US Army QM & Engineer Units

I am researching the role of my home town, Malmesbury Wiltshire England, in WW2. In the 12 months between November 1943 and November 1944 a large number of American units transited through this area on the way to NW Europe. They camped in the grounds of two large houses - Pinkney Park near Sherston and Charlton Park.

Having found on the web details of the units and the approximate lengths of their stay (varying from a few weeks to a few months) I am trying to estimate the total number of troops. Whilst the TOE of combat units are easily found I'm having more trouble with the support units. In particular;

Quartermaster Battalion
Quartermaster Service Company
Quartermaster Troop Transport Company
Quartermaster Truck Company
Engineer Light Equipment Company
Engineer Combat Battalion
Medical Section (numbered 268 to 282 with no other detail)
Hospital Train
Field Hospital
Station Hospital

Many of the units comprised colored soldiers and one can imagine the problems they might have encountered in this relatively rural backwater. I have found press reports of 'ladies of easy virtue' not in the first flush of youth who came here from the East end of London (described as 'known associates of coloured troops') arrested in possesion of US Army equipment (blankets & torches!) and large amounts of cash.

Can anyone help with a rough estimate of the number of troops in each of these types of unit?

Charles

 

Thanks - I've been working on this project for a couple of years so a couple of days won't cause any heartache. Trouble is I've so much information it's difficult to pick out the important bits!

However having 1 Regiment, 38 Battalions & 36 Companies plus other miscellaneous units of US troops pass through the area in 12 months does seem significant to me! Even if they were not meant to leave their camps there would still have been a lot of contact between the locals and the visitors.

In fact 626 Engineer Light Equipment Company did use their mechanical plant to complete some reshaping of the landscape in the centre of Sherston so they are certainly still remembered hereabouts.

Charles

 

Thanks for looking. Do you think 100 for a Company sized unit and 500 for a Battalion would be reasonable estimates?? Although I guess support units have a greater equipment per man ratio than combat units and these may be overestimates.

Cheers,
Charles

 

For an Armored Division Services I have:
Division Medical - Composed of:
Medical section - 12 officers, 5 NCO's, and 169 men
Surgical unit - 3-0-25
Dental unit - 1-0-3
2 x Field Hospital - 6-2-54 each.

For the 7th Cav brigade 1 April 1940
I have
QM troop LT Maint 2 officers and 90 men (ie a company)
Engineering Troop - 4 officers 128 men
Medical Troop - 6 officers 90 men

From the same time period I have a Service troop (company) for a cav regiment with 4 officers and 95 men.

for a 1 march 1942 Armored Engineer Battalion 44-2-1,178
Armored Engineer companys (4) - 5 officers 197 men each

All from The Tactical Notebook

 

For an Armored Regiment Service company 1 March 42 it lists 5 officers, 2 NCOs, and 184 men
The service Company for an Armored Division at the same time is listed as 7-1-152
the Armored Engineer battalion for said division is listed as 40-2-1,132

That's about all I can dig out. Hope it helped some.

You might find some useful infor digging around here:
http://www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/WWII/
http://www.qmfound.com/history.html
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/qm_history.html

This page lists some references that might be useful as well:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/index.html

 

Thanks very much - another few nuggets of information added to my store!

Charles

 

Any Americans who can point me to some info would be great thanks....Cheltenham UK was HQ for US SOS before D Day. Yanks everywhere...But little info on them. Quartermaster troops lots of them coloured troops. We have a village of Boddington/Barrow in the area as well as Boddington village in Northamptonshire. Can anyone point me to what US troops were stationed in either of these two Boddingtons in the war if any? Would most probably have been qm troops and coloured if the surrounding units are any example. Thanks