Introduction

As a result of the YacLeod recommendationsto streamline the logistic support for theBritish Army various changes have now takenplace not least of which has resulted in aconsiderable number of officers and men trans­ferring to the aoyal Army Ordnance Corps fromthe Royal Army Service Corps. You are prob­ably one such person and this leaflet has beenprlJduced with the hope that you wi 11 be betterable to understand 'the organisation and func­tion of your new'Corps.

You are probably s~ill a little appre­hensive of what your chances now are for fur­thering your Career. It is still early daysfor being really forthri~ht on the 'futurebut everything points to the days ahead beingevery bit as good as the past' and if anythingyour chances for promotion should be betterYou will appreciate that the first few yearsafter such a reorganisation will be spent'.haking down' and undoubtedly certain tradeswill amalgamate in time but this is all inthe future.

lIos t of you wi 11 already have a good ideaof what the responsibilities of the Royal

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Army Ordn8ftce Corp. were and wh.t .dditlonalre.pon.ibilitie. have been taken on as • re­sult of ,YacLeod. The nezt .ection will brinlyou up to date.

Respon.ibilities of the RADC

The primary re.pon.ibility of the RACe i. to:-order. receive, atore. maintain and i ••ue

to the Army' .t home ·and over.e•••11 types ofstores, .mmunition. vehicles ••upplie. andPOL.

The five main c.tegorie. of .tores whichthe Army require the ~AOC to .upply are:-

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•• Ordnance .tore. which .~,,: ..__~__ . ' _(1) warlikeanrl technic.l store. in­

cludina artillery equipment, aircraft .p.resmarine store., guided mis.ile. of all type.sianal wireless and all other interco-.uni­cation equipment, enlineer store. and .0 on.

(2) Yr .pare part. and ••••~li•••(3) lener.l .tore. includinl tooh.

workshop material., tentale and .ccOBOdation.tores.

(4) clothinl for all condition. ofclimate in all part. of the world.

b. Ammunition which include.:-(1) liquid fuel for luid.....poa••

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(2) gun, rocket and small arms amm­unition.

(3) mines, grenades, pyrotechnics anddemolitiOn explosives.

c. Vehicles includinl:-(1) all armoured filhting vehicles

e'I' tanks, armoured and scout cars and carr­ier••

(2) wheeled load and pa••enler carry­ing vehicles and trailers.

(3) cranes, bulldozers and plant.

d. PCL inc lOOiDg : -(1) aviation gasoline for lilht air-

craft.(2) AI) gas.(3) diesel, fuel oil~ and lubricants,

disenfectants and miscellaneous chemicals.

e. Supplies including:-(1) fresh rations including bread.(2) compo rations.

_-~-------__ (3) trial packs for expeditions.~--- "-

The great ~d~cOlllplex orcani.ation, ofwhich the Director of Ordnance Services attbe 'iirtiatf,.of Defence is the head, is thelargest purchasing and distributive concernin the Commonwealth. Its oper~tions are~ected through the Stores Organisation,the~tion Organisation, the Vehicle

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Organisation and now the POL and Sypply Org­anisation.

Each of these reaches across the wholeworld and to give you some idea of their sizeand resources the following points are quotedat random•••••••••• the RAOC occupies nearly 90 diff­erent locations in tbe UK alone and worldwide uses 86.000,000 sq ft of storage space.Over 1,000,000 different items are held instock and over 11,000,000 i,sues are madein a year ••••••••••• the weight of stores handled ina normal year is 1~ million tons ••• ••••••• men lnd women of 22 differentnationalities are employed and their wagepackets add up to £24 million per year.

Kere now is a diagramatical layout of storeholding units showing how an item aftermanufacture eventually arrives in the handof the fighting soldier.

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Mill STIlI' OF DEFBICE

CIS YC8S DC8S ~. ~. Mill

A88 ~S~.J 8M)

• IIq IIIOS •fnlPector RAGC DIIOS ORO 2

( Irlll) (Brill)

lJIlef Sclentlat

ORO I ORO 3 010' ORO.

ea.llld (119)RAGC Trll _ tre(Brill)

DIIOS(Brill)

orColI

batlm !Iortllem..tim ee.dSoutllemSQlUI ...

UK a-und DePot.

eo.ender (N9)stOret Orll(M~ len)

StoreaDepota

O:liIIlllder (119)Yell O!'ll(Brill)

YellDepoh

e-lIIcler (110)~Orll(Irlll)

IAIIm DIIIotaIIId Sdiool ofJIInIo.

