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Hi I am trying to put together a list of all Canadian regiments and units that used the Marshalling camps in the areas A,B and C in the lead up to D-day.I am also looking for photos taken in and around the camps.

Welcome Ddaygold…..we’ll try and help you all we can. I have “lists” of all the WW1 and WW2 camps is Great Britain, and they give “some (little)” information on which units used them. But if you’d like to see the lists, let me know and I can e-Mail to you.

Here’s a direct link to the above information that my help

https://wartimes.ca/wp-content/uploads/ ... -Areas.pdf

Also, I have the maps for some of the area’s (not sure if you have those)…..

So, if you can tell us what you have so we don’t repeat info, that would help.

Also, almost all of the Canadian War Dairies (that I have seen) do tell you the camps they were in in May/June…..but then you would need the war diaries of every unit to get all this info….which I have many

So, my thought is, if you can tell us “what you know now” (which units you have and were) then I can research what I have and add to your lists

Cheers, and welcome to the site

HOlD ON……I just remembered………in the Operation Neptune/Overlord Operations Orders their ARE charts that show the location of every Canadian Unit and their next move from Marshalling Camps to boarding locations……..I have those……..somewhere in my files……

So, give me a moment and I’ll try and find them and post them up here

Cheers

Here’s an example of the documents……their the 3rd Cdn Division Unit Staff Tables…….the first page is just the cover page, and the second page is just ONE page from these documents. You can see on the second page it shows each unit (and sub unit) and where they were as of that date, then their next move, and then final concentration for boarding. IF THIS HELPS, let me know, these are just quick screen shots, and I”ll find the originals again and take better resolution shots of each for you….

Then……..if you need to know where each unit actually LOADED in Southampton prior to D Day….you can then get the loading tables…..

For example, here are a couple of pages from the Berthing & Loading Tables of Operation Overlord/Neptune Operations orders

These show you each Serial (and the actual ship assigned to that serial) and the location of “berthing” for loading, or at a “hard” (for LST, LCT’s etc) or a berth for tendering (the ship remained at its anchorage position and the troops were tendered out to it…..eg HMS Hilary was loaded in this fashion)

AGAIN, I’m not in a position to know what you have or know, and what you WHAT to know, so just look at everything I’m posting for you and then we can go from their.

A lot of information on the ship berthing (in Southampton) ant the “Loading and berthing Tables” are in my book on this web site. Here’s a direct link to the book (don’t worry, it’s free……but it is a very LARGE file, so does take time to download…….so give it some minutes)

https://wartimes.ca/wp-content/uploads/ ... -v12.9.pdf

I also have tons of back up documents (some I’ve told you about above) some I’ll tell you about if I know exactly what you need and are looking for.

ALSO, their a lot of the original documents on this website……….go to the main page, look under RESEARCH…….BATTLES……..NORMANDY and you can then download “my book but I’m including a direct link below” and a lot of other documentation that “may” help you

We’re here to help if we can

Cheers

Link to the book

https://wartimes.ca/wp-content/uploads/ ... -v12.9.pdf

Here’s and “example” of a Unit (22nd Field Ambulance) War Diaries, and in it you can see they NAME the camp they were at, then moving off to their embarkation location. They were located at Camp C2

So, if you wanted to do this for every unit, you would need to see their War Diaries for May/Jun 1944…….BUT, not ALL units named their location, so this could be hit and miss to find them

And then using this information, you can check the Loading and Berthing Tables……..from this you see Serial 1555 was LST 65, and it loaded at S Three Hard
And then the next follow up, is the location of Hard S3, on the table below, located EAST of Town Quay
And Hard S3 in Southampton is located in this approx area on the map below…..(east of Town Pier).


And my final map, this is a from Operation Overlord Administrative map for Area C, and I’ve circle where Hards S1, S2 and S3 were, and also the location of Camp C2. Also the notes beside each hard indicate how many vessels could be loaded at one, and S3 Hard could handle 1 LST and 2 LCT’s concurrently…..
SO, just one example, finding all the Canadian Units and plotting them will be a lot of work…..

The war diaries then indicate that LST 65 moved from its loading location to its anchorage location, shown on the map below, which was Area 22, Row D, Number 9
Photograph of Southampton Docks, and the approx location of all the S Hards

Hi Temujin, thank you for the information if you could find the originals and take better resolution shots of the 3rd Cdn Division Unit Staff Tables I would be grateful.

DdayGold wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 10, 2021 7:41 am

Hi Temujin, thank you for the information if you could find the originals and take better resolution shots of the 3rd Cdn Division Unit Staff Tables I would be grateful.

Go to this link. This is Heritage Canadiana……all the 3rd CID War Diaries for that period including the Unit Staff Tables on on these reels. This link will take you to the start of the Unit Staff Tables. You need to go page by page……to get the best resolution, just increase the magnification on each page and copy to your computer.

Heritage Canadiana
LAC Reel T-7620, starting Image 1452

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/ooci ... 52?r=0&s=1

Here’s a copy of a page at the highest resoulution. Of course, if your using a IPAD (like me) you can then edit the photo to increase the visibility of sheets that have “faint” typing or decrease to do the ones that are too bold…..helps reading them……

The one I’ve posted below is a copy of it without any adjustments