Service number interval

Discussion in 'Service Records' started by GnrGnr, Oct 10, 2016.

  1. GnrGnr

    GnrGnr Well-Known Member

    Is it true to say that, for example, between 294001 Trooper X and 295001 Trooper Y 1000 men joined the Life Guards either direct or from another regiment or corps??

    Gnrgnr
     
  2. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    GnrGnr

    That's what I would reckon.......

    Whilst writing this, I remembered posting the following item many moons ago :


    Geoff

    I feel must tell you and others, of my experience this morning on testing out your admirable CWGC Search Engine.

    My Army number was 14300260.

    I decided to enter only the first six digits, i.e. 143002 in the "number" field and see if any one who joined the Army near my time had been killed in WW2.

    The search produced, amongst others a Trooper Fletcher, Reginald Water who died on the 12th of March 1945, is buried in The Reichswald Forest Cemetery and who's Army Number was 14300257.

    Trooper Fletcher's number is just 3 digits lower than mine and he must have joined on the same day, 1st October 1942.

    Truly a case of "There but for the Grace of G-d go I"

    Ron
     
    Charley Fortnum likes this.
  3. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Ron,
    Digressing

    Having walked the Reichswald and Rheinberg Cemeteries a few years ago,as I passed the grave rows, my thoughts turned to the young lads buried there who lost their lives in the closing couple of months of the war.
     
  4. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Harry

    As did my own dear brother Jack, who as a Mid Upper Gunner on a Lancaster , lost his life on the 16th of March 1945.

    Ron
     
    Tricky Dicky likes this.
  5. GnrGnr

    GnrGnr Well-Known Member

    Thank you both.
     
  6. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Once again this seems to be British Army specific, but the way I understand their system during WW2 a soldier's service number never changed.

    So if he joined the Dorset Yeomanry in 1939 and was allocated number 123456 he would keep that number if he later moved across to artillery or whatever.

    Whereas later in the war everyone joining up was given a General Service number which they retained when they completed their GS training and went to their allocated trade / corps / unit.
     
    dbf likes this.
  7. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    DaveB

    Exactly !

    As an example of how this worked, when I first joined up I was allocated a number.

    When my LAA unit it Italy was disbanded and I was trained as a tankie in the RAC I still kept the same number.

    This week I was in correspondence with the MOD and was told that they would look up my records using the same number.

    Simple ?

    You bet !

    Ron
     
  8. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  9. Gordon163

    Gordon163 Active Member

    My uncle was a driver with RASC and his service number was 45555. While looking in the RASC attestation records, I found a driver with service number 45556. As far as I know, they never served together. Numbers in RASC service numbers seem to have been randomly allocated in the ranges 1 to 294000 and 10660001 to 11000000. As mentioned above, some members of the corps had numbers beginning 141xxxxx, 142xxxxx etc., depending whether they joined in 1941, 1942 etc..
     
  10. Mr Jinks

    Mr Jinks Bit of a Cad

    I dont think anything in the British Army was done randomly the enlistment and discharge books I have seen have always been consecutive in number and in date of enlistment ? The RASC were a massive corps so I dont think its unusual that your Uncle never served with 45556 as Ron pointed out the soldier in the cemetery was only a few numbers from his own yet he didnt personally know him. The RASC like all other formations will have taken men from other Regiments and Corps whose numbers would remain the same,so the only thing you can determine 99% from a number is their initial corps or regiment. I say 99% because regular pre war soldiers who rejoined the colours on the outbreak of war retained (but there are exceptions) their previous service numbers.
    Those members of the RASC with 141***** and 142***** which you refer were General Service Corps numbers which each soldier initially joined from 1941 ? They would have then been transferred to whoever the Army felt needed them I suppose ,I know that usually the skills a soldier had should have had a bearing on where he was sent but as the late Paul Daniels recalled "I worked in Local Government in the Treasurer's Department I asked to go into the Pay Corps. They put me in the Infantry, in the Green Howards.!" :)

    Kyle
     
    dbf likes this.
  11. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    As ever, exceptions prove the rule...

    Men in Guards regiments were still allocated numbers from guards regiments' block allocations. There are relatively few GSC evident in e.g. the CWGC, POW or Medal sources. In the Guards it's common enough to see consecutive numbers within a training squad; thereafter its was anyone's guess in which battalion they'd end up seeing action.

    Also it is not quite true that once an Army Number was allocated it would never change. I think in cases of re-enlistment for example, after leaving the army for a period of time, it would have been quite possible.

    In my grandfather's case, he had a Regimental number for his WW1 IG service as well as an army number from the IG allocation, probably issued while he was in the Reserves and possibly without his knowledge. Then upon re-enlistment in Oct 1939 he was given a second army number from the RA allocation. This happened despite the fact that his IG service records were forwarded to the RA record office at the time.

    Incidences of erroneous allocations of a second Army number must have occurred often enough, for an ACI was issued to Records Officers advising them not to revert to the original but to continue using the new, second army number.
     

Share This Page