DOS

r.rrll)

OlIOSCo..,a

r:r)

CRAOCMALTA

(Lt Col)DADOS!:rnnalca Area

DIIOS IIlXIS MaF DOS FAR EASTI?\~p",i (Col) (Irlll)

(Col) I [Rwr81111 tatIve

IIAnJBI llepre... tlve(Lt Col) Malayala (Lt Col)

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• ClII! 0III ..... ..."tl IIIIII ...c:tl II> •• tl.c ..

Q,

• tlOOlC

~~II.. III:J :s~ 0... ....Q," •

III IIIII > III.c tl... tl ::

II .z :... 0II llG"'c"tleo ... c0. 111

<I ~ IIo III ~~B.c....

.. III

OlAINOF SUPPLY

CIVILIAN MANUFACTURES ORDNANCE FACTOP.IES" /(ltOME CXJMMAIIDS) CENTRAl. ORIIlANCE DEPOTS (OVERSEAS llIEATRES)Abreviatian:i OOD

ClerkShorthandWriter

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In addition to the main responsibilitiesoutlined above the RAOC is also responsiblefor various ancillary services i.e. Printing,industrial gas, laundry, ammunition repair,fire service and certain barrack services.

A. you can imaline to fill these numerousjobs in the various orlanisations and unitsthere are a number of trades in which a sol­dier can lain traininc.

AamunitionTechnicim

Clerk TechShoemaker

Clerk RAO:Tailor

Driver

Storeman

Crane Operator

CinemaProjectionist

BJtcher

Laundry')perator

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TextileRefitter

Printer

Photographer

Baker

PetroleumOperator

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We hope this'will give you a fairly broadoutline of the responsibilities of your newCorps and now list a few notes about the vari­ous Corp~ Institutions, some of whi~h youwill no doubt be interested in.

RAOC Institutions

The Depot and Training Centre

The RACe Depot and Training Battalion issituated at Blackdown, Nt. Aldershot in Hamp­shire. Also at Blackdown is the Junior Lead­ers Battalion, Corps Secretariat and RAOCSchool which is responsible for furtheringour knowledge of nearly every aspect of ourCorps with the exception of ammunition whichis looked after by CAD Uramley.

The Headquarters Officers Mess

The RAOCHeadquarters Officers Mess is atRlackdown where it is run and cared for onbehalf of all officers of the Corps by theTraining Centre.

Much of the corporate social life of theCorps revolves round the HQ mess. There ~re

regular regimental dinner nights which ~ay beattended by any serving officer of the Corps.These regimental dinners not only give offi­cers the opportunity of meetin~ each other,but also the chance to meet senior officers

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from other arms, leaders of great industrialand business enterprises, notable professionalmen and many other interesting pe~sonalities

from outside the Ar~y who come as guest, ofthe Corps to broaden and enrich our knowledgeof the world and affairs.

The RAtX: Of f ice r Club

The Club exists to foster the spirit offriendship among serving and retired officersof the Corps, to fioance and encourage aportand social events anP to provide social &meni­i.ies for its members".

The Club has no premises, but is afilliatedt~ the Junior Army and Navy Club in London,fu\l facilities of which can be enjoyed fora sbel! annual subscr~ption.

TheRAOC Gazette

Tbis is a journal of the Corps which ispubl'hed monthly and sets out to report theCor~ to the Corps and provide news andarticles of professional, -social, sporting anddomes~ic interest.

Itjkeeps serving and retired members of theCorPli~ informed of what is going on in the farfluni stations of the Corps and all its read­ers ~re encouraged to take a hand in fillingits

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It is lively, intere.tiAi and controversialand tbe Corps clai•• to bave tbe be.t reli­taental journal in the Array.

The RNx: Staf f B.nd

The Band i. ba.ed on the RAOC frainiolCentre at Blackdown, but, of cour.e, .ak.sextendve toura. As well a. p18yinl in. RADCand other military·unit. at ho•• and abroad,the Corp. Band fulfil••any enla.eeeat. 7fO!

the BBC, the Royal parks in Londoft _d .variety of resorts a~d citie ••

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The RAa: Aid Society /I

This i. the Corps benevolent fuad[iChis largely .upported by serving offic. andaen who are proud to a.sist their lea for­tunate or afflicted comrades.

