Feldgrau.net

106 RHA
1/12/40 - GHQ, MEF
3/3/41 - 7 Armd Div, 13 Corps, BTE

106 ATk Regt
25/6/43 - BTE, MEF
1/1/44 - BTE, 16 Area
23/6/44 - GHQ (BTE Area)

In 1938 XX Fd Bde RA had 99 Bty. This unit was one of the 4 reg arty regts converted to atk. 20 ATk Regt spent the war with 3 Div.

I guess the first question is 'how confidnet are you with the bty numbers? WO212/494 first entry for 102 ATk (ie their arrival overseas) states: 6/4/41 (Less A Bty left in Egypt), 287,288, 289 Btys, 1 Aust Corps, Lustre Greece). The only other entry for the regt to mention a bty is; 19/8/42 (Less 28...

A/95 went to Burma as part of 7 Armd Bde. The arrived in Rangoon in early March 42. They were equipped with 12 2pr. Also in 7 Armd bde were 414 Bty (from 104 Regt RHA), 7 H and 2 RTR. They were join by 2 UK inf bns from India who almost certainly had no atk pls.

I'd forgotten I've got a lot of WO212/493, which was originally prepared immediately after WW2 by AG 4 (Medals). Taken from the ORBATs it summarises the overseas service of all RHA/RA units and arty HQs. 83 ATk Regt 19/8/42 (less det) - BTE 19/8/42 (det) - 50 Div, BTE 3/8/43 - 9 Army 22/1/44 (less b...

That's the logical conclusion. However, 73 is a bit odd because it was formed in India and not UK and some months after some higher numbered regiments in UK. That said I think it's a reasonable working assumption that the regt and bty numbers were allocated well before the regiment was actually form...

This whole thing seems very unusual on a RAC vehicle, RA vehicle role tac signs were smaller and two colour but then the RA 'patch' colour was red & blue used in a way to indicate which battery in a regiment whereas RAC was usually (?) just red so using shape for sqn seems reasonable.

Generally TA regts didn't use A-D bty letters, they were all numbered (with the exception of some TA RHA). As far as I know, and ignoring RHA, only a handful of regular regts used letters and a handful of regts raised outside UK as an interim measure until they were given bty numbers. However, 73 wa...

I don't think there were any single digit numbers and certainly no letters used in unit code numbers on vehicles. I hadn't thought that any RAC units used vehicle role tac signs as RA did. I've always thought they used the vehicle call sign with a sqn symbol for this purpose (eg A Sqn uses a triangl...

It appears that it was only ever called a 'Coast Regiment', this means it was formed after Dec 1940. It was a war formed regiment and disbanded in Feb 1944. From mid 1943 until disbandment it was under HQ MEF. Despite lack of evidence it's just possible that it started as 18 Defence Regiment that wa...

Defintitely, the problems are several once you get outside UK *and the BEF) in the first years of the war. Medium regts were under command corps or higher, and their batteries were often detached, particularly in the case of the regular regiments (those numbered below 51, but even this is complicate...

The problem is that there is no single reliable source for artillery equipment changes. Probably the only way to do it is to look at unit War diaries, and hope they made a note of changes. However, converting to 4.5-in would probably need a period to allow for individual training and a work-up exerc...

RA records have them coming under GHQ comd in Egypt on 1 Oct 42. Prior to this they were in UK. I can't imagine a regt being sent overseas with anything other than 25-pr Mk 2 on Carriage 25-pr Mk 1 at that time. The arrival date is the same as 53 Fd Regt who were at Alamein with 24 x 25-pr.

121 Fd Regt seems to have arrived in Egypt on 19 Aug 42 as an Army Fd Regt under GHQ Comd, RA records show it joined 7 Armd Div on 11 Sep 42 and became 8 Army Tps on 23 Oct 42. Joslin doesn't show it with 7 Armd Div but does show it as SP with 23 Armd Bde in 30 Corps Reserve on 23 Oct. He also lists...

British Troops Eqypt Ie those units in Eqypt that were not assigned to a formation under command of 8 Army, etc. It included bdes in the canal, etc areas, various training establishments, I assume resting and refitting units, not sure about the base depots, logistic and medical units, etc. However, ...