3rd Beach Group - Insignia

[Cam_s]

Hi Mike,

So the unit was in England from the evacuation of Dunkirk to July 43 when they sailed from Scotland to Sicily. They had no time in other locations so my guess is they were fairly formal. What would this have completely entailed?

There is one picture that I believe is of the 102nd Army Field Coy RE. Here is the link:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204279

My grandfather distinctly remembered this picture. When he was in his hospital bed after being wounded he was reading a paper when he saw a picture of his unit with the caption of the Engineers Cheering Monty. He said immediately recognized the guys and the only reason they were happy was Monty handed out cigarettes. Unfortunately I can't see any insignia in this photo but they are holding cigarettes! haha Both Wedge caps are being worn in a funny manner as well. The caption matches the unit's war diary for the area they were in at the time.

Cam

[Mike Jackson]

Have you explored this:

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/1151...ld-company-re/

In theory the unit will have been ordered to remove the formation signs that they had been wearing in UK on embarkation and will probably have been wearing unbadged KD on landing in the middle of the Sicilian summer - as evidenced by the IWM image that you posted. Only two of the group are wearing shirts, so there's not much to go on. Surprisingly the Army Commander is, for once, correctly dressed! Mike

[Cam_s]

Unfortunately the website is down right now... hopefully it's back up shortly.

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by Mike Jackson

Have you explored this:

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/1151...ld-company-re/

In theory the unit will have been ordered to remove the formation signs that they had been wearing in UK on embarkation and will probably have been wearing unbadged KD on landing in the middle of the Sicilian summer - as evidenced by the IWM image that you posted. Only two of the group are wearing shirts, so there's not much to go on. Surprisingly the Army Commander is, for once, correctly dressed! Mike

I'm still on the case. Although this Airgraph doesn't prove anything it does show a linkage between a sister unit to 3 Beach Group and the Combined Operations sign. Further evidence that the edict that the sign was not (not) to be worn by Beach Groups was being ignored in CMF. Mike
Beach Groups_4 Beach Group Airgraph.jpg

[Cam_s]

Thanks!

That's quite interesting. Hopefully something related to 3 Beach Group comes up at some point.

Cam