R.E. 157th Rly Con Coy

Discussion in 'Royal Engineers' started by Ady B-), Mar 23, 2011.

  1. Ady B-)

    Ady B-) Member

    Please can anyone tell me what is the correct way to set out the structure of a unit such as the 157th RCC i.e. TOP MAN IN CHARGE down to SAPPER or even lower.
    Many thanks
    Ady B-)
     
  2. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    Ady B-) likes this.
  3. Noel Burgess

    Noel Burgess Senior Member

    Steve
    The Trux section of this website gives most of the details you require - this is the page you need, Railway construction is about half way down.
    Mike, who produced this information is a member of this site and a frequent poster.
    Note that the information represents the official establishment for the unit and seems not to have changed since 1943, actual establishment may be diferent to suit a particular task,
    Noel
     
    Ady B-) likes this.
  4. Ady B-)

    Ady B-) Member

    Wow!
    Once again I am amazed by the amount of information and knowledge that is contained in these pages and by you guys who respond to my requests.
    Many, many thanks once again to all of you
    Ady -)
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Ady,

    I've added the details you sent me to your thread as the info may help others on or off the forum and it will remind me to look the ships up. Other forum members may have information too that they can add.

    Dates of evacuation of my father's Unit (separated into three sections due space and availabilty I expect):

    Sect. 1 embarked and sailed on s.s. "St.Briac" 16th June 1940

    Sect. 2 embarked on s.s. "Prince Baudouin" 17th June 1940

    Sect. 3 emabrked in "Hull Trader" 17th June 1940



    Cheers
    Andy
     
  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Ady it could have been due to space etc but I think I would also consider the possibility that they were split to perform different tasks too and or departed from different locations.

    St Briac was a 2,312 tonne passenger ship built in 1924 owned by Southern Railway.

    BEF Ships at, before and after Dunkirk have her sailing from St. Malo on 16th June arriving Southampton on the 17th June and then Cherbourg to Southampton on the 18th June.

    Forum Member Roy Martin's excellent book Ebb and Flow confirms the above.
     
  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Prince Baudouin was a Belgian ship weighing in at 3,219 tonnes built in 1934. She sailed from St. Malo on the 17th June arriving Southampton on the 18th June.
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    The Coaster Hull Trader was built in 1917 and weighed 717 tonnes and was a free trade craft. Arriving at Newhaven on the 14th June she was ordered to Granville on June 15th incase an evacuation became necessary from there.

    She sailed from St. Malo on the 17th June and arrived in Weymouth on the 18th June.
     
  9. Ady B-)

    Ady B-) Member

    Thanks for the above Andy
    I was wondering if anyone knew if the above ships (s.s. "St.Briac", s.s. "Prince Baudouin", "Hull Trader") used any sort of boarding system to limit, regulate or identify the men that were evacuated on them.
    Many thanks
    Ady B-)
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Ady boarding lists would be the Holly Grail of Op Dynamo. As far as I'm aware there were and or none exist of who went home on what. Only the WO 361 Missing Files have a smattering of who was onboard a boat and they are only witness accounts of survivors who saw someone they knew die or confirmed they were last seen on the boat.

    A
     
  11. Ady B-)

    Ady B-) Member

    I recently found the following piccy by using a google search.
    It was marked as "Troops enjoy bottles of beer on the deck of a ship at St Malo as they wait to be evacuated to Britain, 15-16 June 1940."
    My question (although virtualy impossible I know) is, can anyone tell what unit the guy in the circle is with or indeed anything about him from his uniform?

    Many thanks
    Ady B-)
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Ady B-)

    Ady B-) Member

    ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

    70 years ago, to this date, Sapper William Bill John George Barlow
    "Disembarked UK ex BEF"
    having been evacuated from St Malo, France.

    He must've been a very lucky man as (despite his shrapnell wounds and returning to North West Europe '44, '45 & '46) his Unit could well have gone South to the fate of the Lancastria, but didn't.
    They travelled North from Rennes by road as they couldn't 'acquire' a locomotive.
    A troop train similar to theirs in the triage at Rennes, was blown to pieces by two ammunition trains alongside being bombed by the German Air Force.
    On route to the UK they steered into a minefield, so had to back pedal five miles, sail east five miles.
    Just before they arrived in the UK a magnetic mine popped up under the bows but didn't explode.

    Nice one Dad
     

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