Hi I am trying to piece together my wifes grand fathers service records. I know he was born in Manchester on 10/6/1918 , his service number was 7643313 and he was in the a/t Royal artillery . Captured in Singapore he was a pow working on the Burma railway . Any info on him greatly appreciated , he was a private and in the 18th division . Does any one know what the a/t stands for before his regt please . Regards Ian
The a/t would be anti-tank If he was with the 18th Division then he would have been in either the: 85 A/T Rgt RA (TA) or 125 (Northumbrian) A/T Rgt RA (TA)
If you would like to know about the activities of the 18th Division and the parts played by the RA from their arrival to their capture, let me know and I'll scan the relevant pages of the "The History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Far East Theatre 1941-46". PM me your email address and I'll do a pdf. But I may not be able to do it until later on today or early tomorrow.
Looking at this info on Army Numbers , 7643313 shows he enlisted into RAOC first. Royal Army Ordnance Corps 7574001 - 7657000 and 10530001 - 10600000. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/research-material/8564-army-number-block-allocations.html According to this 85 A/T Rgt was in 11th Indian Div, Kyt. British Artillery Regiments <TABLE borderColor=white cellSpacing=0 borderColorDark=#999999 width=707 borderColorLight=olive border=1><TBODY><TR><TD width=112>85 ATk Regt </TD><TD width=38>WF </TD><TD width=111>F 9/41 </TD><TD width=290>Singapore 1942 - 11 Indian Div </TD><TD width=122>Lost 2/42 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> 125 A/T Regt was with 18th Div. <TABLE borderColor=white cellSpacing=0 borderColorDark=#999999 width=707 borderColorLight=olive border=1><TBODY><TR><TD width=112>125 ATk Regt </TD><TD width=38>TA </TD><TD width=111>Fm 125 Fd Regt 7/40 </TD><TD width=290>UK 1940-1 - 18 Inf Div Singapore 1941-2 - 18 Inf Div </TD><TD width=122>Lost 2/42 To 325 LAA Regt </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The 85th was part of the 18th Division when they had been diverted from North Africa. It was attached to the 11th just before they surrendered.
