549th Electrical and Mechanical Company, Royal Engineers

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549th Electrical & Mechanical Company, Royal Engineers
Active1944–46
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Branch Flag of the British Army.svg Territorial Army
RoleElectrical engineering
Part of11th Line of Communication Area, 21st Army Group
Engagements North West Europe
Not to be confused with 549th (Lancashire) Field Company, active during World War I

549th Electrical and Mechanical Company was a unit of the British Royal Engineers (RE) formed during World War II. It served in North West Europe, where it repaired damaged infrastructure.

Royal Engineers corps of the British Army

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Western Front (World War II) military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany

The Western Front was a military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. World War II military engagements in Southern Europe and elsewhere are generally considered under separate headings. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale combat operations. The first phase saw the capitulation of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France during May and June 1940 after their defeat in the Low Countries and the northern half of France, and continued into an air war between Germany and Britain that climaxed with the Battle of Britain. The second phase consisted of large-scale ground combat, which began in June 1944 with the Allied landings in Normandy and continued until the defeat of Germany in May 1945.

Contents

Origin

Whereas the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers maintained vehicles and complex weapons and equipment, the RE's E&M companies worked with heavy electrical engineering plant, such as generators and pumps. Although termed a Company, 549 E&M Co often only had a strength of just 3 officers and 28 other ranks. [1]

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses.

The unit's war diary begins in April 1944, when it was based at 43 Albemarle Cresecent, Scarborough. It moved to Arncott Depot for training, where it came under the command of No 11 Lines of Communication Area which would play a crucial role in maintaining the beachhead once the invasion of mainland Europe (Operation Overlord) began. [1] [2] [3]

Scarborough, North Yorkshire town in North Yorkshire, England

Scarborough is a town on the North Sea coast of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town lies between 10–230 feet above sea level, rising steeply northward and westward from the harbour on to limestone cliffs. The older part of the town lies around the harbour and is protected by a rocky headland.

MoD Bicester

MoD Bicester is a large military storage and distribution centre just outside Bicester in Oxfordshire.

Operation Overlord Successful invasion of Nazi-held northern Europe in World War II

Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.

Normandy

The company travelled to Southampton on 10 July 1944 and on 14 July disembarked from HMS Princess Astrid in Normandy. [1] For the next few weeks most of its work involved establishing water-points in the beachhead area for 21st Army Group, often under fire from German artillery. [4] [5] [6]

Landing ship, infantry

A Landing ship, infantry (LSI) or infantry landing ship was one of a number of types of British Commonwealth vessels used to transport landing craft and troops engaged in amphibious warfare during the Second World War. LSIs were operated by the Royal Navy, British Merchant Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Indian Navy, and Royal Australian Navy. They transported British Commonwealth and other Allied troops in sea assaults and invasions throughout the war.

21st Army Group WWII United Kingdom military group

The 21st Army Group was a World War II British headquarters formation, in command of two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established in London during July 1943, under the command of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), it was assigned to Operation Overlord, the Western Allied invasion of Europe, and was an important Allied force in the European Theatre. The 21st Army Group operated in Northern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany from June 1944 until the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, after which it was redesignated the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).

Caen

Royal Engineers comb through the ruins of Caen in July 1944. Royal Engineers in Caen.jpg
Royal Engineers comb through the ruins of Caen in July 1944.

In late August the company HQ was sent to Caen to start work on rebuilding the electricity power station. [1] The town and surrounding country relied for its power on this installation, which had been wrecked by Allied bombing. [7] 'First inspection presented a gloomy picture. There was no roof and little remained of the walls but the steel stanchions, and the machinery and boilers were buried under pules of rubble. When the latter was cleared somewhat it was seen that the situation was not so bad as it had appeared. It was found that two turbo-generators could be put into commission at reduced load if certain damaged parts could be replaced by parts taken from others in a worse state. The boilers were found to be capable of raising steam to meet this reduced load after overhaul and similar replacements. Similarly sufficient switchgear was assembled by cannibalization to meet initial requirements'.(RE History) [8]

Caen Prefecture and commune in Normandy, France

Caen, is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department. The city proper has 108,365 inhabitants, while its urban area has 420,000, making Caen the largest city in former Lower Normandy. It is also the third largest municipality in all of Normandy after Le Havre and Rouen and the third largest city proper in Normandy, after Rouen and Le Havre. The metropolitan area of Caen, in turn, is the second largest in Normandy after that of Rouen, the 21st largest in France.

The Chief Engineer of 21st Army Group's Lines of Communications later described the first day of operation of this patched-up installation:

'When the steam valves were opened clouds of steam came out of the main pipes from many unauthorized places, but gradually the turbine began to turn, slowly working up speed as the throttle was opened till about 1,000 revs. per minute had been reached.
'At this point horrible expensive noises came from the interior of the turbine. Steam was hastily shut off, and when the machine had come to rest it was examined anxiously. No apparent damage had been done, so the R.E. officer in charge decided to try again in the afternoon.
'Speed was slowly built up, with everyone on the alert for any unusual noise, but nothing occurred, and the turbine reached its normal running speed without mishap.
'The first large electrical installation in France had been made to work amid the wreckage all around'. [8]

Restoring the power meant that Caen docks and railway workshops could function, the rail line through Caen could be reopened, and US Engineers could build transmission lines from the power station to restart the electricity grid in the area. [1] [4] [9] [10]

Antwerp

549 E&M Company completed work at Caen Power Station at the end of November and moved to the port of Antwerp in Belgium, which had recently been opened by the Allies. Mobile generating plants on railway trains and ships were linked up to provide power. This work was done under occasional long-range artillery fire, which damaged some equipment, and the sustained bombardment of the city by V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets, which damaged the company's barracks. As soon as the floating power stations were in operation, 549 Company began building a 20-mile power line to supply the liberated parts of the Netherlands. To do this, the company had to locate and lift several hundred anti-tank and anti-personnel mines from the route of the power line. Work to restore the Belgian and Dutch power grids, and to provide electricity for the large Prisoner of War camps, was still continuing when the war in Europe ended in May 1945. [1] [4] [11] [12]

Germany

After VE Day and into 1946 until disbandment, the company often with as many as four platoons under command) continued working in Germany as part of British Army of the Rhine on restoring power and water supplies, and tasks such as installing traffic lights on British Bailey bridges and German autobahns. [11] 549 Company RE was not reformed after the war. [13]

Awards

549 E&M Company's commanding officer, Temporary Major Thomas Martin, was awarded a US Bronze Star for his work in this campaign. [4]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 549 E&M Co War Diary, 1944, The National Archives (TNA), Kew file WO 171/1641.
  2. ↑ Ellis, Appendix IV, p. 532.
  3. ↑ Pakenham-Walsh, pp. 357–9 & 368.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Major Martin's medal recommendation, TNA file WO 373/147/359.
  5. ↑ Pakenham-Walsh, p. 358.
  6. ↑ Watson & Rinaldi, p. 169.
  7. ↑ Pakenham-Walsh, pp. 375–6.
  8. 1 2 Pakenham-Walsh, pp. 429–30.
  9. ↑ Pakenham-Walsh, p. 424.
  10. ↑ Ellis, p. 473.
  11. 1 2 549 E&M Co War Diary, 1945, TNA file WO 171/5565.
  12. ↑ Pakenham-Walsh, p. 453.
  13. ↑ Watson & Rinaldi.

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