What is a "G(R) Company"?

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csundstr
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What is a "G(R) Company"?

#1

Post by csundstr » 07 Oct 2008, 09:45

When researching the battles in East Africa in 1941, I came across the following designation:

G(R) Unit - Two Companies

This is used to describe a unit that was assigned to the invasion and recapture of British Somaliland in 1941. The troops were sent by and from the British garrison at Aden. The description is given by Lt.Gen. Cunningham in the report written by him and printed in the London Gazette in 1946.

One company, motorized with hired lorries, later operated with four armoured cars of No.3 RAF Armoured Car Squadron (Aden). I haven't seen any information on whether these were Model 1924 Rolls-Royce armoured cars or the four Alvis-Straussler AC3 assigned to the RAF unit in Aden. This small column, under the command of Major G.R. Musgrave (possibly a hint there...compare the initials of the commander, but who is he?), proceeded to clear up the small units of Italian troops in British Somaliland and even conducted an amphibious landing against one position.

At this point I am left guessing as to whether this unit was part of the Royal Army, the Aden Protectorate forces, the RAF or even the Royal Navy/Royal Marines.

Any help would be appreciated, including any help clearing up the vehicles used by the RAF AC unit.

Thanks. Chris.

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Michael Emrys
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#2

Post by Michael Emrys » 08 Oct 2008, 09:53

Not really answering your question, but a possible clue is found in a reference here:

http://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/D%20Z%20 ... ue%201.PDF

to a Lt. Col. G.R. Musgrave:
...the Commanding Officer at Milton Hall, Lt Col G.R.Musgrave...
This was in 1944, so the advance in rank is certainly credible. That's all I found on the web, but it seems I may have run across that name somewhere before in my readings.

Michael
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Steen Ammentorp
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#3

Post by Steen Ammentorp » 08 Oct 2008, 11:02

A bit searching in the London Gazette gives you this:

George Richard Musgrave (129302), Royal Artillery. Gunner in 1940, to be 2nd Lieutenant on 13th April 1940 (Cadets, 122nd and 123rd Officer Cadet Training Units). Mentioned as a Captain (temporary Major) (Acting Lieutenant-Colonel) in the London Gazette 11th December 1942. 3rd March 1946 War Substantive Major G.R. Musgrave Relinquish his command and is granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Now applying this information to Google searching, then you get quite a bit on G.R. Musgrave. This site http://www.specialforcesroh.com/gallery ... ge&id=3364 with a picture of him. This with the same photo of him http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources ... /Lewis.asp

Perhaps most interesting in this connection is this quote from a thesis as this makes it very likely that it is the same person:
The „Notes‟ formed the basis of a series of lectures Wingate delivered to senior British and Chinese officers over the next few days, but events were overtaking him already. On 29 May, a 300 strong penetration force of G(R), BFF and Royal Marines, under Lieutenant Colonel Musgrave of Mission 204, operating on 17th Indian Division‟s right flank on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, was surprised and destroyed by a larger Japanese force at the village of Padaung.


From http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstre ... Thesis.pdf
The thesis is very interesting. Searching through that thesis you will find that G(R) was a local branch of MI(R) Military Intelligence (Research) which was absorbed by the SOE. A further search in Google on say: "G(R)" " Military Intelligence (Research)" will bring much more.

Sadly I have encountered an explanation of G(R) yet. But the author Simon Anglim has written an article called: MI(R), G(R) and British covert operations, 1939-42. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/conten ... 362~db=all
Perhaps this would be of interest to you.
Kind Regards
Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War Two

csundstr
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#4

Post by csundstr » 09 Oct 2008, 05:33

Thank you for your informed reply. I followed the links and found a wealth of information, although details on the specific unit are still at best inferences until I can get access to some of the paper-only sources.

From my reading of the articles, as well as a few others (for example, Orde Wingate's biography, which is available in its entirety from the www.archive.org Universal Library), I have surmised the following about the "G(R) Companies" mentioned by Cunningham:

1) The term G(R) is a reference to the unit in Cairo named thus. At the time of the East African battles, G(R) was an independent unit operating under Middle East Command, but originally formed as the Middle East version/division of MI(R), operating out of England and by mid-1940 absorbed into SOE. In this time-frame, these units were concerned with two facets of operational deployments: the formation of the Independent Companies (which became the Commandos) and the formation of what would become known as "Operational Centres", small units tasked with organizing the efforts and supply of guerrilla forces.