An averale of .ill hundred ca.es of,hard­ship are dealt .itb each year and .~ mucha. £4480 per year i. di.tributed by , ay ofdir~ct financial a•• i.tance to .er.i or ell...abel" of the Corp•• or their wi 01'

orphan., who have .uffered lDiafortune.Generations of .oldiers have al.a,. ecar­

ded this type of a •• istance to untoI' unatecOlDrade.-in-a1'1lls. a. an honourable deb to bereadily discharled and the Corp. ha.neverfailed in this.

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l1le RADC AasociatiOft

Its purposeful objective is to create andcherish a bond of lood fellowship betweenpa.t and present me.bers of the Corps.

It has branches in all the larler citiestbroulhout the UK and in all major unitsworld wide.

By organisinl social events and re-unionsfor all ranks, by maintaining close contact

,\ with •• lfare bodies· and institutions and byproviding the link between all branches theassociation accomplishes its aima.

We are at the lI10IIlent formin, a local branchhere in Aden.

This is situated at the Training Centreand i. in the care of a full-tiae Curator whois a retired officer of the Corps.

A disastrous fire some years ago deprivedthe Ce»rps of some of its most prized andintereatinl relics, but since then the collec­tion hn been dililently and laboriously builtup 81ain and there are now many exhibits,including such things as (bartes 1 COIDIDissionon the Standardisation of ~ilitary Equipmentdated-1631, a vocabulary of ~dnance Storesof 1664, journel. and letters from OrdnanceDepots in various places at hOlUe and overseasdating from the 1700s and - to brine the

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collection up to date - a selection of Russian arms and ammunition which fell into the hands of RAOC personnel in the Pbrt Said incident in the Autumn of 1956.

The RACe Sports Association

The aim of t~e Association i! to promote every kind of sport in the Corps and to pro­vide financial and other facilities. The following sports are catered for:­

Cricket Athletics Swinming Soccer Fencing Tennis Rugby Rockey Riding Boxing Sailing Shooting Squash Golf Motor Cyc ling

Each sport is controlled by a Sub-Committee and as some measure of the enthusiasm in the Corps for games it is recorded that no less than twenty-four members of the RAOC have re­presented their country in international events since the end of the last war. In addition to this the RACe has won the Army FA Cup three times, the Enlisted Boys FA Cup eight times, the Army Inter Unit Boxing Championship five times and for six consecutive years have held the Army tug-of-war crown, as well as the inter Services and National tug-of-war titles for much of the same period. .

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The Corps has produced a number of Bisleywinners in the last few years, is well to thefore in Army and International motor cyclingevents and has won B wide variety of otherindividual and team honours, far too numerousto list here.

There will always be full support and everyencourage~ent for Corps members who are keenon games and will help the Corps maintain itslItendinK in the spol'ting world -·but not onlJthe gladiators ate 'welco'med:· there isalways plenty of room for the not-so-good inthe smaller events. For the less energeticthere are camera clubs, amateur dramaticsocieties, bridge circles, archaeologic~l

groups - and of course, in all units there areopportunities for language study and otherhigher educational facilities.

The RAOC~oup Insurance Scheme

This is a comprehensive insurance ~cheme

designed to cover nearly every eventualitythat" might happen to any of us. It is inbeing in 9AOR and it is hoped that we willsoon have a scheme operating in the MiddleEast and you wi 11 be kept ,in(ormed' as soonas any~hing definite is decided.

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Historical Note-s on the Ordnance Services

It take. a loni stretch of the imaginationto span the period fra. when the long-bowruled the battlefield to the pre-sent day whenremote controlled missiles can threate-n con­tinents: frOB the appointment of the Masterof the Kings Wardrobe and Armoury in 1323,who kept the Jirst' permanent military,store.in the Tower of London, to the Director ofOrdnance Service-s of the present day whocontrols the enormous wowld wide org8Di.ationof the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Neverthe­less, the thread continues unbroken fram thosefar-off days; developinl in strength as theimportance to the Army grows of an adequatesupply of an increasing range of warlikestores. A· symbol of this link with the pastis the shield of the Board of Ordnance whichforms the centre piece of the RACe cap badgetoday, which was from almost the beginning thecoat of arms borne by the military storesdepar tment •

During the century which follo~d the est­ablishment of a permanent military store atthe -rower, there are a few recorded reference.to its activities, but as this period saw thebeginning of the Hundred Years War and thefirst known use of gunpowder weapons, thereis no need to doubt that it was busy and in­creasing in importance.

