Decoding a Unit Serial Number

Hi

I've recently received my grandfather's war records since his service information was proving untraceable on the commercial genealogy sites.

He'd told everyone that he was a dispatch rider in the Royal Signals but this was clearly not the case! He went through No 2 Signals Training Centre and was then posted to 3rd Intelligence School for the Cipher course. He ended up in a Special Wireless Section (54 Special Wireless Section) as part of the Y service. All very interesting and something he, unsurprisingly, kept very much to himself.

One part of his record is particularly puzzling. He was posted to a unit in London described only as "Serial 37528" which I think indicates its nature was sensitive and therefore obscured by a Serial number.

Does anyone have any idea what this unit was? Looking at the records at the National Archive it looks like it may be detailed in WO 33/1962. Does anyone have access to this? I'm planning a trip to Kew anyhow to read his unit's War Diary for 1945 but this information may be key.

Many thanks

Giles

 

Giles,

Welcome aboard. Good puzzle you have.

Looked at TNA and WO 33/1962 refers to the Royal Artillery? See: Order of Battle of Field Forces in United Kingdom: Royal Artillery | The National Archives

The number 37528 does not appear here, except for an issue of The London Gazette.

I would recommend you upload the service record you have received and the experts here can add their knowledge.

Can you please add - in the text - his name, Service Number and Royal Signals?

The 'Y' Service is relatively well-documented, notably many years ago by Hugh Skillen, but other parts less so e.g. the 'J' Service (subject of a recent post).

No trace here for 54 Special Wireless Section, nor 54 SWS.

An old 2014 post by a member who rarely logs in now has a list of War Diaries that may be of use. See: SPECIAL WIRELESS SECTIONS.

 

Hi,
“37528” is the Field Force Unit Serial Number for “2 Special Cipher Section Type M”.

Regards

Danny

 

Hi David
He was Cpl Roland Beater, Royal Signals, 14564761 and was in 54 Special Wireless Section. The relevant part of his record is attached.

I have a copy of Hugh Skillen's "Spies of the Airwaves" and the only reference to that unit is that it was in Brussels from some point before 14th Sep 1944. He and his family returned annually to Belgium to visit the family he was billeted with so that all ties in nicely.

Posted to Serial 37528 appears on 2nd July 1943 but is then cancelled a few days later.

A relevant piece on information is that 54 SWS were based in Egham and he lived in Staines which is one stop on the train away! Perhaps someone was being kind.

But it would be interesting to know which unit that was.

The main part of my research is to try and work out where he went after D-Day. He told me he landed on D-Day plus 7 and I've no reason to believe that wasn't true and it wouldn't be something he'd lie about. He wasn't that sort of person so I suspect he went out either as a replacement or as a forward deployment of the unit. I don't think there were many sufficiently trained people around from what I've read. I think the only hope I have would be by going through the war diaries - where they exist - of the other SWS in theatre to see if there's any info.

One other piece from Hugh Skillen's book that matched family legend is that he had been selected to go to the Far East and was all ready to go when the war ended. That appears to have been the destination for 53 SWS to whom he was transferred after VE Day. It resulted in him coming home very speedily compared to most.

He died in 1981, certainly before a great deal of information about the Y service had come out.

Thanks

Giles

 

Brilliant Danny - makes complete sense. Thank you