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Captain Ronald Victor Pullin Adams
Unit : 6th (Airborne) Divisional Workshops, REME
Army No. : 134246
Awards : Mentioned in Despatches.
Captain Adams was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1940/41 but later transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. From May 1944 to July 1945, he served as EME/Tels at Headquarters, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. On the 4th April 1946, it was announced in the London Gazette that he had been Mentioned in Despatches. The following is his report for the Normandy, Ardennes and Rhine Crossing operations.
'D' DAY - SEPT. 1944.
To the maintenance of Telecoms. equipment in the early stages of the operation, it was arranged that one tele. mech., should be attached to the R.E.M.E. Dets., with each Bde., and one with H.Q. Div. Sigs. Their equipment consisted of hand tools, .2 Volt soldering iron, and a small selection of spare parts. Their resources were thus very limited, and in actual fact their services were little used. It is thought, however, that the first job to be done by R.E.M.E. on the continent was the repair of a W/S 68 on the D.Z. at approximately H - 6 hrs. by Cpl. Speed.
The first 'Z' trailer, with Sgt. Harrington in charge, was due to be landed with the first tide on 'D' Day, and to link up with the Div. either in the evening of 'D' Day - or early on D + 1 - actually it did not arrive till D + 4, due to alterations in landing priorities and enemy pockets still holding out in La Deliverande. During shipment it was loaded on the top of a jeep with the jeep and trailer in a 3-Ton lorry. It arrived intact, with all test equipment in working order.
It set to work immediately with the A.W.D. On one occasion a shell landed within 5 yds. of the trailer - one splinter slightly wounded Cfn. Godrich, and a second splinter penetrated the spares drawer and the back of the S.S.G., but caused no further damage.
From then on till the break-out, the trailer was dug in and work continued from dawn till dusk and just on 400 jobs were completed, of which more than half were major repairs.
The second trailer, under A.Q.M.S. Charlesworth, arrived with the Main Wksps, and was situated at La Deliverande; at about this time the tele. mechs with Detachment were withdrawn to implement the 'Z' trailer teams.
The system upon which we worked was that all equipment when repaired was returned to an Ordnance Pool and re-issued by A.D.O.S., unless the repairs were of a very minor nature and could be carried out while the Unit representative waited for it.
Chief difficulties that were encountered can be summarised as follows:-
1. Difficulty in getting units to return equipment - particularly W/S 38 and faulty A/F gear, to R.E.M.E. for repair. I found many sets on the roadside in my travels. The daily "Milk round" improved things considerably.
2. Shortage of spares. A.D.O.S. had only scaled for a 14 day operation, and stock was soon exhausted - completely unserviceable sets helped considerably, but still I had to beg and borrow from other Div. Wksps.
3. Dampness. In course of time the sets particularly W/S 68, 18 and 22 were greatly effected by dampness, and as a result suffered from low sensitivity - our temporary cure was to "bake" them for a while over an electric fire.
4. Inadequate W.E. Our W.E. at that time was 8, with 2 'Z' trailers - (Cpl. Cooper remained at Figsbury). Inspite of this, all repairs were done and the Div. was never seriously short of Wireless Equipment. After the break-out there was very little of note to mention.
This operation as a whole taught us (1) that increase in W.E. was necessary. and (2) that more spares must be carried by the 'Z' detachments and a wider variety.
ARDENNES OPERATION
For this op. we "won" an additional 'Z' trailer under Cpl. Cooper, but it was not possible to get an increase in W.E.
We had special wooden boxes made with tray and partitions to carry additional spares - designed to fit into the 5 cwt. Handcart, which was towed behind the 'Z' trailer. As a result, during the whole of this operation, we were never really short of spares.
The extra 'Z' trailer was permanently attached to 'M' Section Signals - a system which worked admirably.
Apart from all the normal tels. work, there was very little of interest to record during this operation, except for the extreme cold, which made the repair of tels. equipment even more difficult.
RHINE OPERATION
The original idea of dropping tele. mechs with the Bde. Dets. was abandoned this time in favour of sending a 'Z' trailer complete in a Hamilcar. Owing to shortage of gliders it had to be towed by one of the R.A.S.C. Bren gun Carriers. The 'Z' trailer crew consisted of Sgt. Harrington, and Cfns. White and Heritage.
The glider had to make a crash landing, and as a result, the front of the glider would not open. The Bren gun carrier complete with 'Z' trailer crashed its way out. Apart from one or two small dents the equipment remained in perfect working order.
Throughout the long advance to Wismar on the Baltic, the 3 detachments were working at full pressure.
Their teamwork was good, they were never beaten by a job and their work was amply rewarded, for the Division was never short of wireless equipment.
A special mention should be given to A.Q.M.S. Charlesworth, and Sgt. Harrington. Both worked extremely hard in organising the tels. section, which worked extremely efficiently and cheerfully. No job was too hard for them.
EQUIPMENT
Normandy 2 'Z' trailers.
Ardennes ) 3 'Z' trailers.
Rhine )
Personnel 1 A.Q.M.S.
1 Sgt.
2 Cpls.
5 Cfns.
TYPE OF SETS SERVICED
W/S 38
" 18
" 68
" 22
" 62
" 19 H.P. and L.P.
" C52
" 46
Sender 12 H.P. and L.P.
" 33
" 76
" 5G
Reception Sets
R109
R206
See also: The Captain Ronald Adams Collection.