2) G(R) had several units operating in the East African Theatre. As an example of the first type of operational deployment, both No.51 (Middle East) Commando and No.52 (Middle East) Commando participated in combat operations in East Africa. As examples of the second type of operations, Mission 101 and Mission 107 formed quite a few Operational Centres in Ethiopia, the former in the western mountain regions and the latter along the south-western border. Mission 101 is relatively well known as the force led by Orde Wingate (Gideon Force) was part of it/associated with it (depending on who is writing the history - officially it was part of the Mission 101 effort).

3) In addition to the Mission 107 efforts, Cunningham references several companies of "Somalian Irregulars" and "Ethiopian Irregulars" formed into organized units in Kenya and sent back over the southern border; it is difficult to say which category they fall into, although it seems one unit of the "Somali Irregulars" may have been formed into an armoured unit: in January 1941 a "Somaliland Camel Corps Armoured Car Detachment" was in the order of battle of the 25th (East African) Infantry Brigade. The Somaliland Camel Corps had been disbanded in the final days of the retreat from British Somaliland; possibly this unit was made up of SCC members that were evacuated or otherwise reached Kenya? Other units, including one called "Henley's Scouts", seem to have been more along the lines of advanced reconnaissance units...their actions read very much like those used by LRRP units in Vietnam or LRDG units in North Africa.

4) The Somaliland Camel Corps was VERY rapidly reformed after the recapture of British Somaliland. The British landed on March 16, linked up with the forces attacking from Kenya on March 20th and the SCC was reformed at 80% strength on April 18. The G(R) units and RAF armoured cars left on their mission on April 20.

From all of this, it looks like the "G(R) Units - Two Companies" mentioned by Cunningham were probably Independent Company/Commando style units (very probably with a different TO&E - the sources seem to suggest the equipment would have been Rifles, Brens and a few Boys) possibly with a secondary role of helping to contact and re-form the SCC, in the style of the Operational Centres that would operate with Guerrilla forces in other countries. This unit did participate in several small unit actions while driving over 630 miles over rough terrain in one month. They re-established contact with former British tribal/village contacts via an attached political section. They also conducted a few small landing operations with the support of Royal Navy vessels ("pom-pom" fire covering the landing vessels is mentioned - this could be anything from armed trawlers to destroyers). Most of their actions seem to have either been situations where they showed up armed and willing to fight and Italian troops that were cut off from communications, supply and retreat surrendered, or small skirmishes with Somali Dubat Bande (Italian-formed Somali native raiding units, often cavalry, frequently of tribal allegiances). Their area of operations seems to have been strictly the southern and eastern border towns of British Somaliland until May 11, 1941, when they moved to capture the Italian Somaliland secondary port of Dante, before sweeping northwards to capture the Cape at the north-eastern tip of Somalia. They seem to have operated in concert with efforts of the SCC within British Somalia.

I am still looking for information on the RAF armoured car types used.

Thanks again for your help; hopefully someone else will find this information helpful. Corrections/additional information are always welcomed.

Cheers,

Chris

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Michael Emrys
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#5

Post by Michael Emrys » 09 Oct 2008, 07:30

csundstr wrote:I am still looking for information on the RAF armoured car types used.
All I have heard of in this time and place is Rolls-Royce ACs left over from the First World War. Some were still being used in Egypt and Libya too.

Michael
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csundstr
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#6

Post by csundstr » 09 Oct 2008, 16:44

The RAF operated three Armoured Car units in prior to WWII. One was located at Habbinyeh, Iraq, one in Palestine and one (No.3 Armoured Car Squadron) at Aden. They were equipped with Rolls-Royce Model 1924 armoured cars and later modified to have single or twin Lewis guns as AA machine-guns. The cars of the Palestine detachment were heavily modified to include an armoured floor, since Palestinian rebels discovered the vehicles had blind spots and rolling a grenade or firebomb under the vehicle would bypass the armour. The remainder retained their wooden floorboards, which were removeable; I have seen an account stating how the crews liked this feature as it made it easy to polish the undercarriage of the vehicle for inspections (whereas the small 8-cwt trucks used for scouting were very difficult and thus were assigned to the unit's troublemakers).

In 1938 the RAF purchased 12 Alvis-Straussler AC3 armoured cars in an attempt to modernize these units. They were apparently dispersed to the three units, while the prototype remained in England for testing by the Ordinance Boards. The Imperial War museum has a photo of one of these cars in service in Palestine in 1939 and I've seen photos of another in Iraq.

