'Part II Order' meaning on army records?

[searchingforGrampa]

Hello Everybody,
I would really appreciate any help on this as I've searched high and low for an answer online to no avail.
On the Verso of my Grampa's 'B102' form and his 'Statement of Services' from WW2 there are sections called 'Part II Order' and 'No. of Part II Order or other Authority' respectively.
Does anybody know what 'Part II Order' refers to? Can I use this information to find out specifics as to where he was posted? If so, what platforms should I use to search them?
Thank you in advance for your ideas - I am really appreciative of any pointers whatsoever.
Best,
searchingforGrampa

[Ruskie]

Welcome to rootschat.

I don't know what the forms you are referring to are but I'm sure someone will be able to help you with that.

Are you aware that you can apply for his service records from the MOD which should give details of where he was posted plus more. Cost to you will be £30. 

[MaxD]

A Part 2 Order is the document produced within a unit to report up to the next higher level, and therefore for the man's records, occurrences (the army call them casualties) such as promotions and postings.  A Pt2O will have a date and a serial number (which mean nothing today) and there will be an authority related to the occurrence.
There should be a section of the record listing the Pt2Os and the detail beside each entry will say what it is about.  There should also be a section just listing Part 2 Orders and their dates each with some detail beside it.
The documents do sometimes need some knowledge of army jargon so why not post extracts here?

MaxD

[searchingforGrampa]

Thank you both for your replies.

Ruskie, I believe I am already in possession of his service records. The 'Army Personnel Centre, Support Division, Historical Disclosures' sent me: his B102 form (recto and verso), Notification of Impending Release (recto and verso), Territorial Army Record of Service Paper, Statement of Services and Identification on Joining. Are there any other documents commonly available about servicemen other than these?

MaxD, thank you for explaining the Pt2O to me. Do you know why do the serial numbers have no meaning today? My Grampa was a Driver in the RASC and from researching his postings (which change frequently) I imagine this meant that he was set to work for various troops during his service. Is this a reasonable assumption?

I shall attach my digitised version of his B102 Form (verso). There are sections in red that I have struggled to read and/or make little sense to me. In particular, if you know of a meaning for the posting 'RHGZK' from 26.05.42, that would be a great help!

Best,

searchingforGrampa

 

[MaxD]

The serial numbers have no meaning because. for example, the first one produced in the unit in 1942 would be 1/42 and so on through the year so the first one on his record was the 48th the unit had produced in 1942.

RHGZK was the code given to the particular overseas draft (draft = large numbers of men from a number of units all  travelling together at that time by troopship), which, looking at the next entry, was from UK to the Middle East.  It is not always possible to find out exactly from where and to where that draft travelled but I'll cast around.

This may sound counter intuitive but could you please scan the original?  "X 11 dist" on line 11 is actually X II list and there are others which have look as if they have suffered in the digitisation.  I'd be happy to turn the hieroglyphics into a sequence, needs a bit of time and is better than translating random bits of the record.

MaxD

[searchingforGrampa]

MaxD,

Your explanations are very clear - thank you.

Where might I start looking to find information about such overseas drafts? I know from folklore that he was aboard the Duchess of Atholl, and I've traced that back to a voyage it appears to have made wherein it landed in the Suez, Egypt on the 2nd of September 1942. I would love to find out when/where it set off from Britain though.

I don't have a scan of the B102, but I'll take a photograph (I hope the quality's good enough). I cannot tell you how helpful it would be if you would be able to iron out my scrambled transcribing! I think it's been holding back my research a wee bit.

Best,

searchingforGrampa

[MaxD]

Duchess of Atholl
http://convoyweb.org.uk/ports/index.html?search.php?vessel=DUCHESS OF ATHOLL~armain

Started on the Clyde Jul 17 1942 as part of a convoy WS21P, via South Africa, last part independently to Suez arrive 2 Sep 42.

The three entries after the draft code cover the period, they would have gathered and embarked before ship departure which is why the dates are a couple of days different, arrival is exact at Suez.

More later

MaxD

[searchingforGrampa]

That's fantastic - thank you so much. I'll look forward to more updates! Best

[MaxD]

The attached file is very much a base line, where each unit was is not always easy to find out and the time around his capture is not well documented.  Hope you can cross reference it to the original.  The dates of the Part 2 Orders by the way usually lag the actual date of the event.  You have his statement of services which should tell a similar story but may have clues which might help further, are you able to post that?

MaxD