REME OOB and Locations 2nd Army - 30 Sep 44

Discussion in 'REME/RAOC' started by Tom OBrien, Jul 11, 2013.

  1. Tom OBrien

    Tom OBrien Senior Member

    I thought the following Location Statement of 2nd Army REME units for 30 September might be of interest (Source: WO171/248 - DDME 2nd Army War DIary)

    REME Location Statement Second Army as at 0001 hrs 30 Sep 44 SA/110/ME of 30 Sep 44
    Not u/c
    DME 21 Army Gp
    DDME 2 Cdn Army
    DDME 2 Cdn Corps
    DDME 1 Corps
    DDME L of C
    CEME HQ Adv Base Wksp
    21 Adv Base Wksp
    22 Adv Base Wksp
    23 Adv Base Wksp
    1 Cdn Adv Base Wksp
    R.V.P. 16 [T812749]
    R.V.P. 17 [T780823]
    R.V.P. 14 [U0565]
    L of C B.P. [K4598]
    20 Adv Base Wksp

    Army Tps
    DDME 2 Army
    REME 2 Army
    CREME 2 Army Tps
    2 Army Tps Wksp (D) [to LOUVAIN 4 Oct]
    3 Army Tps Wksp (E) [Move 7 Oct]
    4 Eng Eqpt Wksp (A) [to BOURG LEOPOLD 30th]
    5 Eng Eqpt Wksp
    HQ 3 L of C Rec Coy
    (A Sec)
    (B Sec)
    No.9 A.B.P. ( B) [To L of C approx 6 Oct]

    34 Tk Tps Wksp (C) [To u/c 79 Armd Div 3 Oct]
    176 Inf Bde Wksp

    59 Lt Rec Sec
    4 Hy Rec Sec

    BEME 106 AA Bde

    8 Corps
    DDME 8 Corps
    CREME 8 Corps Tps
    8 Corps Tps Wksp

    CREME 11 Armd Div
    29 Armd Bde Wksp
    159 Inf Bde Wksp

    CREME 3 Br Div
    8 Inf Bde Wksp
    9 Inf Bde Wksp
    185 Inf Bde Wksp
    CREME 50 Div
    69 Inf Bde Wksp
    151 Inf Bde Wksp
    231 Inf Bde Wksp

    BEME 4 Armd Bde
    4 Armd Bde Wksp

    BEME 6 Gds Tk Bde
    6 Gds Tk Bde Wksp

    6 Gds Tk Tps Wksp
    15 Inf Tps Wksp

    3 Recovery Coy
    6 Gds Hy Rec Sec
    15 Lt Rec Sec
    11 Lt Rec Sec
    7 Hy Rec Sec

    12 Corps
    DDME 12 Corps
    CREME 12 Corps Tps
    12 Corps Tps Wksp

    CREME 7 Armd Div
    22 Armd Bde Wksp
    131 Inf Bde Wksp

    CREME 53 (W) Div
    71 Inf Bde Wksp
    158 Inf Bde Wksp
    160 Inf Bde Wksp

    CREME 15 Div
    44 Inf Bde Wksp
    46 Inf Bde Wksp
    227 Inf Bde Wksp

    7 Armd Tps Wksp
    53 Inf Tps Wksp
    31 Tk Tps Wksp
    3 Inf Tps Wksp

    2 Recovery Coy
    3 Lt Rec Sec
    53 Lt Rec Sec
    34 Hy Rec Sec

    12H C.B.P.


    30 Corps
    DDME 30 Corps
    CREME 30 Corps Tps
    30 Corps Tps Wksp

    CREME Gds Armd Div
    5 Gds Armd Bde Wksp
    32 Inf Bde Wksp

    CREME 43 Div
    129 Inf Bde Wksp
    130 Inf Bde Wksp
    214 Inf Bde Wksp

    REME 100 AA Bde
    REME 8 Armd Bde
    8 Armd Bde Wksp

    11 Armd Tps Wksp [Moving 9th from AMIENS & u/c 8 Corps]
    Gds Armd Tps Wksp
    50 Inf Tps Wksp
    43 Inf Tps Wksp
    8 Tk Tps Wksp

    6 Recovery Coy
    Gds Hy Rec Sec
    50 Lt Rec Sec
    43 Lt Rec Sec
    8 Hy Rec Sec
    100 Radar Bty

    Regards

    Tom
     
    RosyRedd likes this.
  2. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    Thanks Tom very much ! Hopefully that will help someone with their research :)
     
  3. janeh

    janeh Member

    Hi Tom

    I'm new to ww2talk. Researching my father Arthur Hall's wartime service. He was 2 i/c 53 Inf Tps Wksp in '44 and according to his Service Record & his own notes embarked for NWE with the 2nd Army 6/9/44. I see you have his unit listed in the Location Statement for 30/9/44 and would be grateful if you could interpret for me. Does this Statement indicate the actual place where the units were on that date - or am I being a bit dim?

    I have lots of photo's, but many others, together with Dad's diary & other mementoes were lost some time in '46 (by which time he was OC 176 Inf Bde Wksp) when the Mess which his chaps had built burnt down! I'm hoping to get a clearer understanding of the route he took through France and the Low Countries into Germany until my mother & older sister joined him in Bielefeld, where I was born in '47.

    Best wishes

    Jane
     
  4. Tom OBrien

    Tom OBrien Senior Member

    Jane,

    Hi, I'm glad you found the listing useful, it should help a lot with narrowing down the area for your next research steps.

    When I looked at this file, I only copied one of the Location Statements - the one for 30 Sep but it does contain a map reference for every REME unit in 2nd Army. So, going back to my original photo it says that for 30 Sep, 53 Inf Tps Wksp was located at J711740 and was under command of 12 Corps at the time.

    I've also got a copy of the 2nd Army REME Sitrep for 25 Sep which says that 53 Inf Tps Wksp was at MALINES (J7174) (which ties up with the more detailed MR above) and was operating a CBP (Corps Backloading Point - I think) for 12 Corps.

    You will find that there is probably a specific war diary for the workshop (I had a quick look on the National Archives website and for 1944 it is reference number WO171/2869 - 53 Inf Tps Wksp Jan - Dec 1944). The workshop is also likely to be referred to in the war diary of 12 Corps REME (WO171/326 and 327 for 1944). There are several people on this site who regularly go to the National Archives and would be able to copy the files for you at a reasonable cost if you cannot travel to Kew yourself.

    One word of caution is that all the corps and army level workshops (3rd line I think is the technical term) were re-numbered around this time, and I don't know whether they stayed attached to the same Corps for the whole campaign.

    You will find that if you post up any photos or documents you have on this site, there are experts here for any question you might have to help you work out what they mean.

    I hope that helps, if I can find any more in my notes I will post here.

    Regards

    Tom
     

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