good evening all, I'm having a spot of difficulty finding out what signals equipment a standard rifle battalion would have had with the BEF in 1940. I see that the signals platoon took over the top floor of a tall building (one that had telephone lines) during the action I'm studying. but then I see the Brigadier kept visiting them in person, why if there was comms kit? any help gratefully received! thanks Iain
I suspect the Brigadier appreciated the view and used it as his tac HQ, especially as it already had links to Bde HQ proper.
I've been having trouble trying to establish the same thing myself. What I would say is that there was the difference between internal communications within the Bn (direct job of the Sigs Pl) and those between Bn and Bde (job of the Bde Sig Sec, which itself came from Div Sigs). The best I've come up with for a Bn Sigs Pl is perhaps one UC10 switchboard with 12 field phones; I've no idea whether No.18 sets were in use with Bns in the BEF. Gary
The Brigade had their own set up about 3 miles away, so potentially ok for signal lamps/ flags, but he definitely lost touch with them when the area started to get shelled and eventually when the battalion was cut off (I must find out where the local telephone exchange was in 1940, as this may explain a few things) Yes, the comms with the companies appears to have been by runner and eventually by either the Intelligence officer or his NCOs in carriers. I just see very little evidence of any actual wireless sets down at Bn level. cheers
Think I have found an answer... just thought i would share! it appears it is a mixture of laid line, flags and lamps to the forward companies and wireless back to Brigade/ 2nd Echelon for resupply.
I believe that infantry batallions had no wireless in 1940 and any radio comms were provided by the divisional signals who had their 15 cwt trucks at div HQ and 8cwt trucks which were attached to brigade HQs plus a few extras which could go down to battalion HQs. I have not been able to find out how many of these extra trucks there were but it seems not enough to send one to each batallion so they were allocated 'as needed'.
Well the 1938 Div Sigs have the Inf Bde Sig Sec with six 8-cwt wireless trucks, five of them each with a No.1 set, so possibly one per Bn and two for Bde HQ? The 1941 Div Sigs gave seven 15-cwt trucks, each with a No.11 set, and another 15-cwt with the No.9 set rear link. Gary
The last few bits I could find on the matter. I'm pretty sure that the first wireless set that infantry units got to call their own was the No.18. From what I can gather that underwent its first field tests in January 1940 with the BEF in France. Radio Man Most of the blurb on websites giving any info just states the No.18 came into production in 1940, not though when its first issues to units came. If testing and evaluation was Jan40 I can't see there being much time between then and May40 for production and issue. That would leave the traditional methods of line, visual and messenger for the Inf Bns. I don't know if any of the 1940 campaign experts can recall seeing comments on the value of, or complete lack of, wireless sets with infantry units proper. The Germans did allow for four type 'd' pack radios with their Inf Bns in the immediate pre-war period, I don't know if they had a real life shortfall though. Gary
For a comment on the lack of wireless within infantry units can quote John Horsfall from 'Say not the struggle' (ibsn 0 900093 64 1). 'The feeling of isolation in close action was very great, and to people these days, who are used to radio as part of their lives, it is impossible to explain the absolute fog of battle when that medium was non-existant.' I was sceptical that there were enough radio trucks to provide one per battalion but post #7 from Gary shows that there were. The two at Bde HQ were probably one forward link (to battalions) and one rear link (to Division HQ) these would be on different frequencies. It took me till page108 of 'Thirty days to Dunkirk' (isbn 1 872424 02 3) to find a reference to a messege being recieved at Btn HQ by wireless but there it is, although Guy Gough says they had problems communicating with Bde HQ even they were only 8 miles away. Going back to post #1 from Iain the Brigadier would visit to give his orders in person because operational orders were and are rarely sent by radio exept in an emergency. You always assume that the enemy is listening.
Very few mentions of radios in BEF accounts I have read, plenty of mentions of dispatch riders though.
