I sent for my father-in-law’s WWII service record, but I’m still confused
Q We really have no idea about anything Christopher Redman did during WWII, as my father-in-law wouldn’t talk about it; so we decided to send for his army record, which has only partially helped due to the undecipherable army acronyms. Any information you can glean from his record would be much appreciated, particularly what 11 (RMIJ) Bn Hamps, NWE and 115 Rail Feeding Point mean? He served in Belgium, Holland and Germany and was wounded in action 27/3/45, but where did this happen?
Chris also has two discharge dates, 4/10/1946 and 10/2/1954 and what does “Released to Class Z (T) Army Reserve” and “Class A Release” mean?
Our son-in-law and daughter live in the Netherlands and he feels a great gratitude for what the British did for them during the war.
Heather Redman
AIt’s a good job that you applied for Christopher’s WWII Army service when you did because the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow (Historical Disclosures www.gov.uk/get-copymilitary-service-records) was closed during the Covid lockdown and they are not dealing with any new requests until the backlog is cleared, which last I heard may take up to twelve months!
I’ll begin by answering your three main acronym queries. 11(RMIJ) BN HAMPS is the 11th (Royal Militia Island of Jersey) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment. It was formed from local volunteers in 1940, but once it was decided not to defend the Channel Islands, it was brought to the Isle of White and used as a training unit to feed recruits to other battalions of the Hampshire Regiment. Because Chris is listed as being in this unit for 2½ years from January 1942 to July 1944, plus he was appointed a Lance Corporal for the latter half, it suggests that he became one of the training staff.
NWE stands for North West Europe, the period of the war from D-day 6 June 1944 to the German surrender on 8 May 1945, but Chris first went into action in NWE on transfer to the 6th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment on 25 September 1944, which was a component of the 43rd Division of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s 21st Army Group.
115 Rail Feeding Point (i.e. the unit number was 115th just one of several RFPS) was a post-war humanitarian unit manned by soldiers of the 7th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (a Territorial Army unit, which I see Chris transferred to in-theatre on 10 October 1944). Widespread food shortages began to occur in Germany following the end of the war in May 1945 due to food production disrupted by the effects of the European war. This led to the German Hunger Winter of 1945/46. By setting up Rail Feeding Points in major German cities manned by British soldiers, the resultant train shipments of food saved the lives of millions of German civilians and children.
Other army record queries
Your father-in-law was officially discharged on the 4 October 1946 under the rules of ‘Class A Release’ to the ‘Class Z Army Reserve
(T)’. This was a period on the Reserve where the soldier could be called back in the event of a new emergency (the ‘T’ standing for ‘Territorial’) which in Chris’s case was for eight years; his commitment ending on 10 February 1954. ‘Class A Release’ was a date of termination based on a formula of age and length of service.
On the date of 27 March 1945, when Chris was wounded in the leg, he was in action with the 7th Battalion the Hampshire Regiment (a part of 130th Infantry Brigade of the 43rd [Wessex] Division). This was only four days into the Battle of the Rhine, Monty’s set-piece offensive called Operation Plunder to cross the Rhine and take the fight into the heart of Germany. Because the 43rd Division crossed at Rees, a town on the right bank twelve miles east of Kleve, this will be the area that Chris Redman was wounded.
You may also wonder why Chris was a Lance Corporal (wearing 1-stripe on his upper arms) with the 11th Hampshire’s, but a Private again on transfer when sent to fight overseas. The reason is that during both World Wars and sometime afterwards, Lance Corporal was not an official rank, but an ‘appointment’ at the discretion of the unit C.O., who could give or take it away to suit manning requirements, the latter with no disgrace attached. Because Chis was officially a Private, that remained his rank when he went into action after his transfer to a different regiment. Lance Corporal did not become an official rank until 1961. Please see the panel containing the abbreviation meanings to the other army jargon in Chris’s record, which I trust will also be useful to other readers. GC