70th Infantry Brigade War Diary September 1942.

3rd September 1942

National Day of Prayer. Units in KINGTON Summer Camp attended a service in Kington Parish Church. After the service, the G.O.C. 49 Division took the salute at a march past.

4th September 1942

The Brigade Commander and four Officers from Brigade HQ attended a Divisional Tank demonstration near PENYBONT. Carriers with wooden superstructures were used as Tanks and the supporting Infantry were drawn from 1st Tyneside Scottish and 1/6 Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. In the evening the G.O.C. held a conference on Exercise “WETSHOD” at the HQ of 147th Brigade where a cloth model of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire had been prepared.

Major R.H. Greenhouse, Manchester Regiment, G.III (Training), Northern Command, arrived and assumed the appointment of Brigade Major 70th Infantry Brigade, vice Major A.J.C. Prickett.

6th – 13th September 1942

Western Command Exercise “WETSHOD” took place. 49 Division, less the 146th Brigade Group, were considered to be enemy troops and landed in the LAUGHARNE area near TENBY with the object of advancing via ST.CLEARS – CARMARTHEN – PONTARDULAIS on to the final objective of SWANSEA by 13th September.

Movement from Camp areas began at 04:00 hours to the concentration areas near ST.CLEARS and 70th Brigade pushed through a Mobile Column, captured the bridges at CARMARTHEN and formed a bridgehead. From this period onwards, the advance became slower, developing into a series of static situations until the final day when the Brigade made good the bottle-neck of PONTARDULAIS already captured the day previously by 147th Brigade and subsequently successfully counter-attacked by the enemy in such a way that the German forces were cut in two. The conclusion of the exercise found the remnants of four battalions advancing towards SWANSEA held by its Civil Defence.

The British forces comprised 102 Royal Marine Brigade, 2nd, 8th, 9th and 10th Battalions 31 Welch Regiment, Royal Belgian Fusiliers, Belgian Artillery, one Platoon of the East Lancashire Regiment and approximately 15,000 Home Guard Civil Defence workers.

The newly appointed Army Commander, General Schreiber, G.O.C.-in.C. Western Command was present throughout the exercise and at the conference in the Civil Hall, SWANSEA, pointed out in no uncertain terms the major faults – tactical, operational and administrative, and the easiest way to their prompt eradication. The Brigade Group returned to Camp at approximately 04:00 hours Monday 14th September after a full 7 days’ exercise.

15th September 1942

The Staff Captain returned from a reconnaissance of a new Brigade area in Eastern Command and a conference for all C.Os. and Adjutants was held and Administrative Instruction No 15 was issued and a copy attached to the War Diary as Appendix A. (Unfortunately, the Appendix was missing from the file at The National Archives).

Advance Parties were to leave for the IPSWICH area 18th – 20th September and the Main Bodies on 26th September.

Exercise “STEPUP” – the move to a winter location near NORTHWICH – was permanently cancelled and the new move will be known as Exercise “STEPFURTHER”.

17th September 1942

GHQ Home Forces had ordered all Commands to experiment with road movement to see if any improvement could be made on the present system.

70th Infantry Brigade was selected by 49 Division to carry out an exercise of this type for Western Command. The RAF were to co-operate by taking air photographs of the various units of the Brigade Group over a certain stretch of the route. C.Os. attended a conference at Brigade HQ at 10:00 hours and a rehearsal was held later in the day over a shortened route, with about 250 vehicles taking part. Details were fixed with the RAF for the exercise itself which was due to take place on 22nd September.

18th September 1942

Officers of the Brigade attended a lecture in CARDIFF on “Fighting in Libya”.

19th September 1942

A Tank Circus visited the Racecourse, HEREFORD for two days, and arrangements were made by Divisional HQ for a large number of spectators to attend. German PzKw Marks I, II, III and IV were shown, together with Churchill, Valentine, Matilda and Crusader Tanks and an Italian Armoured Car. Explanations were given by Royal Armoured Corps Officers.

20th September 1942

Divisional Exercise “JUNIPER TWO” was held at SENNYBRIDGE. 70th Infantry Brigade (Skeleton HQs down to Companies), 143 and 178 Field Regiments took part. The object of the exercise was to practise communication between Infantry (especially forward Companies) and Artillery.

During the night rain began and did not leave off throughout the exercise which was abandoned owing to poor visibility at 15:00 hours.

21st September 1942

Officers of the Brigade attended a lecture at CARDIFF by Major G.T. Llewellen Palmer, 7th Hussars, on “The Armoured Brigade in Burma”.

22nd September 1942

“MONTE CARLO II” was postponed due to weather conditions unsuitable for the RAF.

23rd September 1942

Under arrangements made by 49 Division the Brigade Group took part in “MONTE CARLO II”, a movement by road of vehicles at varying speeds and densities. Reports were submitted and the air aspect was obtained by RAF co-operation. Photographs were taken of each serial.

24th September 1942

The G.O.C.-in-C. Western Command visited Brigade HQ for a period of half an hour and made acquaintance with the Brigade Commander and the three Battalion C.Os.

25th September 1942

The Brigade Commander attended a training conference at Divisional HQ.

26th – 28th September 1942

A series of three-day RAF attachments began, Officers within the Division being attached to the RAF and vice-versa. The programme for the visiting Air Force Officer personnel included lectures on Divisional and lower organisations, a visit to the Battle School, a full Battalion paraded with all weapons and vehicles, a visit to the Field Park Company, the demonstration of the 2pdr, 6pdr and 25pdr guns, together with firing demonstrations.

29th September 1942

C.Os. training conference held at Brigade HQ.

30th September 1942

70th Brigade Training Instruction No 10 was issued (although a copy was not included within the file at The National Archives).

A Brigade Group 7-a-side Rugby Knock-out competition was played up to the semi-finals. 12 teams were entered.

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