May 1941

We were on exercise Red for the first part of the month. We returned to billets at Kingswood at 1820hrs 2 May. Church parades held as usual. Unit training being carried out during the month with the unit participating in various PAREX exercises. Large scale exercise, code named Brenda, held in the later part of May involving road moves to the Ashford area. The move was slow and confused at times. It took us 9 hrs to travel 40 miles with 31 halts of varying lengths. The unit was under command of Major B.B. King. We had no real part in the exercise and sat in reserve. Finally sent back to Kingswood area early.

An examination of the war diary reveals that May was a pretty routine month as far as the unit was concerned. Training and leave and one was finding it hard to realize that there was a war on but of course the nightly bombing brought one back to the reality of war very rapidly. The bombing of London reached crescendo on the night of 15 May. We did not realize it at the time but that night marked a turning point. There was never another raid of such intensity again and the bombing of London was over. The Germans lost that one. The invasion of Russia was delayed by the resistance in Yugoslavia and this was responsible for the change in tactics. The CO Lt. Col W.W. Southam was awarded the Efficiency Decoration this month.