R.A.S.C. abbreviation T.C.L?

Good evening, I am currently reading through a company history of 535 Divisional Troops Coy assigned to the Royal Army Service Corp and have come across the abbreviation "T.C.L." on 4 separate occasions. This is reference to the company landing in Normandy in late June into early July establishing a HQ around Bayeux area. I have looked online across a few abbreviation websites but nothing seems obvious?

If it is of any help, 535 Coy was part of the Guards Armoured Division consisting of:

• CRASC Headquarters (Company)
• 310 Armoured Brigade Motor Transport Company, Royal Army Service Corps
• 224 Infantry Brigade Motor Transport Company, Royal Army Service Corps
• 535 Divisional Troops Motor Transport Company, Royal Army Service Corps
• 648 General Motor Transport Company, Royal Army Service Corps

Hopefully someone may have a reference!

 

The only meaning I could find was that it was an abbreviation for 'tentacle'. That meant absolutely nothing to me so I did a search on the forum:
Search Results for Query: tentacle | WW2Talk

 

'Troop-Carrying Lorry'?

In what context is it used? Screenshots or transcipts of the sentence could help.

 

Page 3 by D Edmonds posted Mar 21, 2025 at 5:53 PM

 

That does sound like a relevant answer!

 

Field Service Book

 

I probably posted this tread too early I've looked a bit further on into the company history and have found reference to:

Workshops sent a detachment forward to repair the damaged T.C.L's and found it far from pleasant working under these conditions.

The T.C.L's were like colanders. In view of the bad roads and distances, Inspection squads were sent forward to the T.C.L's, rather than they should return to us.

On the 13th we lost the first man a T.C.L. Driver who with other vehicles of his detachment had just dropped the 5th Coldstream Guards after dark,

All this information does seem to point towards your answer so many thanks for suggesting!

 

Thanks for that Tony, more reference material for further research!

 

It does seem to fit so maybe 'TCL" is a variation on 'TCV" for 'Troop-Carrying Vehicle', maybe an older term or an unofficial abbreviation that stuck within the unit? This thread mentions 'TCV detachments' in relation to RASC coys:

RASC troop carrying in 1944 Armd Divs

 

Thanks for the further info, looking into the thread you provided, Gary Kennedy posted the image a couple of years ago detailing the preference for these vehicles to transport troops when required.

Really appreciate the help involved. So much information available and every piece of information provides another rabbit hole to get stuck into!. As you said, it may be a localised abbreviation within the company or even the author's (unknown) account of the history.

Thanks again PackRat and Tony56!

 

I have a reference to a TCL from an RAC report from September 1942, so I suspect TCL is an earlier acronym that was superseded by TCV.