140th (5th London) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
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The 140th (5th London) Field Regiment was a Territorial Army (TA) regiment formed in 1939. It comprised two Battery's- 366 Battery which was based in Clapham, South London and 367 Battery, incorporating HQ, which was based in Woolwich, East London. Once equipped and after basic training in London, High Wycombe and Dursley, Gloucestershire, 140th Regiment was assigned to join the B.E.F. (British Expeditionary Force) in November 1939. It was not allocated to a particular Division but was under the control of GHQ and was allocated to individual forces depending on operational need to provide extra firepower to formations that required it.
Equipment
The British Army in 1939 (unlike the German Infantry) was fully motorised under a mechanisation initiative. The Regiment operated 18-pounder guns towed behind Tractor units (mainly Morris or Guy ‘Quads’) with an ammunition trailer positioned between the tractor and gun. The 140th Regiment’s vehicles were identified by a number '10’ in white on a red and blue background.
The 18-pounder gun was a quick-firing field gun with the shell and cartridge fixed together. It was based on a World War One weapon that had been modernised and was mounted on a Mark II carriage with rubber tyres. The gun barrel was nickel-steel with a single-motion screw breech incorporating a cartridge extractor. The sights were on the right of the gun and incorporated a telescope and clinometer for indirect firing in an arc. The effective range of the weapon could be 3-5 miles, although in the last days of the Battle of Cassel some of the firing was done over ‘open sights‘ directly at German tanks only a few yards distant.
In 1939-40, British Field Artillery tactics were organised so as to provide groups of gun strong points, usually camouflaged by trees and supported by communication tracks to supplies and ammunition at the rear and with forward observation posts linked by telegraph wires. In 1939-40, a Battery was sub-divided into a 12-gun, three Troop arrangement with each Troop sharing radio and communications. Each gun would have been crewed by six men, a sergeant, in overall charge, the No.3 who was his right hand man, a Lance Bombardier who laid and fired the gun, numbers 2 and 4 loaded and rammed and numbers 5 and 6 fetched and carried the ammunition.
Officers
The following Officers were recorded as members of the 140th Regiment Royal Artillery in March 1940
- Lt Col C.J. Odling TD;
- Major N.Christopherson;
- Major H.R. Graham Brooks MC;
- Major E. Milton;
- Capt T.G. Greenwood;
- Capt H. Wesley;
- Capt C. L. MacDougall;
- Capt C.A. Hood (Adjutant);
- Lt L.S. Muir;
- Lt R. Baxter;
- Lt J. May;
- Lt E.F. Jeffrey;
- 2nd Lt /Act Capt F.H. Sirkett;
2nd Lts
- M. Roland;
- D.W. Clarke;
- C.T. Hackett;
- D.V. Mackay;
- G.E. Booth;
- B.J. Strachan;
- R. Crichton-Brown;
- J.H. Leaman;
- H.A.A. Baird;
- G. Cook;
- R.J. Hawes;
- R.J. Fitch;
- D. Budd;
- G.L. Somerwill;
- C. J. Bennett.
- Lt.Q.M. F.G. Bower MC;
- Chaplain A. Beale;
- Lt D.W. Lacey RAMC;
- Lt F.G.D. Dwight RAOC OME;
- Lt N. Layton RCSig;
- Georges Kemir (French Army Agent de Liaison).
Participation in the BEF 1940
On 2 March 1940, the Regiment was transferred from Durlsey to join the B.E.F in France. The Regiment advanced into Belgium on 10 May 1940 after the German invasion of Belgium and Holland and allegedly fired the first British artillery round during the Dyle line defence in May 1940. On the evening of 16 May 1940 the Regiment withdrew via Brussels, Ninove and Tournai to the Escaut line as the French military situation deteriorated to the South. The Regiment was in action at the village of Ere/ St Maur, where the Regiment's first battle casualties occurred. On the 22nd May 1940 the Regiment withdrew across the Franco-Belgian border into the French village of Sainguin-en-Melantois. The two Batteries were in operation together as a single fighting unit until 23 May 1940. After 23 May, as the British and French military situation deteriorated further, the two Batteries were separated and were assigned to different theatres.
366 Battery, under the command of Lt-Colonel Brooks, was assigned to defend the Eastern escape corridor to Dunkirk and followed a route via Seclin and Lille to the Messines ridge in support of the British defence of the Ypres- Commines line. The Battery was positioned near the village of Wytschaete and in action during 27-28 May 1940. The Battery withdrew under cover of darkness on 28 May 1940 having disabled its guns and successfully reached the Dunkirk beaches on 29 May 1940. A book written by Lt Colonel Brooks in 1941 entitled Grand Party (1) records 366 Battery's involvement in the 1940 campaign including the evacuation at Dunkirk.
