August 1940

1-3 August 1940

A gas house was opened at Stanhope House for testing respirators. Training being carried out and a route march held on Friday. Battalion on 1 hour notice to move so no passes issued.

4-10 August 1940

Individual company church parades held on Sunday and limited passes granted for Horsham. Battalion paraded to Cocksey Farm and carried out exercise with tanks. GOC addressed the unit and told them that this type of fighting is what we could expect. Route march held and then the unit paraded to the mobile bath unit. Further tank training held during the week to familiarize the unit with working with tanks. We practiced moving out to the training area in company pacquets to speed up movement. Sports afternoon held on Thursday. We went on a 18 mile route march which id the longest route march we have made to date. Battalion marched to Cocksey Farm for week-end exercise with tanks.

11-17 August 1940

We were training on Sunday and the GOC observed the exercise and he was not to pleased and he let us know. Returned to unit lines and no passes were issued due to "stand to." We all had to wear gas masks for a set period each day. This was extremely uncomfortable. A concert was given on Monday night in Newdigate by the local inhabitants. We were also required to go into slit trenches during any air raids. We went on an exercise on Thursday to Ford Manor. It was a move by MT combined with a march. When we were returning to our area in the afternoon we were forced over the side of the road where we were enabled to witness our first air battle. A whistling bomb fell in the vicinity of the Commanding Officers vehicle. A party of 120 men under Capt. K Whyte left the Lydd ranges. Balance of the week spent on training as set out in the training syllabus.

18-24 August 1940

Usual church parades held. The party of men at Lydd ranges shot down a German aircraft and this was confirmed by a letter from General McNaughton and General Pearkes. Pte. Clark was on the LMG which shot the plane down. Two Polish officers attached to the unit for training. Infantry-tank training held all day Wednesday. Air raid on Saturday night reported to have killed some troops in the RCR area. This was not confirmed. Frequent air raids being reported each day.

25-31 August 1940

We had church parades on Sunday in the Company areas. Several bombs are reported to have fallen in the area and more casualties reported. We went on exercise Horne with tanks and bivouaced in the area prior to the exercise. Capt. MacKenzie showed the CO a newspaper clipping stating that he and Lt. Col Calquhon, of the PPCLI, were returning to Canada for executive positions with the 3rd Canadian Division. General Pearkes present for exercise Horne and he confirmed that the CO was indeed returning to Canada to be given command of a Brigade. Major Southam is to be promoted Lt. Col and to command the 48th Highlanders. We returned to Newdigate at 1300hrs. CO given a farewell dinner and two air raid warnings were sounded while it was in progress. Privilege leave being given to 10% of unit with warrant. Several air raid warnings received during the week and a good deal of the time we spent in our slit trenches. Final unit parade held for Lt. Col E.W. Haldenby who then turned the unit over to Major W.W. Southam. We marched past Lt. Col Haldenby for the last time. During the air raid on Friday PSM Miller's platoon captured a German pilot from one of the two planes seen to have come down in our area. A little later PSM Osbourne drove his platoon vehicle to close to a German bomber that had been forced down, It either caught fire or was set on fire by the crew and exploded. The 15 cwt was totally destroyed as it was near to the aircraft. A considerable number of weapons and a large quantity of ammunition were also destroyed. There were a total of three other raids and several planes were down in the area. Capt. Crawford-Brown and five men chased another parachute which turned out to be a barrage balloon that had come down. [note: we were stationed at this time in that part of England receiving the brunt of the action during the Battle of Britain.]

The Battle of Britain