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I’m continuing to decipher my uncle’s service file,

I’m trying to figure out what the highlighted entry states. I know that he disembarked in the U.K. from Halifax (embarked on Sep 23, 1942) on Oct. 7, 1942. He is part of the 21 Canadian Armoured Regiment (CGFG).
Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) Intelligence Unit (#4 Tank RHQ, ???).

What does this mean? Where was the RHQ located?

I’m also including an extract from Extract from report no. 85 from the Canadian Military Headquarters of October 30, 1942 regarding his ship’s arrival.

alroch4 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 am

I’m continuing to decipher my uncle’s service file,

I’m trying to figure out what the highlighted entry states. I know that he disembarked in the U.K. from Halifax (embarked on Sep 23, 1942) on Oct. 7, 1942. He is part of the 21 Canadian Armoured Regiment (CGFG).

Screenshot 2024-11-16 101320.jpg

Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) Intelligence Unit (#4 Tank RHQ, ???).

What does this mean? Where was the RHQ located?

I’m also including an extract from Extract from report no. 85 from the Canadian Military Headquarters of October 30, 1942 regarding his ship’s arrival.
Gourock Oct 7 1942.jpg

Every unit in the Canadian Army had a ‘’Regimental Headquarters”, this was manned by various sub units (Sigs, Intell, CO etc) that ran the “battle” or “movement” of the unit. They also issued the ORDER’s to the Company Commanders for movement, advance to contact etc etc.

Also every unit had a small “intelligence unit” within the RHQ. These men studied the “intelligence reports” from Brigade, Division, Corps etc each day to find out information about disposition of enemy troops, artillery, armoured in the the area surrounding the Regiment. The CO was normally briefed every day about this information. Also, before any major movement or actions the CO held a “O” Group and the Intelligence Officer or Senior NCO would brief everyone at the CO’s “O” Group.

In case you don’t now what an “O” Group is, it means “ORDERS” GROUP. ORDERS meant the CO was giving his entire Regiment “orders” on an upcoming attack or movements. The “O” Group was normally attended by the OC’s of each Company, RSM, Signals, Medical, Support Company etc etc…….So all these Officers’ and Senior NCO’s would gather at the RHQ Location and be given ORDERS.

ORDERS is a very “regimented” system of outline the Coming Battle, the objectives, which units go where, who is supporting the Regiment (Artillery or Infantry etc)…..the method we used for ORDERS was an acronym called SMEAC

the acronym SMEAC: "S" Situation, "M" Mission, "E" Execution, "A" Administration/Logistics, "C" Command/Signal. This is how “orders” are given, in a specific manner each time, so everyone knew what to do.

This is how “ORDERS” are written and given out to the “O’ Group participants by the CO (or his designated)

Outline of five paragraph order

I. Situation

A. Enemy Forces
Enemy's Composition, Disposition, Strength
Enemy's Capabilities & Limitations:(DRAW-DG) Defend, Reinforce, Attack, Withdraw, Delay, Gas
Enemy's Most Likely Course Of Action (EMLCOA)
Enemy's Most Dangerous Course of Action

B. Friendly Forces
Higher's Mission & Intent
Adjacent Units
North/South/East/West
Same Echelon
Supporting

C. Attachments/Detachment

D. Civil/Terrain considerations

II. Mission
Who, What (Tactical Task), Where, When, and Why?

III. Execution

A. Commander's Intent
Center of Gravity
Critical Vulnerability
Exploitation Plan
Desired Endstate

B. Concept of the Operations
Scheme of Maneuver
Fire Support Plan
C. Tasks

D. Coordinating Instructions

IV. Administration/Logistics (Service Support in the Army version)

A. Administration – "Bad Guys & Bandages": Enemy Prisoners of War ("EPW") & Casualty evacuation ("Casevac") Plans

B. Logistics – "Beans, Bullets, & Batteries": Food, Ammunition, Supply, Communications, Pyrotechnics, etc.

V. Command/Signal (Command and Signal in the Army version)

A. Signal
Primary
Alternate
Contingency
Emergency

B. Command
Location of Key Leaders
Succession of Command

The CARDINAL RULE during an O GROUP, their was NO QUESTIONS ALLOWED ‘during’ the briefing, you listened, you took notes, and you wrote down ANY question you may have if you don’t understand something. At the very END of the O Group, the CO would then ask for questions (if anything that was said was confusing or YOU may have misunderstood something.

