Corps Troops
NW Europe 1945 - 1 Cdn Army, 1, 12 & 30 Corps

 

The writing's a bit clearer here. Does look like Survey now you come to mention it.

 

More detailed account "Fall of Tobruk" with picture of British Troops/ Prisoners leaving Tobruk.

Battle of Gazala - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Hi all, I can't believe how much information everybody has about dad! I can see I'm
going to be very busy this weekend. Cant't thank you enough

 

Quick question. I think5th field training regiment were in Dover, I still can't find anything out about '1st and 2nd reserve field' but would dad, who enlisted in London and trained in Dover, have been posted to 4th Durham survey regiment?
Thanks, Sue

 

I can only find a 9 Field Training Regt so I suspect no diary survives unless they were re-named something else shortly after the diary was started.

Nothing on Field Reserve Regts showing at TNA.

 

Sue,

I'm no artillery expert but according to chronology above 4th Survey Regiment (RA?)were raised in Durham in 1938 so would appear to be pre war Territorial ArmyUnit.

Over the course of the war they would receive reinforcements who could be born anywhere in the country so your Dad's place of birth would not be a bar to posting to the unit.

As another example....My uncle was posted 138 (County of London) Field Regiment RA (another pre war TA unit) and he hailed from the North West of England!

Steve Y

 

Thanks Steve. Confusing eh.
Regards
Sue

 

Hi there, I've been looking into the "4th Survey" entry under "unit" on dad's papers and found an amazing book called Z Location or Survey in War. I'm sure everyone's really familiar with it but, thanks to your lead, it seems to tie up with dad's departure from England and the exact date he went missing in Tobruk. It mentions No.2 battery which was taken prisoner so I'm now on a mission to find out if he was in it. Not sure how that's going to turn out but I'm thinking maybe I could go to National Archives as I'm based in London.

I'm amazed that Jules found out about the convoy from those few squiggles! Is RPXK2 the code for the ship he went on? I was wondering what that meant.

If I'm heading in the right direction to find out about dad it's only thanks to you guys. I really can't thank you enough. I can't believe how enthralling this is!

Hope to hear from you all soon
Sue

 

Hi Sue. I'm glad you are finding things out about your dad's military story ! It's always a pleasure to help. RPXK2 following "draft" was an ID code for your dad - (and the soldiers he was with) - which would have been issued before they set sail.

I loved going to Kew and checking through the unit histories, so if you can get there yourself I would really recommend it. This thread has lots of helpful information if you haven't been before.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/research-material/15595-national-archives-kew-tips.html

Let us know how you get on with your research - and if you have any more questions post them too. If we can help we will.

Jules.

 

Jules - minor correction regarding draft codes - these were issued to allow all who were going abroad to to paint that code on all kit and documentation before you would be allowed on board - no code - no sailing....

Cheers

 

Ahh okay Tom. Thanks for that

 

Quick question. I think5th field training regiment were in Dover, I still can't find anything out about '1st and 2nd reserve field' but would dad, who enlisted in London and trained in Dover, have been posted to 4th Durham survey regiment?
Thanks, Sue


Hi Sue

We've been in touch off list but thought I'd post a couple of notes here ...

Seems he was needed to replace men captured or wounded... his entry in the Nominal Roll for the Old Comrades association shows him as Driver I/C ... puzzled me at first but means Driver Internal Combustion ...

That is what the abbreviation squiggles in the rank entry are meant to be...

Never realised how many drivers the Survey regiment needed until I saw an establishment list of what the full compliment of men and vehicles was supposed to be.

Regards

Robin

 

Uncle Jack

The term -Driver I/c really means that he was qualified to drive vehicles with wheels as opposed to a tracked vehicle such as Tanks etc - which were driven by Drivers.(Mech)

Cheers

 

Uncle Jack

The term -Driver I/c really means that he was qualified to drive vehicles with wheels as opposed to a tracked vehicle such as Tanks etc - which were driven by Drivers.(Mech)

Cheers
Thanks Tom
did wonder what other types there would be .. steam ...
Robin

 

Thanks, Uncle Jack, good info.

 

Uncle Jack

I do appreciate that we had pretty old and decrepit equipment in Italy but we did draw the line at steam powered Tanks as the had mainly wheels and a big roller for Sapper to clear out his mines etc...
Cheers