Hi, I'm a XXXXXX at military research but have discovered that a relative was killed in action with 67/69 BD Section in August 1940 while recovering an UXB near Birmingham. I am trying to find the war diary for this unit but really need to determine what Company the Section belonged to in order to do so and was wondering if anyone here could help? I believe that 9 BD Coy were serving in the area at this time and know that a copy of their war diary is available at TNA. Would anyone possibly have a copy that they/I could check with? Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.
Have you anymore info/background on your relative? Here is a photo of 69 Section. Their Officer (on the right) is Lionel Meynell. The guy front row far left is Driver Holden who was killed 6/11/40. His Commonwealth War Graves Entry states he was with No 9 Bomb Disposal Company. I met Lionel Meynell shortly before he died. The notes he gave me say "I was posted to No 69 BD Section which was stationed in Birmingham. I arrived in Birmingham to find that No 9 BD Company was being formed by Major A.J. Biggs. There were eight sections in 9 BD Company. One of the sections was in Coventry." Assume you are wanting to look at 25/8/40 - the day Sappers Cryer, Davies, Rabinowitz, Thorne, Wisely, Cpl Haines and Driver Fergusson of 67/69 Secion died. If your relative is one of these men then unfortunately I don't think there are any details in 9's war diary, but I will double check for you.
Hi Chris, Thank you for your reply. You may possibly have already seen my request for assistance on the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal - EOD website. My relative is Cpl. Arthur Haines. You were correct in your assumption that I am looking into the incident that resulted in the deaths of his and the other six men mentioned. The accident took place at the back of 117 Welwyndale Road in Sutton Coldfield. Several civilians also appear to have died in the same incident as they are all listed as being killed in the same place at the same time: 'On the 25th it seems an unexploded bomb which fell on Welwyndale Road (by Orphanage Road) exploded, many deaths. It seems residents, soldiers and ARP Wardens, etc. who had all gathered round were unaware of the serious danger that early in the war. Though the authorities may have been digging down to it, causing them to be gathered round.' It is interesting seeing photographs of 69 BD Section as up until now I have been unable to find any trace of them, apart from the obituary for Major Lionel Meynell which was posted in several newspapers. It is also nice to know that my assumed link between 67/69 BD Section and 9 BD Company seems to have some truth in it. It would be much appreciated if you would double check the war diary for 9 BD Company for details, but I will not hold my breath. On another note, I don't suppose you would know how one could get a copy of the Birmingham Bomb Map that has been referred to on several sites concerning the research of BD units? I have attempted contacting the Birmingham Archives but to date have received no response. It would be interesting to see if the UXB the men were reportedly working on was mentioned on there but I am having difficulty in finding out how to access the document and it is a fair journey to make from South Wales if I could not find what I was after. I also understand that there may be records held in the National Archives at Kew, such as bomb census papers/BC4 forms (HO 198), bomb census maps (HO 193), and air raid damage files (HO 192). Would you happen to know if these would be of any use? And finally, I would just like to congratulate you on your book regarding Bomb Disposal during WWII. I received a copy of it for Christmas last year when I first started my research and found it extremely enlightening.
Thanks for posting the paper cutting. Below are a few more details and photos that might be of interest, though there appears to be some contradictory details! In Michael Minton's excellent book ‘Heroes of the Birmingham Air Raids’ there is an article reproduced from ‘The Birmingham Gazette’ of 18 September 1940 that mentions the incident. (I’ll e-mail you the full article later, but the following is the bit that refers to Arthur Haines, though his initial has obviously been mistaken for an 'R'). Here are a couple of pages from 9 Company War Diary. Interesting to note that the Section number contradicts the CWGC entries for these men. It also states three bombs! I believe this might be an error and confused with another incident (also mentioned in the Birmingham Gazette article) in which some bombs were taken from a residential area to a quarry near Oldbury. They blew up a few hours later and no loss of life was reported. July’s diary is also included as it is the first entry in the diary and provides a little background info to 9 Bomb Disposal Company. Here are copies of photos that Lionel Meynell passed to me. One is similar but different to the one I posted earlier. Always good to put some faces to names and vica-versa as so many photos are not marked with the names. Not sure the bomb maps will add much to your knowledge. From what I know of the National Archives bomb maps there is a custy bit of tracing paper with handwritten roads and dots for bombs that are laid over a normal map. As you already appear to have the location I’m not sure if they’ll tell you anything – possibly the date of the raid which I would imagine was within a few days or hours previous to the explosion. The only other avenues I can think to pursue would be an advert in the local paper for the area or see if the locality has a blog to post on. Also get back in touch with the local archives or history group as I would have thought local police records or ARP records might still exist. Another stab in the dark that can sometimes come up with results is to try and find family tree enthusiasts for the other men named as they may have some info. From the CWGC website you might find where they were from and their local area’s newspaper of the time may have printed an obituary. By the way, thanks for the kind words re my book. I actually have another book coming out early next year, also on the subject of BD –‘Disarming Hitler’s V-weapons’. Good luck with your research. Be sure to post anything-else you turn up. Chris
Thanks for your help, Chris. I am waiting for a copy of Arthur's military records to come back but am told these could take anything up to around 12 months so might be in for a bit of a wait. It will be interesting to see which of the CWGC records and war diary is correct with regard to the unit. I should mention that I have already had Arthur's age changed on his CWGC record as this was incorrect. The info you have provided is very useful as it adds additional names of casualties. I would appreciate a copy of the full article if you could provide it when you get the chance. Thank you too for the scans of the war diaries. Based on your input I will shift my attention from the bomb map and onto the other lines of enquiry you have suggested for the time being. I will keep an eye out for your new book and will be sure to get a copy, and will of course post any further findings on this thread in case they are use to anyone else. Thanks again!