AFTER the ‘O’ Group was over, each OC of Companies etc, would then go to the “battle” map and take down ALL information for them to plan their O Group (SMEAC)…….they also met with other OC’s in their Battalion/Regiment to confirm “what they were doing with each other”……EG the TANK Commander (in the case of the 21st CAR) would go see the Infantry Battalion Commander to co-ordinate their actions together……and so forth down the chain.

You probably are saying, THAT’s a lot of information…….and it is, but in the Army we “practice” giving orders in this specific way EVERY TIME that ORDER’s are issued…….so you get to know what to right down (what’s important to your specific unit) for the upcoming operation

AND in a Operation, orders sometimes are the same each time (like the SITUATION, telling you where the enemy is, sort of the BIG PICTURE of what’s going on all around you

OK, I could go on for ever…….but I told you all this BECAUSE the “Intell Section” prepared much of the ORDERS for the SITUATION from what they have learned from Reports etc from Higher Formations (Brigade, Division, Corps, and Army.

Also, the Intelligence Section “may” be involved in questioning captured enemy troops, to pass on the HIGHER FORMATION’s everything they can learn about the enemy.


I don’t believe you’ve given us his name, but you can search the Nominal Roll for departure from Canada here (it you’ve not already done it

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1241&p=4254&hilit=2 ... ment#p4254

Sorry, this is a lot of information, and it takes a lot of time to TEACH, LEARN and USE some of this “army stuff” But if you have ANY questions on the above, or more questions……..I’m here

PS. ORDER”S were issued ‘down the chain” about the upcoming battle or movement, Army gave an O Group to Corps Commanders, Corps gave an O GROUP to Division Commanders, Division gave an O GROUP to Brigade Commanders, Brigade gave an O Group to Battalion (or Regimental) Commanders, Regiment/Battalion gave an O Group to Company Commanders, Company gave an O Group to Platoon Commanders, Platoon gave an O Group to Section (or Troop) Commanders, Section gave an O Group to his men (10 men, or Troops of tanks)

ALL of the above followed the exact same format called SMEAC. But the info was given from top to bottom from a BIG PICTURE order, to the Sections commanders telling his men what’s going on. SO the method of give it orders were identical, bottom to top, top to bottom. WHAT is IN the ORDERS for each group is tailored by the Commander of that group to tell them how to accomplish the MISSION for that operation.

Thanks for the additional information. His name is Elwood Linton "Woody" Armstrong.

I do have a copy of the manifest for his departure from Halifax.

Any idea what "#4 Tank RHQ, ???" means. Would this have been in Aldershot, UK?

Alain.

I’ve found more info, this post is info from Newspapers.com

This info is from the War diaries,

It shows exactly when he was wounded (15 Aug 1944) - 2 Records, the first record is from CMHQ on the 5th May 1945 (I’ve included the cover page from those records which tells you HOW to read the coding used on the page) and the second record from the War Diaries in Aug 1945. These documents both confirm he was wounded on the 15 Aug 1944

AND I’ve included the war diary page for that day. The Regiment was in action, but it doesn’t give much details, and without knowing which Squadron he was in at that time, its hard to say what happened with him

And we know his Regimental Number was C 3521

This means he “joined” in Military District 3 (MD 3), and he originally joined the 2nd Division Signals

THEN we know from his records that you posted, he was sent to the 1st Division Signals From 1939 to 1940 for training.

And then he went to the Infantry (Governor Generals Foot Guards) and when this infantry unit was “converted” to an Armoured Regiment, he then was part of the 21st Canadian Armoured Regiment (Governor Generals Foot Guards)

You probably have this already, but two nominal rolls

1942 - on embarkation to England, on this Roll he is in Regimental Headquarters Squadron

31 May 1944 - on this Roll he is in No 3 Squadron, his trade qualification is Gnr Op “C” (Gunner Operator Group “C”)

Some general information on a Canadian Armoured Regiment War Establishment for vehicles and types. The 21st Cdn Armoured Regiment Number their Squadrons instead of letters (eg ‘A’ Squadron = No 1 Squadron, ‘B’ Squadron = No 2 Squadron, ‘C’ Squadron = No 3 Squadron)

Wow! Fantastic stuff! I appreciate it very much. I'm going through the War Diaries and finding a few more clues.

I'm back. A recap, my uncle was wounded on August 15, 1945, while on Operation Totalize with 4th Canadian Armoured Division.

The was diary for his unit stated they were at MR 173458. I understand this a grid reference.

173 refers to the east-west coordinate (easting).
458 refers to the north-south coordinate (northing).
Together, they pinpoint a specific 100-meter square on the map.

By cross-referencing the grid 173458 on Sheet 7F4, I came to the area highlighted by a yellow square and dot to approximate their location within that grid square.

I’m I correct?