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The first ... jor ch.age came in 1414, whenBenry V was absorbed in warlike preparationsfor his bid for the throne of France. Theneeds and planning for the battles whichculminated with Agincourt, .ereprobablyfareseen ~y Henry and be re-organised hisstores department and extended its functionsunder his Master of OUr Works, Cannon and()the.r Ordnance for Wa ...

Alter lfenry~ s _ra, English fortunes wmed.Jeanne D' Arc defeated oar Armi.s at Or leans;the IIundred Years Wat' ended wi th the expu 1­sion froa French soit of all but a tiny larri­.eGO at Calais. and so 'the iliddle Aces began todraw to • close. One last glimpse of thedeveloPment and" increasing use of biggerweapoIW is interestiD&, because soon a laraeror.-ni.ation was to become necessary to bandleits provision ~ issue.

In 1495 the turbulent Irish were at lastreduced to acceptance of English dominationby the power of the cannon. Sir WinstonOIw'cbUl wrote, "cannon spoke to Irish castlesin • l.tmpece readily understoOd".

The turn of the century; and soon aperiod began which saw 'tbe Golden Age of&lisabeth. the spread of English people all'OftI' the globe. the foundations of Empire andfin.lly tbe emergence of Blrilament as 8

coyernl•• body' an~ in 1515 the Board ofOrdnance was forllled. Of tbh e~t, Hampden

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Gordon ~he.ilit.ry Historian writes:tProvisiOn and issue of all kinds of equipi

ment and the growing importance to the Roya 1\Armies of an adequate supply of gunpowder\weapons explains, as we may safely assume, \the growth In the status of the provision \office. From this time onward the Board of \Ordnance succeeded in preserving an unbrokenexistence for nearly four eventful centuries;maintaining a sturdy independence of the restof the host of military offices'.

Some idea of the extent of this growth maybe obtained from the fact that in 1515 theTower was still ~he main depot: while in1683 the board had eleven stations at home:by 1796~ 35 at home and 20 overseas: whilein 1856 there were 36 at home and 44 overseas.

Each depot stocked armaments, shot, shell,powder, small arms and ammunition, artilleryand its ammunition.. .

The higher appointments in these establish­ments were filled by permanent officials ofthe qoard of ~dnance, who received theircommisions from the Master General of Ordnanceand the junior officials and labourers weremainly recruited locally. A proportion ofthese were on a permanent basis and theyreceived a warrant from the MGO. One ofthese warrants, signed by the Duke of ~arl­

borou~h when Master General of Ordnance in1702 hangs in the RAOC Mus~um at Blackdown.

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Between 1818 end 1827 the Duke of Welling­ton was Master General of Ordnance and we aretold he 'infuse1 fresh vigour into the torpidarteries of his office'. He made many ree·ommendations for re-organisation and the ftrstvolume of Ordnance regulations appeared duringhis office. He also established a systematicmethod of planning demands.

After the Duke relinquished this office,soon to become Commander-in-Chief and thenPrime Minister, changes were made in thecomposition of the Board of Ordnance which donot appear to have been for the good. Major3eneral Forbes the historian of the RAOC,writes ' •••• n~ sooner did he vacate the postthan it drifted into the old bad habit ofleaving everything to subordinate permanentofficials.

In fact dry rot set in throughout the wholeArmy and rarely had the country been so unpre­pared for active service as when France an~

England declared war on Russia in early 1854I and the Crimean War resulteri.

The ·failures and scandals of the campaign

lare well known. Raglan in the Crimea hadnot the administrative ability of Wellington

. in the Peninsula; officials at home ignored

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. the needs of ~he fighting troops and althoughthe principal civil officer of the Board ofOrdnance, the Surveyor General, went to theCrimea, his links with home base and anyone

r in supreme authority failed with the resultant

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breakdown in the supply of warlike stores.After the mess and disasters of the Crimea,

those in authority turned in panic on theentangled adJainistrative systell of the armyand a series of reforms were set on foot.nte tinter General and the Board of Ordnancewere abolished alonC with many other chancessome of which were overdue and essential,but others were chanced for the sake of chance.tiany felt that the Ordnance Services cameinto tbls latter category because, whatever It.shortcomings, its stewardship had survivedfour restless centuries of war, violence andchange: begun under the Tudors, beforethere were Secretaries of State for war orCommanders in Chief, it survived throuch theGreat Rebellion. the Commonwealth, the Restor­ation and the ~volution into Victori.~rreign

and the recent h£story of the nineteenthcentury.

However change there was in no short mea­sure, and in 1855 a Director of Stores wasappointed at the War Office, directly respon­sible to the Secretary of State for War, andsoon after the Storekeepers of the old Boardwere formed into a uniform Military StoresDepartment.

