I understand that there were three infantry brigades to a division and that each brigade would work with a nominated field company. In November 1944 during the battle of the Scheldt the 52nd's three brigades were 155, 156 and 157. Their three field companies were 202, 241 and 554. Can anyone tell me which field company worked alongside which of those brigades please?
Hi, The 241st Fld Coy RE appear to have been supporting the 155th Inf in early Jan 45 as it was about 30 Sappers from the 241st and 17 from the 4th KOSBs that were killed when moving mines (2400 off Type 75 anti-tank grenades) for laying near Tripsrath before Operation Blackcock. cheers Scott
Thank you Scott - that helps a lot.Since my original request I discovered (by reading “Walcheren” by Andrew Rawson) a mention of 202 Field Company working with 156 Bde. Which means 554 Field Company would have been associated with 157 Bde. So that now completes the picture. Cheers. Paul.
Just read your post again Scott. Can you clarify whether it's 214 or 241 that were with 155 Bde? I suspect that 214 may be a typo. My reason being that 52nd Divn had 202, 241 and 554 with them on their arrival at Ostend in Sept/Oct. Typos? I od them two
Hi 52 (Lowland) Infantry Division From an old RE OOB document I found online many years ago. 202nd 202nd (East Lancashire) Field Coy RE 1st line TA; 3 Sep 1939: Manchester; embodied with 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division; relieved 11 Apr 1940. Assigned 52nd Infantry Division 7 Jun 1940. Transferred Aug 1946 to 30th Army Troops Engineers. 241st 241st (Lowland) Field Coy RE 1st line TA; 3 Sep 1939: Motherwell; embodied with 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Transferred Aug 1946 to 30th Army Troops Engineers. Not much info found on 554th I am afraid. It is mentioned below. 52nd Inf Div 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division RE 1st Line TA division 1939. The division served briefly in France in Jun 1940, then trained for mountain warfare (to Jun 1944), then for airlanding operations. In Oct 1944 it joined 21st Army Group as a conventional infantry division and ended the war in Europe. The division was disbanded ca. Aug 1946 in Germany; its RE were combined that month with XXX CTRE to form 30th Army Troops Engineers. Embodied with 240th, 241st and 242nd Field Coys RE and 243rd Field Park Coy RE. 240th Field Coy RE left 20 Sep 1939 and 242nd Field Coy RE left 19 Oct 1939. 554th Field Coy RE assigned 7 Dec 1939 and 202nd Field Coy RE assigned 7 Jun 1940 as replacements. 17th Bridging Pln RE assigned 1 Oct 1943. Embodied as a motor division, it did not add 'infantry' to its title until Jun 1940 when it was reorganized as an infantry division. It is possible that the TA companies were attached to Arkforce 9 Jun 1940 and evacuated from France. Hope this helps Gus