Author: Lt Col (Retd) Steve Colling, Corps Historian

The quest continues… (Read Part 1 if you’re new to this series)

Armed with the basic information about Corporal (Cpl) Bennetta, I visited The National Archives at Kew.

The National Archives (TNA) hold a range of documents useful to the military historian. Visitors need a Reader’s Card to access files and it is best to pre-order the ones you want to see. Diaries seldom list soldiers’ names but they do give unit locations and often include miscellaneous papers. Decoding the diaries, which contain many abbreviations and military terminology, can be challenging. I had no idea what I would find with regard to the Accident Investigation Report.

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Cpl Bennetta’s tracer card lists a posting to 12th Battalion, the Sudan Defence Force (SDF), Palestine and Iraq Command (PAIC) and later the Middle East Force (MEF). The REME Location Card shows he joined the Battalion in April 1945.

The War Diary records the Battalion arriving at Gedaref (Al Qadarif) about 200km South East of Khartoum, Sudan on 1 April.

A Strength Report as at 28 April 1945 gives some idea of the composition of the Battalion.

Strength Report, first page, dated 30 April 1945. Source: TNA.

The Strength Report shows the battalion comprised of 14 British officers, 14 native officers, 764 Native other ranks (NORs) and 4 British other ranks (BORs) of which three were cap badged REME. It is unusual for there to be so few ORs in a British led unit.

The second page gives more detail of the attached personnel. Cpl Bennetta is listed as a member of the Welch Regiment. This might suggest he joined the battalion from the Welch Regiment on posting in April 1945. The file links him with the Welch Regiment several times. Engineering support to the battalion came from the 20 NORs which included Armourers, Vehicle Mechanics and Motor Mechanics.

The diary records the battalion celebrating Victory in Europe (VE) Day before moving to Kassala and then Keren in June. Orders for the move name Sergeant (Sgt) Flintham REME.

A nominal Roll dated 2 June lists the officers and BORs including Sgt Flintham REME and Cpl Bennetta Welch Regiment. Sgt Flintham is not named on a Nominal Roll dated 2 July, however War Substantive (W/S) Cpl Bennetta REME is.

Nominal Rolls dated 2 July and 2 June 1945. Source: TNA.

The War Diary records Cpl Bennetta leaving the battalion on 28 July 1945 for Cairo on Python. This is shown on the tracer card as a move from PAIC to MEF on 29 July.

War Diary, July 1944.

Soldiers unable to take home leave whilst serving overseas during the war were given UK leave once hostilities ceased under the code name Python. Soldiers returned home, took leave and then joined a home-based unit for the remainder of their service.

Cpl Bennetta left PAIC on 28 July and arrived Cairo MEF on 29 July. It is not clear what happened next. He could have flown from Cairo and would have been home sooner, unless delayed in Cairo or Malta. Alternatively, there was a regular shipping route from Alexandria to Toulon via various Mediterranean ports. The Mediterranean Line of Communication (MEDLOC) ran from Palestine and Egypt back to the UK with road and rail links from Toulon, France to the Channel ports.

About a month after leaving the Sudan, Cpl Bennetta died in an air crash on 30 August.

The Accident Investigation Report, lodged at the National Archives, makes clear that the pilot and navigator were both experienced and the aircraft was fit to fly. The aircraft crashed in bad weather. Having refuelled at Istres, about 40km north-west of Marseille, the aircraft took off at 1219hrs for Hendon. It crashed about 20 minutes later killing all on board.

Finding Cpl Bennetta’s name in the War Diary was unexpected. Cpl Bennetta, a Welshman, served in the Welch Regiment before joining the 12th Bn SDF.

REME formed in October 1942 to make efficiencies by bringing together all repair and recovery functions in the Army. Initially it was manned by transferring officers and men from other regiments and corps; mostly from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) and Royal Army Service Corps (RASC). Their personnel documents, including Location/Tracer Cards, were transferred to REME. Those ex RAOC and RASC now held in the REME Archives usually show detail prior to October 1942. That is not the case with Cpl Bennetta’s card, which might suggest he either joined from an organisation which did not maintain cards or enlisted directly into REME after October 1942.

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Next steps

The next article in the series will endeavour to uncover where Cpl Bennetta served before he was REME, beginning by looking at the 1st Battalion the Welch Regiment’s War Diary.