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3rd /5th Survey Regiments.

unit history to be transcribed

In 1937 the 223rd [Field Artillery] Signals Section, Royal Signals [TA] was formed and after many alterations of role, became the 3rd Survey Regiment RA [TA] from which the 5th Survey Regiment RA [TA] was formed.  The Regimental HQ was in Charnwood House in Cotham [now part of the Bristol Grammar School].  These units served throughout the Second World War.  In 1947 both units amalgamated to form the 376 Observation Regiment RA [TA] a further change of title in 1959 saw this unit become the 883rd Locating Battery RA [TA], forming part of the Wessex Division HQRA.  source: Major J Smith MBE T.D. RA [v]

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3rd Svy Regt.

 

 

5th Svy Regt

  T A.

 

 

T A.

  

 

 

Of 3 Svy Regt

Bristol 1938
France 1940 - 3 Corps Troops
UK 1940-2 - 3 Corps Troops
Egypt 1943 - GHQ Troops 
Sicily - 1943 - 6 AGRA
Italy 1943-5 - 13 Corps Troops

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UK 1940-2 - 5 Corps Troops
Tunisia 1943 - 5 Corps Troops
Italy 1943-5 - 5 Corps Troops

  

 

Reformed as 376 Obs Regt 1947.

 

Disbanded 1947.

source: http://members.tripod.com/~nigelef/

http://members.tripod.com/~nigelef/svyregt43.htm

The above websites are full of detailed info on Regimental Artillery establishments and also a full glossary of terms used from the WW1 and WW11 periods.

Links: Copy and paste into your web browser if links do not work.

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A Savage Does His Bit!

People in story:  John Savage
Location of story:  South Coast of England
Background to story:  Army:  5th Survey Regiment R.A. [TA] [Bristol]
Article ID:  A3293930
Contributed on:  18 November 2004.

Thank you to the BBC for such wonderful work in presenting our History (of which I am a part having served in WW2)

The Savages are a family with a long military tradition that can be dated back to the Battle of Crecy. My father served in a mounted regiment in Baghdad and Africa during WW1. When I saw, during 1937, my last year at Grammar School in Bristol, that war was definitely coming I was determined to join up and do my duty too. I really wanted to join the Somerset Yeomanry, a mounted regiment, because I was a horseman as my father and grandfather had been. They were so popular however, that their books were closed to new recruits. Instead I volunteered for the 5th Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery.

The 5th Survey Regt was mainly made up from local government officers, men who were used to wearing ties. We were ‘soldier scientists’ and our job was mapping and locating the enemy guns on the French Coast by sight and sound. We moved up and down the South Coast of England in 15 cwt lorries, and often came under heavy fire from bombing raids. As they fell from the planes, the bombs would wobble in the air. Those summers were beautifully hot and sunny, but the glorious views faded away when we pulled into the nearby airfields and saw what a mess these raids had made.

[Mr Savage told his story to a volunteer typist at the Shropshire Family History Festival. He accepts the terms and conditions of the website.]

Source; Website http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/30/a3293930.shtml

WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC.

The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar'

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