Picture ID. Canadians?

[Clive_Dakers]

I bought some pictures recently. Trying to identify the unit. The originals have France July 1944 written on the rear. It looks like either an Engineer or Artillery grenade above the Sgt stripes of pic 1

It was suggested on another forum that these might be 12 Corps)




The following has a sign on the door, 10 MBU (10 mobile Bath Unit) A Canadian Unit, mobilized in August 1943 in First Canadian Army (FCA) Reorganized as 9 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit (MLBU). If you examine the cap badges you will see they are different, any ideas? I think I see an RAOC (RCOC) badge and a RASC badge.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Clive_Dakers

I bought some pictures recently. Trying to identify the unit. The originals have France July 1944 written on the rear. It looks like either an Engineer or Artillery grenade above the Sgt stripes of pic 1

It was suggested on another forum that these might be 12 Corps

The soldiers in these photos are British and belong to a 'Corps Troops' unit of the British XII Corps. They are all wearing the Formation patch of the British XII Corps (see first attachment)

Originally Posted by Clive_Dakers

The following has a sign on the door, 10 MBU (10 mobile Bath Unit) A Canadian Unit, mobilized in August 1943 in First Canadian Army (FCA) Reorganized as 9 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit (MLBU). If you examine the cap badges you will see they are different, any ideas? I think I see an RAOC (RCOC) badge and a RASC badge.

Again, I would say that these are British soldiers of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. The two Corporals in the photo wear the Formation patch of the 49 (WR) Inf Div (see second attachment) and judging by the photo, it may have been taken in Iceland earlier during the war (May 1940 to Aug 42) when the 49 (WR) Inf Div were responsible for the defence of Iceland and not in France in July 1944, the 10 MBU sign probably referring to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps 'Bath Unit' and not the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps unit.

In regards to the two Canadian units you mention:

Serial 1778 - No. 10 Mobile Bath Unit, R.C.O.C. - was authorized effective 9 Aug 43 and was disbanded effective 15 Feb 44

and

Serial 1857 - No. 9 Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit (A), R.C.O.C. - was authorized effective 17 Jan 44 and was disbanded effective 27 Oct 45

both were 'First Canadian Army Troops' units and were employed within the 'First Canadian Army Troops Area'.

Cheers

[Clive_Dakers]

Thanks for that. According to the records I have there wasn't a British 10 MBU, at least not involved in Europe. Then again, for some reason detailed British orbats arn't available on the net like other countries ones seem to be.

The first picture has the text written on the reverse so I think thats correct. I'm curious over the Grenade like badge on the soldiers in No 1 & 4, the shoulder arcs have 4 digits in them. so that rules out British RA or RE and I cant think of anyone else that uses a grenade in this way.

I've looked closely through all the photos that I got in this batch and I cant find anyone that features in all of them. Might indicate brothers in different regiments as they came from the same source.