Kangaroo AWD site near Bayeux, France

[John McGillivray]

Mark/Hanno

Here is a link to a history of the 14th Field Regt.

http://www.ncf.ca/~di137/14thregt.html

You should note the following:

“On July 30th our Regt. was relieved by 23rd Field Regt. 4th Div and we went out of action for the first time since June 6th for rest and refit. Harbour was at 996765 COLOMBY-SUR-THAON. The S.P.'s were turned in; recreation, baths, swims, leave trucks to BAYEUX for all of us; we enjoyed our first Canadian Army show in a cave at FONTAINE-HENRY.
On August 7th the Regt. moved to Reorganization Area at RYES near BAYEUX in a tented camp where towed 25pdrs. were reissued to us. GOC Keller was wounded on August 8th by Allied A/C at 3Div Tac Hdq.”

I hope that this helps.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by John McGillivray
You should note the following:

“On July 30th our Regt. was relieved by 23rd Field Regt. 4th Div and we went out of action for the first time since June 6th for rest and refit. Harbour was at 996765 COLOMBY-SUR-THAON. The S.P.'s were turned in; recreation, baths, swims, leave trucks to BAYEUX for all of us; we enjoyed our first Canadian Army show in a cave at FONTAINE-HENRY.
On August 7th the Regt. moved to Reorganization Area at RYES near BAYEUX in a tented camp where towed 25pdrs. were reissued to us. GOC Keller was wounded on August 8th by Allied A/C at 3Div Tac Hdq.”

John;

Thanks! It confirms that the 'Royal Artillery Reorganization Centre' was in fact at RYES and by the sounds of it, the Regt, did in fact turn in their SPs around 1 Aug and then had, more or less a week off, before re-issue of towed 25pdrs - on 7 Aug.

'Harbour was at 996765 COLOMBY-SUR-THAON' - refers to the 'Regimental Harbour' they would have occupied after being relieved and pulling back from the line, prior to turning in their SPs and going on a bit of R&R from, say 2 to 6 Aug, before moving into the RYES 'RA re-org centre' for reissue with towed 25pdrs on the 7 Aug, by which time, if in fact RYES was the location of the 'AWD Kangaroo', they would have been clear of.

Cheers

[John McGillivray]

After the Regt. was pulled out of the line on 30th of July, they would have required about a half day to do an inventory and to clean up their equipment. So this would point to the guns being turned in on Aug. 1st.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by John McGillivray
After the Regt. was pulled out of the line on 30th of July, they would have required about a half day to do an inventory and to clean up their equipment. So this would point to the guns being turned in on Aug. 1st.

Psst....John, That's what I said in my last post

Cheers

[Mark W. Tonner]

Hanno/Geoff;

Having re-read everything again and again, and having studied various maps and the layout of the 21 AG RMA, I'm certain, that we'll eventually find that the location of 'AWD Kangaroo', was somewhere in the vicinity of RYES (and I strongly suspect, to the area (north) west of RYES), either within the confines of what was the Royal Artillery Re-Organization Centre that was established there in July/August 1944, or just to the (north) west, across the BAYEUX-ARROMANCHES road, in the open area to the east of No. 17 AOD and south of the RAF airfield (see attached diagram and map).

The more I've studied the various pieces of printed information we have from all the different sources, the more it points to the RYES location (vicinity).

I've attached a diagram of a portion of the 21 AG RMA layout showing the area in question and a modern map of the area with the different Depots/Airfields from the RMA layout drawn roughly in, again showing the area in question.

Cheers

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Tonight, 74 years ago, the first Priest Kangaroos went into action.

Read more about them here: https://milart.blog/2014/08/28/the-p...eptember-1944/

With thanks to Mark Tonner for reminding us!