1943

1943

     The new 6pdr guns were fired at the Banbane Head Range on 6^th January.  As this was the first time the Regiment had fired these guns, the results must be considered satisfactory.  Over the next few weeks, the trucks (30cwt) used by the Regt to tow the 2pdr guns were gradually exchanged for 3-ton trucks.
     News was received on 20^th January, that the 61^st Inf Division would move back to England at the end of the month, and would be stationed in Essex, where it would take the place of 45 Inf Div, who would move to N Ireland.  On 27^th January, the Advance Party, consisting of Lt (QM) Lewis, Capt Greenwood, Capt Butler, Lt Powell, and numerous OR’s left for England.
     On 2^nd February, the main body of the Regiment started the move to England and completed it at 09.30 hrs, 3^rd Feb 43.  The move was made by train and boat.  All guns, vehicles and other G1098 stores were left behind and handed over to the 90^th AT Regt RA, who moved into Portrush.  The equipment of the 90^th AT Regt was taken over when the Regiment arrived in England.
     The Regiment’s new locations were :  RHQ at “Achnacone”, Braiswick, Colchester (an old manor house);  249 Bty at West Bergholt, close to Colchester, Essex;  250 Bty at Connaught Ave, Frinton-on-Sea;  252 Bty at Hadleigh, nr Southend-on-Sea.
     61^st Inf Div is now in XI Corps (Lt-Gen GC Bucknall, MC) and Eastern Command (Lt-Gen JAH Gammell, CB, DSO, MC).  Other locations :-  HQ RA & Div HQ at Hatfield Peverel, Chelmsford, Essex;  XI Corps HQ at Braintree, Essex;  Eastern Command HQ at Luton.
     Lt MI Bailey was attached to HQ Eastern Command as Liaison Officer on 14^th February.  A draft of 17 drivers and 35 gunners were posted to Depot RA, Woolwich on 24^th Feb.  Then on 27^th, 37 potential drivers (all immatures) were posted to the Regt [The term ‘immatures’ was used by Winston Churchill to refer to the underage soldiers.]
     A draft of 5 Sgts was posted from this Regt on 2^nd March.
     Over 3^rd – 13^th March, the Regt took part in exercise “SPARTAN”, the largest exercise ever held by the British Army during WW2.  61^st Inf Div was one of the formations composing the enemy.  The “British Army”, consisting of the Canadian 1^st Army with British Armoured and Infantry Divisions, had established a bridgehead on the South Coast.  The exercise was intended to practice the advance from the bridgehead into enemy occupied territory, known as ‘Eastland’, and roughly comprising East Anglia and the Midlands.  The “British Army’s” objective was Huntingdon, the capital of ‘Eastland’.  They were much greater in strength than the enemy, and therefore the enemy had to fight a rear-guard action, withdrawing from SW to NE.  The 63^rd AT Regt’s batteries were under the command of their assigned Brigades until towards the end of the exercise, when, together with two corps AT batteries, they reverted to Regimental command.  The Regt’s RHQ had been concentrated at North Marston, north of Aylesbury, and on the first day of the exercise, advanced to Fawley, south of Wantage.  They then withdrew successively to Eynsham (nr Oxford), Chesterton (nr Bicester), Alderbury Common (nr Tring), Wing (nr Leighton Buzzard) and finally occupied a defensive position at Ivinghoe.  They were still at Ivinghoe when the “CEASE FIRE” was given.
     News was received on 17^th March, that 61^st Inf Div was to move into Buckinghamshire, and that the Regiment would go to Hemel Hempstead.  The main body moved to Hemel Hempstead on 25^th March.  249 Bty occupied a hutted camp at Felden, while the remainder of the Regt were in billets in Hemel Hempstead.  This was the most unsuitable accommodation the Regt had occupied for a very long time.  Only 249 Bty’s accommodation was satisfactory.  The billets in Hemel Hempstead were very overcrowded, and were a great distance from each other.
     A warning order was received on 5^th April from Eastern Command that the Regt, together with the rest of 61^st Inf Div, was to mobilise for overseas service, mobilisation to be completed by 10 May 1943.  A draft of one Sgt and 21 other ranks arrived on 8^th April.  On the 11^th April, 252 Bty received sixteen 17pdr guns.  Detailed mobilisation orders were received on 24^th April, and on 29^th April, 5 drafts of 61 men in all, comprising drivers and gunners arrived, to bring the Regt up to its War Establishment.  A number of officers had been posted, both in and out of the Regt during April.
     A number of m/cycles and small cars arrived early in the month of May.  16 Armoured OP [observation post] Carriers arrived mid-month and were distributed – 1-RHQ, each Bty HQ and 1 per Troop.  And 14 Field Artillery Tractors (FAT) arrived near the end of May, to complete the number of gun towers required by 252 Bty (the 17pdr Bty).  On 4^th May, information was received that 61^st Inf Div now forms part of 2 Corps and not 11 Corps as heretofore.  This did not involve a change in Corps HQ personnel, the number only of the Corps having been changed.
     Gen Sir Bernard Paget, KCB, DSO, MC, CinC (Home Forces), paid a visit to the Regt and watched training on 13^th May.  Maj-Gen CB Wainwright visited the Regt on taking command of 61^st Inf Div, on 24^th May, in place of Maj-Gen JO Carpenter.  And on 25^th May, Lt-Gen GWR Templar, DSO, OBE, Corps Comdr 2 Corps, visited the Regt on taking up command of 2 Corps in place of Lt-Gen GC Bucknall, MC.
     On 17th June an instruction was received from the War Office stating that from this date the unit would be considered non-mobilised.  There were several officer appointments made which entailed the following moves on 24 June – Capt GJC Priestley relinquished the appointment of Adj and was inter-posted to 249 Bty.  Capt ATM Beaven was inter-posted from 252 Bty to RHQ and assumed the appointment of Adjutant.  Capt J Greenwood was inter-posted to 252 Bty.
     A number of high-ranking officers visited the Regt in June – Maj-Gen OM Lund, CB, DSO, paid a visit to the Regt on 16^th June, Brig MWW Selby-Lowndes, DSO, CRA 61^st Inf Div on 21^st June, with Comandante Jacquamin, Legion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre, of the Fighting French Forces on 25^th June.  A small number of officers were posted or returned to the Regt in June.
     The CO went to Wick, Caithness on 3^rd July to visit Maj Norbury, OC 307 (Indep) AT Bty, RA and arranged with him for the transfer of personnel to form a Battery HQ for a fourth Battery which will shortly be formed.  The War Establishment has been changed again, from 3 Btys each of four Tps, back to 4 Btys each of three Tps (2-6pdr and 1-17pdr).  It was finally arranged with the consent of the War Office and RA Records that Capt Walmsley, Lts Robinson, Pratt and Johnson, BSM Bayliss and 25 OR’s should be posted to the Regt from 307 (Indep) Bty.  The War Office have numbered the new Bty “251” !  [despite some protest from the Regt due to it being the same ‘number’ as the Battery which were now prisoners of war, held by the Japanese]