Straussler designs were known for their inventive and advanced chassis and motor-train. Unfortunately the design wasn't very advanced as far as armament went; it was only armed with a single-man turret with a Vickers 0.303 MG. The armour was originally well-slope on all facings, but the RAF had the hull modified to a boxier appearance to increase interior space. Straussler's older AC2 design went into production for the Hungarians as the Csaba. His later work included the design for the DD tanks.

Other than a few photos and a description of the vehicles themselves in one of the "On Armour" series, I am having trouble finding any information on these vehicles and their deployment.

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,

Chris

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Michael Emrys
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#7

Post by Michael Emrys » 10 Oct 2008, 02:56

Hi csundstr,

If any of the above is a direct quote, you should so indicate using the Quote button.

Michael
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#8

Post by phylo_roadking » 10 Oct 2008, 03:17

Chris - by "heavily modified" R-Rs in Palestine, do you mean the ones converted to run on Fordson chassis???

csundstr
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Re: What is a "G(R) Company"?

#9

Post by csundstr » 10 Oct 2008, 08:39

Thank you Emrys for your comment...all of the text I have written so far is my own, paraphrasing information I am pulling together from quite a few different sources. If I quote something directly, I will use the quote function. Feel free to correct me if you find a mistake...that's why I'm asking, and I'm only human!! :D

For phylo_roadking:

The cars of No.2 Company seem to be the ones shown in most of the Imperial War Museum photos as being converted to Fordson chassis, but the armoured floors seems to have been an earlier modification...see the first link below. The Imperial War museum has photos showing Fordson modified versions in October 1940.

The Palestinian cars were modified for fighting rebels in built-up areas...the biggest modification seems to have been changing the removable wooden floorboards for an armoured floor...not an insignificant change when you consider the additional weight; the same source says they were breaking half-axles on unmodified cars every three months or so. The cars were, according to one reference, vulnerable to jamming of the steering by running herds of sheep at the car and into the front wheel-wells, getting stuck due to large turning radius and burning out due to the wooden floorboards and blind spots that allowed rebels to approach unseen. The reference was in passing in the first URL below...the author mentions that RAF Iraq armoured cars were operated in Palestine during the rebellion and the crews were worried about the vulnerability of their cars versus the modified units.

The RAF Rolls-Royce cars seem to have been a mix of different models at first, with the RAF Model predominating in some units. The biggest change for this model was the thinning of the armour from 1/4" to 3/16", to cut weight. Single or twin Lewis guns were added to the top of the turret, complete with Scarff ring (a rotating ring mount used in two-seater biplanes of WWI). I don't know if this was an official modification or one conceived by the local airfield shops. A good description of these cars in operation in Iraq can be found at:

http://www.rroc.org.au/library/sg_ac.html

There are some good photos at:
http://users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/an_ ... album.html
http://users.cyberone.com.au/clardo/g_grierson.html

Most of the sources I have found to date about the RAF Armoured Car squadrons are largely anecdotal...trying to pull together the information can be trying. If anyone can suggest other sources I would appreciate the help. The primary source of information I have on the Alvis-Straussler cars is the book "Armour In Profile #30". In it it states 12 cars were ordered for the RAF and:
Most of the RAF armoured cars were sent to the Middle East, where the R.A.F. Armoured Car Companies were based, and some, at least, joined the armoured car detachment at Aden.
On the same page is a photo of two Alvis-Straussler AC3 in Aden in 1938-1939. This is the only photo I have seen of AC3 in Aden. The Imperial War Museum's online collection has a photo (CM5249) showing three Rolls-Royce AC and two CMP in convoy in Aden in 1943...two RR AC seem to be of one model, the third of another, but the online version of the photo is rather small, so it might be just a different paint job...the turret seems different. The caption refers to the Armoured Car Section based at Khormaksar, Aden. The only other references I have found to the cars in Aden indicate that four armoured cars were shipped to British Somaliland in March 1941 (Lt.Gen. Cunningham reports, published in London Gazette Supplement, July 1946)...plus one passing reference that No.3 Company operated in Aden...but I also have a reference to No.3 operating elsewhere, so possibly only a detachment operated at Aden??

For those of you unfamiliar with the AC3, there are photos showing AC3 in Palestine in the same (Armour in Focus) book and at:

http://www.rafmuseumphotos.com/pictures ... -1939.html

So, at this point I have photos showing two Alvis-Straussler AC3 and three Rolls-Royce AC, all based in Aden according to the photos. What the official unit designation was, what the complete OOB/TO&E for the unit was and what units were sent to British Somaliland are still a mystery to me.

Thanks for your comments and help. Any further help on the armoured cars based in Aden and their use in British Somaliland would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

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