22nd Beach Brigade

[irish]

Attended a militaria show this past weekend and was able to find some nice formation signs, most of which I will post soon. I was told by the person selling that these patches had come from the estate of a U.S. Army Officer.

Here is a nice pair to the 22nd Beach Brigade....I had always wanted one of these signs and was quite pleased to find a pair.
thanks
Jack

[dobw]

Awesome signs! Thanks for posting. Maybe some day...

[irish]

Thanks DOB
Jack

[badjez]

An unusual formation sign. Even rarer is information on this unit. Google tells me nothing. Who served in the Brigade, where, and between what dates?

Stephen.

[irish]

I believe it was formed in the summer of 1945. For the invasion of Japan. Stood down following the surrender. Not sure which units were part of it.

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by irish

I believe it was formed in the summer of 1945. For the invasion of Japan. Stood down following the surrender. Not sure which units were part of it.

Agreed. Not so good for collectors and historians, but I'm sure that many of the members of 22 Beach Brigade were relieved at not having to administer landing beaches on the Japanese home islands. As the cynics said in those days - BLA meant (in 1944) - British Liberation Army (ie 21 Army Group) but by May 1945 in NW Europe the solders' expansion of BLA was "Burma Lies Ahead"

[johnG]

As rightly said above, the brigade was raised for the invasion of the Japanese mainland, and trained in Scotland for that purpose, but in the event was not needed and was disbanded. I read somewhere the penguin was adopted as a badge as it was associated with the water but could not fly, which accorded well with the brigade as their job was concerned with landing craft, with aircraft to be used in the assault being somebody else's responsibility.

[badjez]

Thanks all. So this unit's function was similar to D Day Beach Groups. It would be interesting to know what units the manpower was found from.

Stephen.

[Postwarden]

I am in the process of getting a copy of HQ 22 Beach Brigade's War Diary.

I will report back when received.

Jon

[rolfi]

22 Beach Brigade (Light)
HQ 22 Beach Brigade
HQ 100 Beach Group
HQ 100 Beach Wing
HQ 100 Beach Maintenance Area Wing
HQ Royal Engineers
89 Field Company RE
257 Field Company RE
618 Field Company RE
227 Field Park Company
1032 Port Operations Company RE
1075 Crane Operations Company RE
54 Engineering and Maintenance Platoon RE
65 Mechanical Equipment Platoon RE
“A” Det Brigade Signals
Line Section Royal Signals
17 Ammunition Loading Section RASC
366 Petrol Depot Platoon RASC
417 Supply Platoon RASC
Section 571 Fast Launch Company RASC
843 Amph Coy
1 Beach Medical Unit
59 Field Dressing Station
17 Beach Ordnance Coy RAOC
1 Beach Maintenance Workshop REME
11 Beach Recovery Section REME
12 Beach Recovery Section REME
298 Coy Pioneer Corps
352 Coy Pioneer Corps
837 Coy Pioneer Corps
9435 Army Fire Service Section
124 Beach Provost Company

Formation was authorised on 14 May 1945. The brigade spent most of its short existence training in and around Troon in Ayrshire.
The penguin sign was approved 30 June 1945
On 11 July "...application has been made for the fmn badges for wear on dress and these will be issued as soon as received
unit serial numbers have NOT yet been allocated"
Brigade was completely disbanded by 8 November 1945.

[Postwarden]

Great info. Many thanks.

Jon

[badjez]

Rolfi,

1st Class response. May I enquire as to where you found this information: a War Diary?

Stephen.

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by Postwarden

Great info. Many thanks.

Jon

Based on that 22 Beach Bde OOB, I wonder if in the wake of titles such as BEACH REME, BEACH ORDNANCE and BEACH SIGNALS did anyone submit a case for "Beach" titles for RAMC, PC and Provost? I would not be surprised if they did, but were overtaken by events such as VJ Day and disbandment..

[flash68]

I appreciate this post is almost a year old but I've come across it through researching 22nd Beach Bridage and thought I share a little information that might be of interest and also to ask if Postwarden managed to get old of the brigade's war diary.
My grandfather was a member of 22nd BB and I have most his letters to his wife from Dundonald camp during the summer of 1945 and a few photographs.
On 7th August he wrote that they had been issued with the penguin signs that morning and that they were being sewn onto their uniforms. He commented that they seemed a strange choice of design for a hot climate. 7th August is of course the day after the Hiroshima bomb and he comments that the bomb seemed to be 'quite something' and the men were all hopeful that the war in Japan would not last much longer. The timing of the sign issue seems to indicate that they were being prepared for imminent deployment if it had not been successful.