View MapView MapNational Archive Reference: WO 171/1292
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| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thetford. | May 1 | Bn. night river crossing exercise at 76/4199. Object: to practise Bn. crossing river on 2 Coys. front and passage of | |
| carriers and A.TK. guns on to objective. A Coy in reserve were used to provide party to carry the A.TK. raft Mk. 2 | |||
| to river and also covering fire power. Full scale amn. was carried; 3" Mortars with amm. were man - handled. | |||
| Two crossing points with three Mk. 3 assault boats at each point were used to ferry personnel. Sniper and Int personnel | |||
| acted as enemy "logging" all movement observed from their O.P's. | |||
| May 4 | Admin. inspection by Bde. Comd. Personnel of the Bn. were inspected in Battle Order during the morning, and Coy. and | ||
| Pl. stores and mens' kit inspected in the afternoon. Bde. Staff inspected all accounts and office administration. | |||
| May 8 | Bn. Mortar Pl. demonstrated short range firing without secondaries. Pl. Comd. then explained to all Offrs. and N.C.O's | ||
| the location of mortars by examination of bomb craters. | |||
| May 9 | Bn. Ex. "LOLO". The Bn, was at full W/E vehicles and personnel . Objects: (a) To practise the move into a conc. area | ||
| under special conditions. (b) Advance parties in their duties. (c) Op. loading of vehicles. (d) Loading vehicle | |||
| party personnel. (e) Troop carrying with main body vehicles. (f) To consider final adjustments to load tables and | |||
| composition of parties. It was found that personnel of the Bn. could all be carried on vehicles for short distances. | |||
| After the Ex. final load tables were issued. | |||
| May 13 | Div. Ex. "SHISHAH". Object of Ex. (a) To practise the move forward of the Div. from the Marshalling Area where | ||
| craft parties are formed, thence overseas and re-concentration prior to the advance to contact. (b) To practise |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thetford | May 13 | the advance to contact. 2 i/c with advance party had left on eve of 12th. Bn. embussed with vehicles loaded for sea | |
| voyage and reached marshalling area at 1530 hrs. to join 70 Bde. gp. at W of Swaffam. After shell scrapes were dug | |||
| Coys. amused themselves with football tournaments and camp fire concerts. | |||
| 14 | 70 Bde. Gp. moved in jumbled order to JIG and KING beaches where landing tickets were handed to sector control rep on | ||
| ex. by Div. Pro. Craft loads of vehicles embarked at KING beach and personnel at both KING and JIG beaches. Routes from | |||
| disembarkation beaches to conc. areas had been taped, and the Bn. was all present at 1200 hrs. E of GOODERSTONE 66/2320. | |||
| Move from marshalling area to conc. area was orderly and simple and in action will obviously not be the same. | |||
| 15 | 0900 | Bn. moved out of conc. area behind 1 T.S. who were in van gd. Enemy had crated rd. at CROXTON 3205 which delayed advance | |
| and this evening the Bde. GP. took pos. N of THETFORD sending out patrols to river Little Ouse. 147 Bde. were on our left | |||
| with 146 Bde. in reserve. 147 and 70 Bdes. had advanced from conc. area on different axes and minor adjustments had to be | |||
| made on the front this evening. Two reece patrols from "C" Coy. sent down to Little Ouse failed to contact enemy. | |||
| 16 | 11 D.L.I. were sent S of Thetford to take lightly held enemy pos. and reported their objective clear at 1000 hrs. The | ||
| Ex. finished at midday and the B. marched back to Camp. | |||
| 18 | A general "let-up" on training was ordered and rifle coys. each spent 3 days camping. recently joined Pl. Comds. were | ||
| able to live out with their commands and the non-tactical setting was a chance for Coys. to do recreational P.T. | |||
| 20 | A Tk, Pl. left for the marshalling area 98/4438. |
| Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thetford | May 22 | Bn. Sandmodel Ex. "Village Fighting" for all Offrs. The role of tanks in street fighting was discussed and also | |
| the equipment necessary for a rifle Coy. in such an operation. | |||
| 23 | Vehicles began first stages of waterproofing today. | ||
| 27 | "Increment" vehicles left for marshalling area today. | ||
| 28 | Div Comd addressed 70 Bde. Gp. this morning. He spoke of the reputation of the Div. and ran over its history since | ||
| he had taken command just one year ago. | |||
| 29 | C.O. addressed all Coys and passed on a message from General Montgomery who had confidently prophesied the end of | ||
| the campaign against Germany by Christmas 1944. | |||
| 30 | Bn. route march 14 miles with battle order and full scale arm. |
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