A friend of mine has been looking, without success, for the history of the 104 Army Troops, Royal Engineers. I have also spent time looking through websites and can only find passing mentions. If anyone can help point us in the right direction I would be extremely grateful. I am informed that the unit could have been raised at White City, Manchester, but not 100% sure of this information. Regards Tom
Tom, I normally have a knack of digging up something, bit cant find a single reference to 104 Troop P
Yes I think it will be a tough nut to crack. But there are plenty of good detectives on the forum Regards Tom
Tom I suspect you may have already been here: Royal Engineers Museum and Library - History Section - Unit histories page Perhaps a short email to them here may bare fruits: mail@re-museum.co.uk Regards Andy
Andy, Thanks. I have already emailed back my friend and one of the links was the museum for him to make contact with. I thought this post may jog a few memories. Regards Tom
Tom Found this at the National Archives. 104 Army Troops. Coy, Royal Engineers. War Dairy - WO167/928 - Sept 1939 - June 1940. Nothing after that date. British Expeditionary France series. Detecting your browser settings Might be the one. Where does your friend live and can he visit Kew. I will be going again soon, so bear this in mind. Regards - Robert
Robert, Bill lives here in Berlin. He is visiting the Uk next week and so I have emailed him the link. It is surprising that there is nothing on the internet (That I can find) written on the unit, only references to the unit. The mention was as part of the BEF to France and so I am wondering if the unit was disbanded around June / July 1940. Regards Tom
Tom This war diary reference sounds correct then. It could be that they ended up in the bag, so to speak and were never reformed after June 1940. Be interesting to hear how he gets on. Cheers - Robert.
Robert, I will certainly let you know when we find anything out, but still hoping someone on the forum may make the breakthrough for us. Regards Tom
It may be hard to find as a Troop is the same as a Platoon so it would only consist of around 30/40 men. Tom is there a hicher formation that the Troop was part of? Ie a Company? Andy
Andy, I am assured that they were Royal Engineers and possibly formated from Manchester (White City area) Apart from that all the information I have was posted. Sorry it is not much. Having found a reference to them as part of tha BEF, they did exist, plus Robert has found their war Diaries online. Just a pity not much available on the net, but I am still searching. Regards Tom
Tom I found these 6 casualties from 104 Army Troops Coy, RE using Geoff's search engine. 5 were buried in the UK and the one from 8 may 1945 was buried in Uden in Holland. Geoff's Search Engine I could not find details of a higher formation on CWGC, so will look again at the NA records. Cheers - Robert
hello i am new to ww11 talk and am looking for help with research please. we have conflicting information and i cant find any detailed references for the 104 army troops coy. local newspaper and family reports that william drowned taking food to the starving dutch on the river maas 8/5/1945 .uden cemetery reference book says william died of heavy wounds in a canadian hospital and was buried in a church before being reburied at uden. i have ordered a death certificate and his service record. if anyone can point me in the right direction for reaseach or has any information on the 104 army troops coy and what other means for branch at enlistment i would be very grateful .here is the information that i have Sapper william arthur hutchinsonService No:2155569Date of Death:08/05/1945Age:37Regiment/Service:Royal Engineers104 Army Troops Coy. branch at enlistment other corps place of birth sussex (hastings) residence leicestershire theatre of war western europe campaign 1944/1945 regiment and branch at death royal engineers/ other corps Grave Reference 6. C. 9.Cemetery UDEN WAR CEMETERY x mel
Hello If you can get to the National Archives these are the Company's war diaries you should look in for NWE: WO 171/1543 104 Company 1944 Apr.- Dec. WO 171/5457 104 Company 1945 Jan.- Dec. WO 171/9362 104 Company 1946 Jan.- June Personally though I would start at the begining of his service career and work through it-You never know what you might find. Cheers Andy
hello andy what sort of information would i find in the war diaries (sorry im a novice to this ) thanks mel
HQ Lines of Communication British Expeditionary Force (Major-General P. de Fonblanque) Royal Artillery 3rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade 2nd Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery 8th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery 79th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery 4th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery [*]Royal Engineers 104th Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers 106th Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers 110th Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers 212th Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers 218th Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers [/LIST]
Hi Mel, I'll post the war diary pages shortly . No mention of a death though, which is not uncommon. I'll also PM a Forum Member in Berlin, as I got this diary for a man who served in this unit. A long shot, but he may recall what happened. Cheers - Rob