Hello I have tried to interpret my Grandads War records, but all the abbreviations are giving me a headache! I know he was a signalman in the Royal Corps throughout the war, serving in Burma at one point. He rarely talked about the war, but had spoken about being in the 'forgotten army'? I have attached two pages of his war records, any expert guidance would be most welcome. Can anyone tell me what '(C.W.) T.B.R.E.' means for example? Many thanks Liz
Liz, It's Chemical Warfare Training Battalion, Royal Engineers. The OWL that appears later is Operator Wireless and Line, so I'm guessing that the OTB he attends is an Operator Training Battalion, but I await correction on that!
Liz Welcome to the Forum. The unit is 11th (Chemical Warfare) Training Battalion Royal Engineers. Steve W.
Hello Liz, Your Grandad served in the 89th CW Coy, RE, (Chemical Warfare Company) for a while, which later morphed into the 89th Field Regiment, RE. Here is a link to another thread on this subject: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/royal-engineers/42713-89-cw-coy-re.html which will give you some good background information. Best, Steve.
Starting at the other end, it looks like he went to a signals unit at 14 Army HQ. STC(B ) is a, or the, Signals Training Centre (British). Mhow is mentioned in the last entry which tallies nicely with this (although it's a few years earlier).
Here are some will add more later: AGI (Adjutant Generals Instruction a routine order allowing cross unit posting) Sapper until 9/11/42 from that Date his rank is listed as Signalman. 30/11/42 Classified and remustered as Ops (Switchboard - Tele) Class 3 from 11/4/44 O.W.L - Operator Wireless and Line BIII (Class) Signals had OTBs or Officer Training Brigades - which would have needed instructors (Signals type might know more) Will add later.
