21 Army Group Orders of Battle

[Bill A]

I came across this modeler's site which has a excellent outline of the order of battle of the 21st Army Group. It is an excellent reference, with war establishments and a brief explanation of the role, function or duties of the component.

http://truxmodels.co.uk/index.html

[Jibba Jabba]

Good resource. I often refer to modeler/gaming web sites for information like this, particulary those that specialise in battlefield translation to table top. It's such a crying shame that the majority of regimental museum web sites do not offer even one percent of this detailed information.........your lucky if you get one line about a regiments famous action!

[Bill A]

For badge collecting, especially formation patching, the order of battle has outed many fabricated badges. For example the RCD 5th Canadian Armoured Division patch was offered in canvas. However the order of battle was changed significantly in January 1943, and the RCD were moved to 1 Cdn Corps as recce. Meshing the orbat with the insignia research, it was evident that printed titles and patches were not acquired by the Canadian army until the spring of 1943, well after the RCD had been moved. Thus, the printed formation patch for the RCD 5 CAD was a fantasy piece. It had no basis in the historic record. (Aside from the fact that the patch itself had several characteristics of a reproduction piece.)
Knowledge of the structure of the army is an essential collecting tool in my opinion.