151 Regimnet RLC - WW1 - page 4
Image details
| Corps | Reserve |
|---|---|
| Material type | Articles |
| Book page | R04490003 |
| Chapter head | WW1 |
| Chapter key | R0449002 |
| Chapter number | 2 |
| Full title | 151 Regimnet RLC |
| Page number | 3 |
| Publication date | 2019 |
| Real page | 3 |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1794 |
| Late date | 2019 |
| Transcription |
In 1936 a new establishment with the Headquarters, 508 & 509 Companies at Croydon and 507 Company at Maidstone. On 3 rd September 1939, Major General Osbourne introduced the Divisional Flash of 44 HC Division. The design took the shape of a Red Oval originally used as a vehicle marking and later worn on both arms. WORLD WAR 2 ROYAL ARMY J O L SERVICE CORPSflA) Lt Col H Fletcher, who was in command at this time, saw the Column grow to its full establishment by 1938. After the Prime Ministers call for volunteers in January 1939, the strength rocketed astronomically and over 1000 Officers and men went to camp in June of that year. War was now inevitable and this time the Division did not suffer immediate break up. 44*(H0MEC0U!T]ES) m0* INWTRY DIVISION +*£* WAR 1939-1945 «*** O FRANCE : NORTH AFRICA i UK BEF PEACE STATIONS - 1947 reconstituted as 44t& (H£j lff.DlV.COLN.RAS.CijA.). Headquarters. CROYDON. — 5 7 Coy: MAlDSTOi*. Column key parties were called out on August 23 rd 1939. The 508 Gy-CROYDON. 509 Cay:CROYDON. 5 5 9 tyCATERHAM. Divisional Column now under command of Lt Col H.M. Gough, was fully mobilised by early September. The Division deployed to France with Three Corps as part of the British Expeditionary Force to support the French Army. After fierce fighting almost a million allied soldiers found themselves surrounded by the advance of the German Army 7 th Panzer Division. Trapped and surrounded the BEF were evacuated back across the Channel via Dunkirk. Known as Operation Dynamo. The Division re-formed at Oxford and after a spell in Yorkshire embarked for service in the Middle East in June 1942. The Division saw action in the battle of El Alamein where it sustained heavy casualties. Companies spent the rest of war as separate entities, 507 Coy remained with their Brigade, which became transport and logistic support for the Famous Desert Rats. The Company saw action with this formation until the end of the war. 508 Company served with 50 Division in North Africa, Sicily and Italy before returning to the UK, where it became a recruiting unit, deploying later to Normandy as part of D Day in 1944. 509 Company saw service with 10 Armoured Division in North Africa, then with 10 Indian Division in Palestine and finally with 4 Division in Italy and Greece. John Carpenter (pictured left) was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps, when the Second World War broke out, he went to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, with the role of supplying ammunition and Artillery commodities to the Division. In the early hours of 31 May 1940, during the retreat to Dunkirk, under fire, he led his platoon on foot to the beach at Bray Dunes. There was not a ship in sight, but he waded out, grabbed an abandoned lifeboat and crammed his men in. They were machine-gunned by enemy aircraft but managed to get aboard a small Dutch coaster with only a few casualties and returned to England. He later served in the Middle East and North Africa with the Eight Army leading three-ton vehicle loads through the gaps in a minefield under intense shelling by the enemy. On D Day 1944, aged 22 at the rank of Major, he commanded 508 Company RASC in Normandy. He was awarded the MBE in 1945. After the war John later became Colonel Commandant of Transport and awarded the CB. Jack Alpe MC (pictured right) joined the TA with 509 Company RASC based at Maidstone. His first taste of action was with the 4 th Indian Division in the advance of Tobruk and then escorted a convoy of Italian prisoners to Alexandria. After being sent home to England, he was next to see action in the Normandy campaign. In 1944 Alpe found himself at the heart of the Battle of Normandy in command of lorries carrying 25lb shells to advance gun positions at the village of Demouville, outside Caen. As his unit was being directed by field telephone and despatch riders toward their gunners, it was spotted from a tower by the enemy, who unleashed a rain of 88mm fire at Alpe's soft-topped |
| Book number | R0449 |