A 2nd nice issued example of an original
World War Two British Army
21st Army GHQ & Lines of Communication
Battle Blouse Shoulder Patch
1944-45
Formed in the UK in 1943,
21st Army's designation came from it combining
two Allied armies under the Command:
2nd Army (Britain) & 1st Army (Canada)
and in January 1944 General Montgomery
returned from Italy to command it.
As the Allies assaulted the Normandy beachheads on June 6th 1944,
within 21st Army Group
a new sub-division was created and, known as
21st Group (GHQ & Lines of Communication),
wore a similar 21st Group patch, but minus the crossed swords.
21st Group GHQ Lines of Communication
personnel were responsible for all
communication between the forward zones in
Holland, Belgium & France
and the ports & logistic bases in the rear that were tasked with supplying
all the fighting units in the Allied Front Line, post-D-Day.
As such it oversaw all interaction within 21st Group
during the 1944 breakout from Normandy, the capture of Antwerp,
the 'Market Garden' disaster at Arnhem, the push across North-West Europe,
the crossing of the Rhine, British 2nd Army's push up to The Baltic
and the Canadian 2nd Army's push north into Germany & Holland.
With the final surrender of all German Forces on May 7th 1945,
21st Army Group became an Army of Occupation...
and on August 25th 1945 was redesignated
The British Army of The Rhine (BAOR)
Measuring approx 1.75" across the top x 2.75" from top to bottom,
and screen-printed, this
second 21st Group patch is in folded & issued condition
but was not actually stitched to a battle-blouse
Part of a small group of 15 such British WW-II Army shoulder patches
collected by a veteran of the Normandy Campaign during
the later years of the Second World War.
+++ Please note this sale is just for this second 21st Group patch only! +++