10th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, War Diary November 1941

For a more complete picture of activity this War Diary should be read in conjunction with the 70th Infantry Brigade War Diary for the same month.

During the month there were various Courses and training exercises.

5th November 1941

A Talk was given by Robin Duff – BBC Commentator – on Iceland Radio on the topic of “Broadcasting in Wartime”.

11th November 1941

The first Brigade Dance was held and was hailed as a great success, including, as it did, the attendance of several American nurses.

Given that this was Armistice Day, a 2 minutes’ silence was observed on an individual basis, no specific services were held.

14th November 1941

The Battalion Recce Platoon set off to find ski huts in the South of Iceland for use in winter training.

18th November 1941

A Mountain Warfare exercise was held.

21st November 1941

A Dance was organised by the Battalion’s HQ Company. The RAF Band, which was new and led by Jack McCormick, played for the occasion.

22nd – 29th November 1941

The Battalion’s A Company left for two weeks intensive hard training under Lt Watkins.

This week involved a range of Schemes, route marches and mountain climbing.

Hutted camps were used in the muddy environment at HVITANES, where the mud was fully 2 feet deep in places.

The Anti-Aircraft Platoon and the Battalion Intelligence Section trained with them on this occasion. It was intended that other Companies should follow suit in carrying out a similarly intensive week of training.

As has been pointed out in the Brigade War Diary pages, the dispersion of 10th Battalion DLI up the North West Coast of Iceland meant that such training had been more difficult to arrange, and that therefore the change in location meant that fuller opportunities were being taken to engage in this type of experience.

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