Posted by Robert Short on February 8, 2016, 1:39 pm
I am doing some research on my great Uncle killed in World War 2. He served in the 5th Infantry and was part of this transport from Ireland to Normandy beach landings in France. I came across this internet listing http://www.history.army.mil/reference/ireland/irechr.htm:
6 Jul 5th Infantry Division convoy (twelve Liberty ships) sails from Belfast (landing in France 10 July) [NOTE: Actual date may be 7 July for sailing]
Is there anyway of find out what those 12 Liberty Ships were and if possible which ship my great Uncle would have been on ? Any assistance or direction would be appreciated.
Thank you for your inquiry, which led to some in-depth Internet sleuthing.
There is an excellent website, ConvoyWeb (https://convoyweb.org.uk/) that lists World War II convoys, the ships assigned to each convoy, ports of origination and destination, and applicable dates. Within ConvoyWeb there is an index page titled “Shorter Convoy Series” (http://convoyweb.org.uk/misc/index.html). These were relatively short-distance convoys. Included in the box on the left side of the page are headings for “EMM” and “EMP” convoys. All of these convoys (just five in total) ran from Belfast to the Normandy beachheads; the beachheads were collectively designated “Seine Bay.” (The Seine River empties into the Atlantic at Le Havre, so the bay west of Le Havre to the Cherbourg Peninsula that includes the Normandy beachheads is known as Seine Bay.)
Following the heading for the EMM convoys one finds convoy EMM-2. That convoy consists of exactly 12 vessels and I can tell by their names and tonnage that they were all Liberty ships. The convoy departed Belfast on July 6, 1944 (per this record although departure and arrival dates often differ by a day or two depending on the source) and arrived Seine Bay July 9, 1944. So there is your convoy of 12 Liberty ships. (As an aside, one of those ships, JEREMIAH O’BRIEN, is still in existence as an operating museum ship, home-ported in San Francisco.)
But not so fast. The great majority of the 2,700+ Liberty ships that were build were designated to carry cargo only. About 10% of Liberty ships were converted or special-built to carry troops as well as cargo. And from a list of troop-carrying Liberty ships (http://www.armed-guard.com/ag96.html), I can determine that NONE of these 12 Liberty ships were troop ships.
But look at convoy EMP-2. That convoy departed Belfast on July 7, 1944, and arrived Seine Bay on July 9, 1944. The convoy consisted of just five ships, all of which were troop transport ships (and none were Liberty ships) per the list noted in the preceding paragraph.
So here’s what happened. The personnel of the 5th Infantry Division traveled from Belfast to Seine Bay aboard the five transports in convoy EMP-2. Meanwhile, the supplies and equipment for the Division traveled in convoy EMM-2. This is confirmed by a page I found: http://www.46fabww2.org/uploads/2/0/6/5/20659712/soe_july_1944.pdf which is the after-action report of the 46th Field Artillery Battalion for July 1944. Notice the first paragraph, which describes “… the loading of vehicles on three … Liberty ships …” as of July 3, 1944. Then, on July 5, 1944, officers and men of the 46th Field Artillery Battalion “… embarked USAT Borinquen in Belfast …” this being the name of one of the five transports in convoy EMP-2. (USAT stands for U.S. Army Transport.) Note that the 46th Field Artillery Battalion was one of the component units of the 5th Infantry Division, per the Division’s Order of Battle at http://www.history.army.mil/documents/ETO-OB/5id-eto.htm.
The real challenge is to determine on which of those five transport ships your great-uncle sailed. For that you will probably need to know the component unit of the 5th Infantry Division to which he was assigned. For example, I found the information on the 46th Field Artillery Battalion by Googling “5th infantry” and “borinquen.” If you don’t know his unit, check this page, http://www.societyofthefifthdivision.com/WWII/ww2casdata.htm, which lists the names and units of all 5th Infantry Division casualties. On this page I find the name of a PVT John J. Short, killed in action, and part of the 2nd Infantry [Regiment]. Was John J. Short your great-uncle? If so, Google “5th infantry” and the name of each ship in turn, and look for pages that refer to the 2nd Infantry Regiment.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Thank you for the reply Ron I appreciate your research on this. Yes, that is my great Uncle listed on the 5th Infantry part of the 2nd Infantry Regiment and he did arrive in July 1944. I have found that there is some corresponding information in the pdf from the 46th F A Bn goes along with some of the 5th Infantry activities I have come across; the debark area at Normandy and their relief of the 1st Infantry on the 13th. A promising start.