General List, Canadian Army ???

[georgetanksherman]

I have a question, I have an American that died in the United Kingdom with the Canadian Army. CWGC states that he was with General List, Canadian Army

Buried: Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey, U.K.
Corporal Harry Edward Hill, A/3856, General List, Canadian Army
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. Died: March 2, 1942

Cause of death unknown

Can anyone explain what the General List, Canadian Army is ? What it is about ? Is it like a manning pool ???? Any help would be appreciated !

CWGC Shows

Corporal
HILL, HARRY
Service Number A/3856
Died 02/03/1942
Aged 26
General List, Canadian Army
Son of Richard and Cora A. Hill, of Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.

Cheers !

[BFBSM]

An image of his death details:



I believe that ”General List” means that the soldier is not attached to a specific unit. In this case, the record shows Harry was with the CRU, which is the Canadian Reinforcement Unit.

[georgetanksherman]

Thank You for the info BFBSM. So trying to understand the Army way of doing things. I see that originally he was attending a mechanics course prior to getting ill, so would they have moved him to a "Holding" group because he was hospitalized to free up his "Slot" so that they could get another soldier in to fill it ?

Thanks again for the info !

Cheers, and hope all is going well on your end !

[Temujin]

Thank You for the info BFBSM. So trying to understand the Army way of doing things. I see that originally he was attending a mechanics course prior to getting ill, so would they have moved him to a "Holding" group because he was hospitalized to free up his "Slot" so that they could get another soldier in to fill it ?

Thanks again for the info !

Cheers, and hope all is going well on your end !

Don’t worry George......we’ll teach you.

Yes, the ‘X’ Lists were a sort of “paper trail” to identify men/women who were not posted to UNITs, but were in hospital, training, POW, etc etc

Here’s a brief “list” of the X LISTS (their are many more) and I’ll give you a link to “Abbreviations” use in Canadian WW2 records

X-1 Prisoners of war (verified)
X-1 POW (D) Prisoners of War (Dieppe)
X-2 All ranks under sentence of detention, imprisonment or penal servitude
X-3 All ranks evacuated on medical grounds behind Regimental Aid Posts
X-4 Unposted reinforcements in the theatre of war belonging to the unit or corps
X-4L X-4 List
X-5 All ranks on courses of twenty-one days or over in the theatre of war
X-6 All ranks posted as missing
X-7 All ranks seconded from the Canadian Army to other Allied Forces in the theatre of war
X-8 All non-effective held at Base Reinforcement Units whose return to the UK has been authorized
X-9 All personnel held at Base Reinforcement Units, who, for one reason or another, are not available as reinforcements and whose disposition is still to be decided
X-10 All reinforcement personnel attached away from reinforcement units under appropriate authority
X-10LGLB X-10 List General List B
X-11 All Red Cross and Auxiliary services personnel
X-12 At depot awaiting discharge

Any time you see someone on the X-4 list, this usually meant they were in one of the Reinforcement Units, waiting for a Front Line unit to require replacements.....and then they would be sent up.

Also, in the Canadian Army, you usually “joined” a Regiment, back in Canada,.....so when you were held at the Reinforcement Units, they broke the Units into Groups that held each of the Regiments potential reinforcements.

To Complicate it more for you......a man COULD be sent to ANY Regiment that they needed to.....but they “tried” to keep them in Regimental affiliations.....just a “esprit de corps’ thing

Another BUT, at the Reinforcement Units, calls for “reinforcements” came in each day, and men could VOLUNTEER to go to another Regiment

For example, my own Uncle was with the Regina Rifles when he went to England to a Reinforcement Unit......one day the “reinforcement request list” indicated they needed men for the Calgary Highlanders......so he joined them BECAUSE his brother was already in the Calgary Highlanders

PS: I asked him this year (yes he is 95 years old) did he enjoy being with his brother in the same unit......his answer “I never saw him, he was on the Division’s Hockey Team, so he was away all the time playing hockey”.......YES HOCKEY IS IMPORTANT TO CANADIAN’s, even during the war. The Canadian Army had Hockey Tournament's etc, so Division’s and I believe Brigades, all had Hockey Teams who played all the time in competition with the other Divisons etc

Cheers and good luck on all your research

[Temujin]

Oooops George, here’s the link to the Abbreviations.......got carried away on HOCKEY

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/ ... ons.aspx#x