Messages posted by: Vlewis

Good effort Dan and John.. don't want to put the mockers on ... but the proof is in the pudding (two idioms in one sentence :) ) but the uptime on this site says it all.

Cheers Vic

Hi J. Morgan

My Dad (Roy Lewis) was in 2 Special Service Brigade Signals as well, covered the Salerno landings but was back in the UK January 1944.

I think that location is "Via Barberini 14" not far from Piazza Barberini in Rome

Regards Vic

CH prefix indicates Chatham Division..

A lot of detail included in the following document.

https://rmhistorical.com/images/RM%20Register%20Numbers.pdf

Cheers

Hi Phil,

Found this, looks like it was formed a while after the D Day landings..

28 Battalion Royal Marines

The unit was one of two created to address the manpower shortage of 21st Army Group in early 1945. The brigade was created on 1 January 1945 from former members of the Royal Marines Division, which had been broken up in 1943 and the troops distributed to Marine Commandos, or retrained as landing craft crew. They were quickly re-mustered as regular infantry, organised as a standard Army brigade. (27RM, 28 RM and 30 RM)

The 116th Brigade was sent into action in February 1945, serving under the First Canadian Army in the crossing of the Maas, and in the advance across the Rhine into north-west Germany to the naval ports, with the 28th Battalion particularly distinguishing itself in the fighting around Oldenburg,and 27th Battalion fighting with the 4th Canadian Armoured Division in their advance through Oldenburg towards Wilhelmshaven.

The brigade remained in northern Germany after the surrender as part of XXX Corps, with their headquarters at Buxtehude,but operating in the naval ports of Wilhelmshaven, Emden, Brunsbüttel, and Cuxhaven, overseeing the capitulation of German naval ships and personnel, until returning to the UK at the end of June 1945 to be disbanded.

Regards Vic

Hi All,

Been a follower of Mark's videos on youtube for a while, Mark has got a large online following and he normally produces short videos covering less known battles and bizarre stories of military interest.

He has just published a short video the Dieppe landings which obviously has British Commando involvement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbSn0wccJAo

Regards Vic

John,

When closed and tightened up is it obvious the knife handle can be unscrewed? I appreciate Peter's comment on there being no point having a secret compartment on capture but it may contain sensitive information, maps, contacts etc but again I suppose under close inspection the captors would unscrew the compartment if it wasn't foolproof..

Regards

Saw these pop up on my Facebook feed by an serviceman friend.

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2019-10-02/i-m-lost-for-words-veteran-95-overcome-with-emotion-after-visit-to-primary-school-to-give-greatest-history-lesson/?fbclid=IwAR2rJXUxOP8gMy7bYpanDSCD7GtP9CNlkiKieN9qDGzJbfOZlyR8WZ2soTU

Nice little video in the one above.

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2019-09-24/d-day-veteran-recalls-rats-eating-his-toenails-as-he-slept-on-dunkirk-beach/

Apologies in advance if they've already been posted onto this site..

Agreed Pete, having to do this for my own business I can say we can sometimes take the internet and websites for granted but there's a lot of maintenance, updates and general TLC needed to keep them up and running as the content grows. I rarely have issues accessing this site which I do frequently so a big thanks to John and his team and the contributors for making this resource available to us all. Cheers

Hi Nick,

I make you right with "Jimmy"

I took one of the photos of my Dad's original modified Royal Corps of Signals cap badge, cut it out, scaled to the original photo with some filters and it certainly fits like a glove with respect to the size and shapes. Obviously not fool proof but looks that way to me. Your eyes must be better than mine.. good spot.

Regards Vic

Hi Antoine A.

Yes very confusing for me as well, when replying I have to try and remember myself :)

I think you're correct about the 4 different Special Service Brigades (Signals Troops) Army and RM. What makes it confusing is the non Signals Special Service Brigades for want of a better description were comprised of various Commando units. For example, 1st Special Service Brigade in June 1994 were comprised of Nos 3, 4, 6 and 45RM and were supported by 1 Special Service Brigade Signals from Brigade HQ. No 4 Commando were additionally augmented by the French elements of No 10IA for the D-Day landings. So for that period the Signals were from 1 Special Service Brigade Signal troop covering No 4 Commando which had the French 10 IA. As mentioned before, the men were interchangeable for a variety of reasons so there were some exceptions to this.

I think later in 1944 (November) No 4 Commando were part of 4 Special Service Brigade which was largely made up of RM Commando units and supported by 4 Special Service Brigade Signals.

So from a reenactment perspective it's really all to do with what operation / year you are looking in No 4s history to see what Signal Brigade was attached. There's probably more to this than what I have discussed and hopefully some of the more historically accurate members may chip in and shed some light on it.

Regards Vic

Hi Antoine A.

Yeah this is very interesting, thanks for the response and info on the radios. I did attend a military show a few years back where I live in Essex at Damyns Hall, unfortunately due to local residents complaints they stopped it for some reason. However, at this show there was a large tent run by military radio enthusiasts who had all the sets you can imagine on display, always enjoyed stopping by the display and having a chat.

Regards the shoulder titles, I'm not an expert on these matters but I believe No 10IA may of been slightly different due to the language and assume their native speakers were not from the Royal Corps of Signals or other British Army regiments although I'm sure that some of the British Commando Signalers were attached to 10IA at some point.

I know that Commando Signalers from the 4 Special Service Brigades (Signal Troops) were interchanged with various Commandos as and when needed. For example, my Dad was originally in 2 Special Service Brigade Signals supporting No2 and 41RM Commando in Italy, then moved to 1 Special Service Brigade supporting No6 and 45RM juts after D-Day so again, just an assumption but I believe it was easier to retain the Signals shoulder titles for that reason.

There were two type of shoulder titles, one with the letters SS either side of the dagger and lightning flash (similar to my avatar) and the curved red on dark blue more familiar ones. The former are quite rare in original and I have never seen a photo of one on a uniform but they do exist as I have a pair although I believe these were not used past 1942. If you look in the galleries there should be a photos of these originals as I posted the pictures.

Regards Vic

Nice, weren't these handmade out of old spoons? good detailing on the grip.

Hi Antoine A.

Yes you're correct, I'm not sure if all Signals wore that cap badge but basically it was a modified version of the original (from that period) Royal Corps of Signals cap badge with the bronze surround cut away and some soldering to the back with a pin to secure "Jimmy" to the clip.

I believe it was also normal to wear the Commando Signals shoulder titles on the battle dress.

There a few members on here who know these things inside out and above my knowledge so I'm sure I'll be supported or corrected on my assumptions.

Do you have radio set for your reenactment group (not that I have one) always interested in posts regarding Commando Signals.

Regards Vic

Hi Kevin,

try this link, should take you to the second edition (which is shipping in January)

https://www.beicbooks.com/shop

Regards

Hi Kevin,

Looks like the 1st Edition hardback was a limited run so probably all gone. The second edition is paperback and available from what I can see from www.beicbooks.com

Regards Vic