For the next fifty years it seems thatevery new Secretary of State had differentideas on how the Ordnance Services should berun, for with each change ift office the Ord­ABACe was reorganised. fo add to the burden

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there was a complete clash of aims betweenthe various Secretaries of State and theCommanders~in-Chief. The former officialswere resolved to eliminate extravagance; thelatter were determined to improve the army'sequipment and as the Duke of Cambridge wasC-in-C for nearly forty years, it can beexpected that he had grown a little set inhis· ways and was not prepared to give wayto each new upstart in the opposing office.At one period, through the determination ofeach to control the f low of stores to thetroops, the impossible situation was reachedwhereby every indent from every unit in GreatBritain had to be stamped by both offices inLondon before it was approved.

Even the great reformer Cardwell, who,from 1870 introduced radical changes to somany established practises and institutions,failed to do much for the Ordnance Services.About this time, however, a great advance Wasmade, in that, standard regulations for theOrdnance Services were drawn up. Generationsof officers since, struggling to find theirway through a maze of complicated and appar­ently contradictory regulations, may challengethe statement that this represented an advancebut in fact it was, because it led, more thanany dramatic re-organisation of the OrdnanceDepartment, to the decentralisation of author­i ty frOlll London.

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In these golden years of Victoria, Britishinfluence and prosperity were spreading toevery distant cotner of the globe. Wherecommerce wanted or had gained a foothold thearmy made it or held it and to serve them achain of Ordnance Depots spread round theworld. At last, with his printed regulationsthe Ordnance soldier knew better where hestood and what to do in the many and variedsituations which arose and the extreme andwasteful over centralisation of business whichexisted in 1870 has never again reappeared.

At this time, the Ordnance Services wereknown as the Army Ordnance Department andCorps and its Director became responsible ashe is to-day, to the Quartermaster Generalwho in turn is a member of the Army Council.

And now we enter the period of recenthistory; too recent to see all in properperspective; too complicated by the awfulconvulsions of the First and Second World Warsto write of simply and lightly in a shorthistory such as this.

fbis, narrative, therefore, traces a storyfor well over 500 years, like a strong bri~ht

thread thropgo a tapestry of violent and stormycolours, with the fpllowing facts of the twen­tieth century proudly ~iven.

In 1918, in recognition of the splenuidpast and promise of the future, King ~orge Vproc laime-!:'Our Army Ordnance Corps shall be stylerl OUr

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Royal Army Ordnance Corps'.In 1921, a.M. King Ge~rge V again honoured

the R.A.O.C. by appointing H~R.U. !he Duke ofYork as Colonel-in-Chief who, on succeedingto the throne in 1936, signified his contin­uance of the honour which has so graciouslybeen perpetuated by H.M. Queen Elizabeth 11.Finally, in all the great wars of this troub­led century, officers and men of the R.A.O.C.have been present at every major battle, keep­ing alive the great and selfless tradition ofservice.

ST BARBARA. 11IE PATlm SAINT OF .mE RO'iAL AB1IX ORDNANCE CXJUlS

!'he Patron Saint of the Royal Army OrdnanceCorps, Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers,is Saint Barbara.

According to legend, Saint Barbara was thedaughter of a rich Egyptian nobleman whoadopted the Christian faith. Because sherefused to renounce her faith she was takento a mountain near the city and executed.Immediately after a heavy thunderstorm brokeover the party killing ·a number of thcoseresponsible for the execution.

Since 303 AD, the fourth of December hasbeen dedicated to St Barbara, This :hristiaomartyr and the saint was adopted as protec­tress against thunder and lightning, firearms­and exp)9~ives and is also invoked against

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audden death, for it wae beleived that thoa. /who devoted the.aelvea to her ahould not die impenitent, nor without having first received I the Holy Sacraments.

The lelend of St Barbara was introduced into Western Europe by the early Cruladers, both she and her contemporary, St George, becoming military saints. of Chivalry and Knighthood.

On the introduction of cannon in 1313, the connection between the flash and exploaion on firing, with that of thunder and lightening. with the additional fact that early ordnance frequently burst on firing, killinl the gun's crew, wal no doubt the reason for her adoption as the patron saint of artillery men and those connected with the manufacture, atorage and inspection of firearms and explosives.

Ft~ALL¥ - OUR MOT~O

'SUA TELA TONANTI' 'TO THE WARRIOR HIS ARMS'

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