Burma Mechanical Transport Companies, RASC
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The Burma Mechanical Transport Companies, Royal Army Service Corps.
Noel Clark from Victoria, Australia has kindly provided information about research he carried out, and the following page is largely based on information he has summarised, or copies of documents he has provided.
Burma contributed five Mechanical Transport Companies to the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
In April 1919, the Burma Companies were as follows[1]:
- 1023 (Burma] M T Coy RASC (No 1 Burma MT Company) disembarked at Basrah 18 1 18
- 1024 (Burma] M T Coy RASC (No 2 Burma MT Company) disembarked 1.7.18
- 784 (Burma) M T Coy RASC (No 3 Burma MT Company) disembarked 30.1.19
- 1017 (Burma) M T Coy RASC (No 4 Burma MT Company) disembarked 18.3.19
- 1015 (Burma) M T Coy RASC (No 5 Burma MT Company) disembarked 2.4.19
No 5 Burma MT Company took over the duties and equipment of an existing Mechanical Transport Company, whose previous personnel were then demobilised, and it appears likely this was also the situation with No 3 Burma MT Company, and No 4 Burma MT Company
No. 1 Burma M.T. Company
Noel Clark has provided the following summary.
"No. 1 Burma M.T. Company (No. 1 Burma Ford Van Company, 1023 M.T. Company A.S.C., No. 1023 (Burma) M.T. Company R.A.S.C.)
The first Burma unit was formed in Rangoon in November and December 1917. It departed from the depot in Rangoon on 5th January 1918 and embarked for Bombay under the command of Major Reginald Willows Hildyard MARRIS with Captain Guy LYNN as Workshops Officer; LYNN took over as Commanding Officer on 3rd September 1918. Officers received commissions in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. One third of the drivers for this unit were Indians and the remainder Burmese. The unit re-embarked at Bombay on HM Hospital Transport Bamora on 11th January 1918, disembarked at Basra on 18th January with a total strength of five British officers, 23 British other ranks, and 200 Indian other ranks (the latter including the Burmese), and went into camp at Makina to continue training until 13th February 1918.
Interestingly, the War Office had allocated the Army Service Corps company numbers 1023 and 1024 for the No.1 and No. 2 Burmese M.T. Companies, but then allocated the same two numbers to two British companies formed at Bulford, England in the autumn of 1917. When the British units arrived in theatre they found the first Burmese unit already there, and this caused some hasty rearrangement of numbers, personnel and duties. The British 1023 was temporarily renumbered to 1024, and then absorbed into the MT Depot, and the British 1024 was disbanded in mid-March 1918 and its personnel sent to M.T. Company 1020 as reinforcements; the two Burmese units retained their promised 1023 and 1024 numbers.
On 13th February 1918 the No. 1. Burma unit, now unquestionably 1023 M.T. Company A.S.C., commenced its journey by road from Makina to Hillah, where it was to be stationed, and where it arrived on 2nd March 1918 and commenced convoy operations. Convoys carried various loads – mats (trench mats etc.), bamboos, lime, black earth, bricks, petrol, kerosene, foodstuffs including vegetables, water and ice, ordnance stores, tentage, mails, personnel and baggage.
The unit War Diary WO 95/5007 has been digitized and may be downloaded from The National Archives website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Officers assisting Major MARRIS and Captain LYNN included 2/Lts. George Robinson COCKMAN, Ernest Raymond ALLEN, Edwin BRUCE and Ernest Gibson FLEMING. There were various subsequent transfers in and out of the unit, and temporary attachments of personnel from time to time, and the Diary needs to be read in detail to follow these. The Diary is also unusual in that it mentions a number of the non-commissioned officers and men by both name and regimental number; one being Mechanist Staff Sergeant Louis Vernon COLATO (050206), who later became a commissioned officer.
After the Armistice of Mudros on 30th October 1918 (curiously given no mention whatsoever in the Diary) 1023 Company remained in Mesopotamia as part of the Army of Occupation. The Diary for the period 1st December 1918 to 24th May 1919 inclusive is missing. During that time command of the unit had passed to (then) Captain COCKMAN, and on 25th May 1919 temporary command was taken by Major C. N. DRAPER from 1016 Company. The unit was now at Kirkuk, where it remained until 24th July 1919. On 29th May an escorted convoy from the unit under the command of Lt. BAILLIE and on its way to Chemchamal was ambushed by Sheikh Mahmud’s mounted Kurds as part of the Kurdish insurrection of May-June 1919. The War Diary records that the convoy as a whole suffered a number of casualties including 15 Indian Other Ranks killed; one Burmese driver from 1023 Company was still unaccounted for six days later.
Major Thomas COUPER took command of the unit on 16th June 1919. On 25th July the unit moved to Fathah, and then again on 24th September to Bagdad, which it reached two days later. Here the unit prepared for demobilization. The final entry in the War Diary is for 30th November 1919.
Officers and men who served with the Company in theatre prior to 11th November 1918 were awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. Those who were with the unit at Kirkuk in May-June 1919 were awarded the General Service Medal (1918) with Kurdistan Clasp. A small number also qualified for the Iraq clasp, indicating that they saw service after 10th December 1919".
No 5 Burma MT Company
1015 (Burma) M T Company RASC (No 5 Burma MT Company)
After leaving Rangoon, the unit had undergone a course of instruction at No. 1 M. T. Training School at Rawal Pindi. They disembarked at Basrah 2.4.19, under the command of Major WT Liddell, IARO, with a strength of 6 BOs [British Officers], 10 BORs, [British Other Ranks] 199 IORs (Burmese) [Indian Other Ranks] and 11 followers. The Company took over the material, duties and number of 1015 Company, stationed at Shargat on the Tigris, for work on the Mosul L of C. The previous personnel of 1015 Company were demobilized. The previous personnel included both BORs and IORs. [1]
