801 MT COY ASC
The History of the 801st Motor Transport Company ASC
In September 1916 Captain B.M. Patton ASC was tasked with establishing a new Mechanical Transport Company, the 801st. The company was set up at Bulford Barracks near Amesbury on the edge of Salisbury plain. According to the company war diary, by the 28th of September the Company consisted of a Captain, 2 NCOs and 59 men, there were probably at least two Lieutenants as well but they are not mentioned in the war diary.
Image - Bulford barracks at the time of the Great War
On the 28th September the companies Motor vehicles were sent to Avonmouth for shipment abroad. On the 1st of November the company took the train to Southampton and on the 3rd of November the vehicles were loaded on the SS Comerata. On the 6th the company crossed the channel to Le Havre on the SS Marguereta, arriving on the 7th. On November 8th the company entrained for Marsaille, arriving at 11 pm on the 10th. They sailed for Salonika aboard the HMT Minnetonka on the 11th stopping at Malta and arriving on the 15th. The Lorries, light cars and motor cycles arrived on the 23rd. The company initially camped at the Base Mechanical Transport Depot, Kalamaria near Salonika, they would remain in the Balkans for the duration of the war.
Image - Dramatic view of the HMT Minnetonka
