Does anyone have a date of arrival in North Africa for the H.Q of the 1st Armoured Division? Kind Regards, David.
I realise it is Wikipedia but the page there states 13 November, 1941, it cites Joslen, Lieutenant-Colonel H.F (1960) [1960]. Orders Of Battle Second World War 1939–1945. Naval & Military Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84342-474-1.as the source.
It's difficult to imagine that DavidW was unable to find that himself, so l guess he must doubt its veracity.
Hence my addition of the source, somewhere to look which may have more veracity. I do not have specific records for 1st Armd. Div. H.Q., so I resorted to Wikipedia, however, I can refer to the W.D. of the Queen's Bays, which states they docked at Port Taufiq on November 25 at 1430, with disembarkation starting at 1600. If the 1st Armd. Div. H.Q. were aboard ships of the same Convoy WS 11, then they would have arrived around the same date. Details of WS 11: WS Convoys Mark
Using exactly the same process of deduction as you, I come up with the same answer. For a change, wiki looks sound. Which is why I wrote what I did. If you and I can ping answers after a couple of simple google searches or otherwise, so can DavidW. Thus, I assume he's done the very same and decided he doesn't agree/like the information he reads and has posted on WW2Talk looking for different info.
Hi 1 Arm Div (less 22 Arm Bde) arrived at Aden, on 20th November all on board Convoy WS-12. Due to persistent German air raids in the area, access north to the port at Suez (Port Tewfik) was limited to just two transport ships per day. 22 Arm Bde went on an earlier convoy as it was needed at the front ASAP. I managed to find some info as to which units travelled on which ships but this is not extensive. Hope this helps. Gus
Thanks to all who replied . I keep forgetting that you have to click on watch this thread to get notifications, even if you created it. Odd forum glitch. Gus, please may I ask where you got all that detail as to the contents of the convoy? In the past all I have been able to find is the chart linked by BFBSM. Kind Regards, David.
Seconded! How extensive is that spreadsheet, Gus? It looks a bit tasty from the excerpt you've posted.
Seconded! How extensive is that spreadsheet, Gus? It looks a bit tasty from the excerpt you've posted.[/QUOTE] Hi Most of it was extracted from the relevant pages of The Winston Specials: Troopships Via the Cape 1940-1943 by Archie Munro. Pages 213 to 221. Aslo from the links below Convoy WS 12 - warsailors.com WS (Winston Specials) Convoys in WW2 - 1941 Sailings The rest was from google books and amazon book searches of keywords, ie WS-12, 1 Arm Div, ships name, etc. My father was on board the SS Almanzora with 1 Arm Div RAOC Workshops. The spreadsheet has no more info than of convoy WS12 I am afraid. Gus
It is not too difficult to tie down almost all the unit and formation arrivals in North Africa. One just needs an internet connection and the time and patience to collate and cross-reference data from 3 or 4 sites. There are some oddities that crop up, but they are the exception. It has never taken me more than 5-10mins to pin down the information of a particular unit to within a handful of days. And a couple of days is neither here nor there in context. However, if one is looking for a single site were somebody else has already done all the work for you, there'll be disappointment, l doubt it exists.
1st Armd Div HQ was in the ME by 10 November, as stated in a letter to Brigadier Bond in London from GHQ ME AFV dated that day. They had been there long enough to have four ACVs stripped off them for use by other formations in CRUSADER. So suggest to look at which convoys arrived in the previous two weeks or so. Contrary to what was said above, it is not straightforward to figure out arrival dates. All the best Andreas
