42nd H/A.A. Bty., 27th A.A. Regt., R.C.A. (CA)

[Froese]

Can any one tell me what this inscription means?   It's on a picture of about 140 uniformed men Taken in Victoria, BC Circa 1940.   It includes a picture of my wifes father.   We are trying to track down his military service during WWII.    

 

[bossi]

I'll take a stab at it, simply because I'm here ...
42nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, 27th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (Canadian Army)

 

[Froese]

Thank you... I guess that means there were three different units represented in the picture.  Now I need to find out which unit he was in.  I will proceed to  write a letter to the Archives for the details.

 

[bossi]

No - by definition, his "unit" was the 27th A.A. Regt (a regiment or a battalion is considered a "unit").

His "sub-unit" was the 42nd H/A.A. Bty - probably the 140 guys in the photo (an artillery regiment is comprised of batteries, whereas an armoured regiment is comprised of squadrons, and a battalion is comprised of companies).

His "corps" was the Royal Canadian Artillery (not to be confused with a size of formation called a "Corps" - other corps are the armoured corps, the infantry, etc.).

P.S. (courtesy of Mike O'Leary, here's the link for the Archives:

... for requesting service records from the National Archives; http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/020203/02020302_e.html

 

[Froese]

Thanks again.  You've gotten me on the right track and my wifes fathers military history is starting to come into view.  Now to figure out his batterys movements in the Netherlands.  BTW, I  found a very helpful document on http://www.mapleleafup.org/locator/research.html that not only has a great table explaining some terminology of units etc. but just set the right tone for the work involved in collecting military history of individuals.  I have yet to go to theCanadian Archives but that is in the works