I have recently found out my father was with the Royal Engineers 999 Port Operating Company June 1944 in the D - Day Landings. does anyone have any information as to where they might have been at that time please?
If you use the search facility on the site you can find allsorts of wonderful information PORT and INLAND WATERWAY UNITS ROYAL ENGINEERS Sword Beach. 999 Port Operating Company. Eight gangs arrived on coasters on the second tide on D Day and worked the first shift discharging as follows, Marcel, 3 gangs, Northgate, 2 gangs, and Glengarrif (900 tons built 1936), 3 gangs. Three gangs were carried on the coasters as reliefs. They, plus five gangs landed from LCI(L)s, took over the discharge of the coasters for a second shift. The original eight gangs completed the discharge of the coasters by the end of the third shift. A further eight gangs arrived on following coasters on D+2 and commenced discharging them for he first working shift. Antiquity (300 tons, built 1933), 2 gangs, ???mount (Undecipherable on the source document), 2 gangs, Gateshead (700 tons, built 1917), 2 gangs and West Town (700 tons, built 1921), 2 gangs. A detachment of 2 RB19 cranes and 3 RB10 cranes from 1050 Port Maintenance Company worked with 999 Port Operating Company. For day to day locations during for example 1944 999 Coy. | The National Archives Reference: WO 171/1770 Description: 999 Coy. Date: 1944 Jan.- Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description or even using Google it throws up details Fallen Heroes of Normandy | List Fallen Heroes of Normandy | List So I would guess not far from Hermanville TD
Centaur IV Sword Beach - Hermanville-Sur-Mer - TracesOfWar.com The Allies needed calm water to land men and equipment: the “Gooseberries” (codename) were old vessels that had been ballasted to a form a breakwater. Among 6 merchant ships and 3 warships sacrificed off Hermanville, the veteran battleship “Courbet” would not enjoy the glory of the “Georges-Leygues” and the “Montcalm”, which fought conspicuously before the Longues battery, but scuttled itself, with its flag flying, on the morning of 7 June, in three fathoms of water about 1.5 miles offshore. 999 Port Operating Coy seems to have responsible for setting up and running the "Gooseberry" offshore to Hermanville TD BBC - WW2 People's War - Return to Normandy Beaches The "gooseberry" is still lying off the shore and two L.C.Ts with the Div sign on their funnels are still lying high and dry in the centre of the beach. They wore two of the pre-loaded L.C.Ts (four in all) which we beached to form the initial sector stores dumps. There is also a coaster full of shells and 1000lb bombs beached and burned out, and dry at low tide.
This gets even more interesting. I should have known more. I should have asked him when I could have. Thank you so much.
If you need a copy of the War Diary [WO 171/1770] we have members on here who offer a copying service TD
Marie Its a job they do and very good at it they are. As an example member Psywar.org is one and the same as Archive Research - www.arcre.com I think he would live at TNA if he could TD Member Drew5233 is a second one who enjoys the TNA - http://ww2talk.com/index.php?members/drew5233.6786/
I am very grateful for all your help and support. What a lovely, helpful site. Am so please I joined. I shall gather as much information as I can and so ensure I give the correct records about my father.
Thank you, yes I have. They are a little bit difficult to understand in places but I am studying them hard. Thank you for allowing me to join this very helpful site. Everyone has been so kind.
Hi folks, have a further enquiry if anyone can help. Does anyone know anything about the 21st Army Group in the Normady Landings please? Still trying to decipher records. Thank you very much.
You are so, so knowledgable. So pleased to see all this information and thank you for giving me the opportunity to read up about the 21st Army Group. My father's 999 POC were attached to this group in June 1944. Thank you very much for your help.
Location of Gooseberry 5 at Sword Beach opposite Hermanville (from a file about Gooseberries & Mullberries at Kew). The red pen marks are from the original file.
Thank you very much. I am thrilled to see this map. To be frank, until I joined this site I had never heard of the Gooseberry Harbour. Yet we have all heard of the Mulberry Harbour. When I got my father's service records it said he had been trained as a stevadore in the Royal Engineers and had been assigned to 999 POC assigned to 21st Army Group. As he was a stevadore I had assumed he must have been something to do with Mulberry but from what little I know he as more likely to be on Sword Beach and involved with the Gooseberry Harbour. This map is really informative and I thank you for posting it.