Messages posted by: davegreen81

Hello folks,

First post, just got my late Grandad's (Henry Thomas - EX3949) service records through and I'm now methodically building up a picture of his service; absolutely fascinating stuff! Always been a bit of a military history buff so this is quite an enjoyable process for me. My Mum is thrilled to get some insight into her Dad, as he was very coy about his service!

The first thing I need to query is regarding HMS Stag.

In his records, it looks like he was sent on temporary detachment from 11th RM Battalion to HMS Stag for Guard Duties on 19.10.1941, returning to 11th RMB on 9.1.1942.

The confusion comes from the next three entries, which basically lead up to him becoming a POW after the failed "Operation Agreement" op at Tobruk (I'll post seperately about that), where he was part of MNBDO1:

Embarked for Service Overseas - 4.2.1941
Disembarked Middle East - 20.4.1941
Reported missing after operations at Tobruk - 14.9.1942.

As you can see, this conflicts with the dates of the HMS Stag posting, so I'm thinking that it's either the order of the entries on this sheet that are out of chronological order, or that there has been a mistake in the dating of the entries? The latter makes the most sense.

From my understansing, HMS Stag was a shore establishment and was initially set-up in Egypt, etc, so it doesn't make sense for him to be assigned to HMS Stag while still in the UK. Wikipedia states this about HMS Stag

HMS Stag (shore establishment) was the name used for the base for British naval personnel in Egypt. First established at Port Said, it commissioned 8 January 1940. There were outposts at Adabya, Kabrit, Ismailia, Generiffa, Port Tewfik and Haifa in Palestine.

So in my mind, I think this is what actually happened is that he...

1. Embarks for Service Overseas (with 11th RMB) 4.2.1941
2. Disembarks Middle East (HMS Stag location? possibly Egypt?) 20.4.1941
3. Is assigned to HMS Stag from 11th RMB to perform Guard Duties on 19.10.1941
4. Is returned to 11th RMB on 9.4.1942
5. Reported missing on ops at Tobruk 14.9.1942

This means he would have spent the best part of 1.5 years travelling to and serving in N.Africa theatre before becoming a POW, which is a good find in itself if I've got this right?

I'd be grateful for any insight into this!

Couple of things I'm interested in finding out beyond confirming this:

1. What ship(s) did the 11th RMB sail on to get to the M.E?
2. Where exactly would the 11th RMB have landed/been stationed at upon arrival in the M.E?
3. Approximately 5 months pass between the 11th RMB arriving in the M.E and the op at Toburk; would this have been purely prep for the operation or did the 11th RMB have any other duties to perform in this period?

Really grateful for anyone's help, thank you very much in advance.

Best,
Dave

P.S We have a photo which may tally up with his time in N.Africa/M.E, which I've attached.