Medium Artillery Regiments; higher command.

[David W]

So we are still none the wiser then!

[nigelfe]

Well, Pemberton tells us that M.8A/4210/GSD of 24 June 1942 states the low holdings of 4.5 in Gun and 6 in How, and that a ‘consignment of 5.5 in on the way’. This consignment might have reached the Gulf of Aden or in might still be in RAOC depots in UK waiting for all the gun stores to be gathered and availability of shipping space. No doubt someone can tell us how long it took a cargo ship to reach an ME port, bearing in mind it had to go around the Cape, about 2 months I’d guess. The fact that no quantity is given might indicate delivery later rather than sooner. I interpret the ref as an 8 Army internal memo issued by the Staff Duties section of the General Staff (not RA) suggesting it was probably a summary of availability of all sorts of equipment.

I’d also note that it’s not clear if the 4.5 are Mk 1 or 2. By late summer 1940 there should have been about 4 btys of Mk 1 available (coincidentally the number lost in France), but it’s unclear if they continued conversion of 60 pr carriages until the 4.5/5.5 carriage became available.

In mid 1942 the WO strength state shows 25 Med Regts in UK (1 probably at sea), 2 in ME (ignoring the 2 just lost) and 2 in India (1 with half in Iraq).