Does anyone know the locations of ammunition, supply and vehicle depots, base workshops and Infantry reinforcement depots in France in 1939-40? All I've been able to find so far is that LoC HQ was LeMans and there was a chemical warfare depot at Fechamp Thanks in advance for any information.
No.1 Base Ordnance Depot was at Nantes and No.2 BOD at Le Havre. Distilling the information about exact locations would require a detailed study of the war diaries. The information is in the war diaries but it would be a huge task to put it all together...
This is what I have so far. It might be of use to others - 1 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Dieppe 2 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Offranville 3 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Offranville 4 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) St Nazaire 5 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Le Treport 6 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Dieppe 10 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Dieppe 13 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Rouen 14 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Boulogne 17 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Camiers 18 British General Hospital (1200 Bed) Le Touquet 7 British General Hospital (600 Bed) Cherbourg 8 British General Hospital (600 Bed) Brest & Rennes 9 British General Hospital (600 Bed) Le Mans 11 British General Hospital (600 Bed) Le Harve 16 British General Hospital (600 Bed) Boulogne 20 British General Hospital (600 Bed) Camiers 21 British General Hospital (600 Bed)Camiers Indian General Hospital (200 Bed) Marseilles Hospital Train Group (9 Trains) Dieppe (Casualties, Personnel and General Stores) St Malo (Personnel and Ammunition) Boulogne (Personnel and General Stores) Brest (Motor Transport, Petrol Oil Lubricants, Ammunition) Dunkirk (Personnel and General Stores) Le Harve (personnel and General Stores) Fencamp Ammunition Depot (Chemical Warfare) Nantes Ammunition Depot (Artillery) Abancourt Regulating Station Arrass HQ Railhead Rouen 1 Base Reinforcement Depot RAMC ? Infantry Reinforcement Depot ? Artillery Reinforcement Depot ? RE and AMPC Reinforcement Depot ? RASC Reinforcement Depot ? 1 Base Ordnance Depot Nantes 2 Base Ordnance Depot Le Harve 11 Base Medical Depot 12 Base Medical Depot 1 Base Convalesant Depot Dieppe 2 Base Convalesant Depot Le Trpot 3 Base Convalesant Depot Rouen 4 Base Convalesant Depot Wimereux
Interesting that the Indian General Hospital was in Marseilles which is where it was in WW1. I wonder if other establishments were where their WW1 equivalent had been.
I don't know but given the prevailing attitudes of the time it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.
James I can only add to your list based on my Dad's (ex RE) Unit War Diaries for May/June 1940 and those of C.R.E. Beauman Division May/June 1940. Dates / locations as follows (any typos as per War Diary):- 30/03/40 - arrived at ABANCOURT train station, marched to BLARGIES (note 1). 04/04/40 - Rear party at 1 G.B.D. (General Base Depot), PORNICHET (note 2). 01/05 to 17/05/40 - working at 3 B.S.D. (Base Supply Depot) (working parties from Royal Sussex Regiment). Also running RE workshops at BRIOT and NEUVILLE sur LOUILLY. 18/05/40 - 2 I.B.D. (Infantry Base Depot) camp ROUEN. 19/05/40 - G.B.D. (General Base Depot) camp, FORGES-Les-EAUX (Base number not shown – see note 3). 29/05/40 - 2 E.S.B.D. (Engineer Supplies Base Depot) – Le Manoir (S.E. of Rouen, on the River Seine, near Pont-d’LArche). 10/06/40 - moved to LE MANS, proceeded to Camp 2 mile North of C.B.D. (? Command Base Depot). (1) in 1916 Blargies was site of an ammunition depot and has a CWGC cemetery which includes WW2 casualties. (2) Pornichet is West of St Nazaire. Diary states that Rear Party moved direct from Le Havre to Pornichet awaiting orders to move to join rest of company. During WW1, 1 G.B.D. was based at Le Havre. (3) in 1914, No 4 General Base Depot, for the Royal Engineers, was based at Rouen. As Robert states, it does appear that many of the locations were based on the WW1 equivalents. Steve W
Many thanks for this it adds quite a lot of meat to the bones in forming an accurate picture of the LOC.
James Further to my reply above, additional information as below - a. Base Ammunition Depot (B.A.D.) at St Saens b. I.B.D at Rouvray (nr Rouen). Steve W
Not being a military man, I have a question - is LoC the same as Lines of Communication? If so 1940, The Last Act by Basil Karslake has quite a lot of information.
Thanks, I have that book. I'm re-reading it now as a matter of fact. It has some important detail but is a book written about a father by an adoring son, containing comments which are comically out of place and all together unlikely "Get me Karslake! he's the best soldier in the British Army!" and something which, as a former soldier, I find distasteful a leader criticising the men under his command to excuse his own failings and the failures of other officers. Nevertheless its a useful book. LoC is Line of Communication something fallen from common military parlance and usually replaced, not always correctly, with MSR Main Supply Route
I don't know. I served from 1980 to 2013 and MSR was always well established parlance whilst LoC was very rarely used if at all. LoC indicates fixed battle lines and lines of supply whilst MSR indicates the fluid battlespace
SHAEF was already using MSR in 1944. I have publications produced by my Aunt's unit that use the term (she was attached to a USAAF unit at SHAEF). US Army official histories certainly use the term. It was in use at REME and the RA in the late 70s when I was thereat the shop but some of the older officers still used LoC
From: British Army Review Winter 2001-02 Number 128 Part 3 Base Ammunition Depots in France – February 1940 1 BAD Forêt de Garve, Nantes 2 BAD Plouaret, Brest 3 BAD St Saens, Rouen 4 BAD Rennes 5 BAD Le Garve, Nantes 6 BAD Yvetot, Le Havre 21 BAD Fécamp, Le Havre 22 BAD Miniac, St Malo (formerly 8 BAD) SW = Special Weapons i.e. Gas
While it does not list actual locations of units you might find this site of use as it does list all the different units in the LoC command by broad command areas as of 10 May 1940: To see what is in each sub-area float your mouse pointer over the relevant symbol and click the link. Line-of-Communications Command, British Expeditionary Force, May 1940 Sorry I do not have a map of what made up the various sub-area commands - maybe there is something in Trux's thread on the BEF's movement and maintenace elsewhere on this site: BEF Movement and Maintenance. or in Ellis's Official History?
