Bridge Coy, RASC
. Bailey Pn
. Bailey Pn
. Bailey Pn
. Pontoon Pn
. FBE Pn (Folding Boat Equipment)
. Assault Pn (!?)
I'm guessing the names are fairly descriptive of the responsibilities and the kind of equipment found in each pn. I found this about the Assault pn:
from here which makes them sound a bit like pioneers/labour. Then again, other info makes it sound like they had assault boats, which is probably more likely.The 7th Battalion [Parachute], meanwhile, were beginning to struggle. Infantry attacks, sometimes supported by armour, continuously probed the British positions in search of a gap which could wrench the village from their grasp. The first signs of relief came at 11:30, when sappers of the 1629 Assault Platoon, part of the 106 Bridging Company, RASC, arrived in the Bénouville area, having been ordered to race to the scene immediately after landing so that they might begin the construction of two Class 40 Bailey Bridges in case the coup de main had failed.
This particular coy - 106th - was part of I Corps, and was involved in the initial assault on SWORD and JUNO, so it may have had a slightly different org to a standard Bridge Coy.
Basically, what I'm after is the number of men in each pn, a brief precis of their equipment, and the scale these Coys were allocated on. I believe it was one per Corps, but was there also one at each army? What about at 21st Army Gp? Were there any 'spare' Bridge Coys, like the 'spare' AGsRA?
Edit: Apparently 85 and 86 Bridging Coys, RCASC, were part of 1 Cdn Army, and II Can Corps doesn't seem to have had it's own Coy - presumably one was allocated from Army. Extrapolating wildly here, that would seem to indicate a general scale of one in each Corps, plus another one at each Army.
Edit2: Looking through some Canadian Military History files, esp [cmhq168.pdf] it looks like the scale was one Bridge Coy per corps, but these coys were actually held as Army Troops, at Army level.
Many thanks
Jon