My dads army service records

[Gsdenmark]

I have just received above but it does not really give me info of where he was or what he did. I was told his medals might help with this but do not know where to look. He was awarded the following:
War Medal 1939/45,  Defence Medal % 77/46 1939/45 France/G Star 890/47 MEF,  LET/M/14.12.49,  AMC/WW2/8379 1939-45 star,  France and Germany Star Defence Medal War Medal 1939/45.   His army number was T250329.

Joined TC.MTW 12TB(S) RASC 06/03/41 Aldershot as a private. Posted to 4CPP unit 05/05/41. 06/09/41 was attached to CRASC 38 division. 13/07/42 3 de coy. 01/02/43 new designation 310 armed bee coy RASC. 14/07/44 embarked U.K.  310 armed bode coy RASC. NWE. Posted to 704 coy (armed to div c???y) NWE. 17/08/45 Posted to CRASC 3 Bv div. NWE. 19/08/45 Posted to 47 coy (IB) via CRASC 3Bv Inf Div. 21/10/45 SOS BAOR to MEF. Embarked BAOR & T.O.S. M.E. we'd 24/10/45. Disembarked M.E. wet 30/10/45. Leave Egypt HRM 13,19/11/45 ME. Leave Palestine HRM 20,21/02/46 ME. Found fit for further service A1. 48 coy TOS ex 47 coy. LMCC SOS MEF on amb. for UK (release) MEF

My mum believes he was at Belsen at one stage. Any help or signposting to help will be much appreciated.

[RRTB]

Hi there. It might be helpful to see a picture/scan of the document as one or two of your transcriptions may actually not be totally accurate, specifically "we'd" and "wet", which are more likely to be "wef" which stands for "With Effect From". No disrespect intended, by the way - some of the handwriting on these service records is....errrm....interesting to say the least!

I'm guessing that "HRM 13" and "HRM 20" are troopship designators; if our friend Seaweed is about, he will probably be able to identify which ships these codes refer to.

The 12TB(s) RASC is likely to be 12th Training Battalion (s) of the Royal Army Service Corps in Aldershot where he will have done initial training. He was then posted to 4 Central Posting Point (I think that's what CPP means) two months later.

310 Armed Bee coy RASC is I think 310th Armoured Brigade Company RASC, but it would be good to see the original document to be able to view the "armed bee" bit. It sounds like a dangerous insect!

NWE stands for North West Europe, hence why he was entitled to the France and Germany Star as he was obviously operational there.

21/10/45 he was Struck Off Strength of the British Army of the Rhein and Taken On Strength Middle Eastern Forces with effect from 24/10/45. Disembarked Middle east with effect from 30/10/45.

Found fit for further service as Class A1, ie he was in good shape. Taken on strength of 48company from 47 company.

That's the best I can do at the moment, I'm afraid.

RRTB

[Gsdenmark]

Many thanks for the useful information. I'm not near my PC for a few days but, as soon as I am, I will scan the papers over to rootschat. I have also found a phot of my dad in uniform with Auchen written on back which I assume is where it was taken and understand this was in the Bergen Belsen area. Does this appear correct to you. Geraldine

[Gsdenmark]

I thought I might be able to send photos but even one photo is showing as too big an attachment so I will have to wait until I can get to PC

[MaxD]

Having lived close to Bergen Belsen for a number of years I don't recognise Auchen as being in that area.  I believe Auchen is more likely to be the border town of Aachen some 250 miles away which was certainly on the route the allied armies took in the later stages of the war and through which he may have passed on his way eastwards.

maxD

[RRTB]

  I believe Auchen is more likely to be the border town of Aachen some 250 miles away which was certainly on the route the allied armies took in the later stages of the war and through which he may have passed on his way eastwards.

maxD

I would agree with that, Max. I looked up Google Maps and found nothing in the area of Bergen Belsen which resembled that name.

RRTB

[Gsdenmark]

Many thanks for info, I'll check spelling on photo when I next see mum. I'm having problems with posting pages of records as photos are showing as too big to attach and I've got problems with scanner at present. Does anyone know if there is a way to reduce file size of a photo?

[RRTB]

If your photos are saved to your computer then yes, you could resize them. Select the relevant picture and right click on it. This should give you a number of options, like Microsoft Office Picture Manager (MOPM) for example. Selecting your option of choice will lead you to where you can edit the pictures. In MOPM you will see the "Edit" button at the top of the window. Clicking this will open the Editing facility.

If you're running Microsoft Office 2010 then you will probably need to select this in the "Open with" list, rather than MOPM.

You should see a button marked "Resize". Click this and you will be given several options, one of which is to reduce the overall percentage of the original picture by an amount which you can choose. This will allow you to reduce the number of megabytes, kilobytes or whatever to a number which will permit the picture to be placed on the forums here (or its should do anyway!).

Once you've reduced the image, click on the "Ok" button and a screen will come up saying that changes made have not been saved. Select "Save" and the software will save your newly sized picture for you. If it still can't be posted up here, then just go through the same steps until you reduce it to an acceptable size.

Hopefully this may help you get your images up here.

RRTB

[newburychap]

WARNING following the instructions above will  give you a smaller image but you will lose the lovely high reolition image you have at present. Always work with a copy or use the Save As option to save the resized file under a different name (and remember to say no if the programme asks you if you want to save changes when you close the file).