Army service record - Abbreviation

[liver007]

Completed

I need some help to decipher an Army record and help appreciated

The Army record is from WW2 service and the entry is:

  SOS (Struck off Strength)  (R X or Y B.LB) any help appreciated.

The next entry is DISEMARK CMF

Thanks Keith

[MaxD]

SOS means he is taken "off the books" of the unit he is with.  This is often followed by being Taken on Strength of another unit. 

This doesn't look like that but I would far prefer to see a clip of the original, entries above and below often hold clues.  It isn't clear either whether the "or" is on the original or is your input.  It may be a set of five capital letters which were a code for a draft abroad as the next entry is Disembark (ie arrived in...) CMF which was Central Mediterranean Force, the overall name given to the forces in Italy and the Balkans after the invasion of Sicily in 1943.

If the letters are a draft then he was moving from somewhere to the CMF and thus was SOS the former place to now be in the CMF.

MaxD

[liver007]

SOS means he is taken "off the books" of the unit he is with.  This is often followed by being Taken on Strength of another unit. 

This doesn't look like that but I would far prefer to see a clip of the original, entries above and below often hold clues.  It isn't clear either whether the "or" is on the original or is your input.  It may be a set of five capital letters which were a code for a draft abroad as the next entry is Disembark (ie arrived in...) CMF which was Central Mediterranean Force, the overall name given to the forces in Italy and the Balkans after the invasion of Sicily in 1943.

If the letters are a draft then he was moving from somewhere to the CMF and thus was SOS the former place to now be in the CMF.

MaxD

MaxD,

Thanks for your input.

I shall scan the document later this morning


Keith

[liver007]

MaxD,

As requested attached files of the original WW2 service records.

I have used PAINT software to reduce the file sizes.

Keith
X 2 files

[MaxD]

Yes, in the second sheet it is actually labelled Draft RXBLB.  The code doesn’t “mean” anything, it is simply the lettering that identified that particular journey by sea beginning 27 March 1944.  In this case from 12 Battalion Royal Fusiliers in UK where he had been since 22 Dec 1943 to 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers (in the CMF) (note the TOS) via No 5 Infantry Reinforcement Training Depot (in Italy I believe).

MaxD

[liver007]

Yes, in the second sheet it is actually labelled Draft RXBLB.  The code doesn’t “mean” anything, it is simply the lettering that identified that particular journey by sea beginning 27 March 1944.  In this case from 12 Battalion Royal Fusiliers in UK where he had been since 22 Dec 1943 to 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers (in the CMF) (note the TOS) via No 5 Infantry Reinforcement Training Depot (in Italy I believe).

MaxD

MaxD,

Great thanks for all of the information you have supplied.

It all makes sense.


Keith