Preparation for D-Day 1943-1944

On exercise in southern England 1943

In February 1943 the regiment moved back to the mainland, first to Southend-on-Sea, and from there via Beaconsfield in April, and Aylesbury in July, to Eastry, Kent in November. Training intensified in this period and in acknowledgement of their high standards the regiment was selected for the second wave of D Day landings.

In the interim they found themselves part of the deception plan called Operation Fortitude, intended to convince the Germans that the D Day landings would centre on the Pas de Calais . On the 6th June 1944, the real landings took place on the beaches of Normandy.

Stop over at Kendal on the return south in February 1943

Following D Day the regiment ran marshalling camps for theAllied invasion forces. However it soon became clear that the unexpectedly light casualty toll suffered by the first wave of the invasion forces meant that the second wave would not be required. Instead, second-wave regiments served as pools for battle casualty replacements. As a result in a few short months 8 officers and more than 130 soldiers were posted from the regiment to other gunner units already in action in France. Deeply concerned by the loss of trained manpower from a highly-trained, fully-equipped and ready-to-deploy regiment, the commanding officer, through the proper channels, requested and was allowed to make an appeal direct to the Crown. This resulted in the recall of the officers from France and the regiment was brought back up to full strength for deployment to the Far East.