367 Battery, together with Regimental HQ, under the command of Colonel C.J. Odling, was assigned to protect the Western corridor and was initially assigned to the 'MacForce' under the command of Lt General Mason-McFarlane on 23 May 1940 before joining 145 Brigade ('Somerforce') at the French hilltop town of Cassel under the command of Brigadier Hon. Nigel Fitzroy Somerset on 25 May 1940.
Last stand at Cassel
During the four days between May 25-29 1940, Cassel was effectively converted into a tank-proof fortress with a series of surrounding 'picket' villages including the bunker at Le Peckel, Bavinchove and Zuytpeene which were all doggedly defended (2, 3). On 29 May 1940 orders were received for the garrison at Cassel to retreat in a north-easterly direction towards Dunkirk with a view to joining the evacuation (Operation Dynamo). A breakout was attempted under the cover of darkness but very few of the garrisons troops succeeded in evading the advancing German army who by then had surrounded the town. A large number were captured during the day of 30 May 1940 on the Franco-Belgian border near the town of Watou.
By 30 May 1940 almost half of the personnel of the 140th Field Regiment had been captured or killed. Although many of the men of 366 Battery were successfully evacuated, very few of 367 Battery escaped capture and most of the survivors of Cassel spent the remainder of the war as POW’s.
Regiment reforms after Dunkirk
Fourteen officers and 287 men (out of a total of 700) returned from Dunkirk to re-form the Regiment. After Dunkirk, the priority was the defence of the United Kingdom from the expected invasion and so there was urgent pressure for the Regiment to re-form. In mid-June 1940 the men were concentrated away from the invasion front line at Worksop in Nottinghamshire. They moved to Salford on 28 June 1940 and to Castor, Peterborough in October 1940 where they were re-equipped.
The newly equipped 366 Battery became operational in 1941 and their first wartime mission was to contribute to the military garrison in Iceland in June 1941. The Battery returned to the UK in January 1942 to be merged with the 178th Regiment Royal Artillery, which served in Tunisia and Burma.
The few remaining men of 367 Battery were joined by 504 and 518 Battery’s, they were equipped with 25-pounder field guns and kept the designation 140th Regiment, R.A. In 1942, the 140th Regiment was re-equipped with the Bishop Self-Propelled Gun, a 25-pounder gun mounted on an adapted Valentine tank, and with this vehicle the Regiment went to Algeria in January 1943 as part of 2nd Army Group Royal Artillery (AGRA). At the end of the North African campaign the Regiment was converted to a Medium Regiment with 4.5″ Guns, in the process losing 504 Battery to 75 Heavy Regiment. 140th Medium Regiment (367 & 518 Battery’s) landed in Italy in January 1944 and took part in most of the battles of the Italian Campaign.
Gunner Eric West, 367 Battery
The story of 140 Regiment's involvement with the B.E.F. in 1940 is published here (4) http://140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk/ and focuses on the story of Gunner Eric West, including his experience of captivity in Stalag VIIIB 1940-1945 and Long March in 1945.
'Captivity and the Long March 1940-45'
Many of the regular soldiers of the 140th Regiment captured at Dunkirk were sent to Stalag VIIIB in Silesia as POWs. An account of POW life and the forced 'Long March' that took place during the Russian advance into Germany in 1945 was written by Private Norman Gibbs and has been published in Polish (5) and also features in the 140th Regiment website (4).
'In Dunkirk's Grim Days'
In 1948 Brigadier Nigel Somerset was spurred by his feeling that the brave defence of Cassel by his ‘Somerforce’ was being neglected by historians of the period to write his letter to the Daily Telegraph dated 19 February 1948 ‘In Dunkirk’s Grim Days'
Sir – I notice that in his memoirs of 1940 Mr. Churchill observes that “After the loss of Boulogne and Calais only the remains of the port of Dunkirk and the open beaches next to the Belgian frontier were in our hands.”
At the time I was commanding a brigade group holding a sector from Cassel to Hazebrouck. We were heavily attacked by German armour on May 27. At Cassel the Germans were repulsed with the loss of over 20 tanks. At Hazebrouk our force there was surrounded and did not finally capitulate until the evening of May 28. Not knowing that the B.E.F. was embarking for the United Kingdom we hourly expected a vigorous counter-attack by British and possibly French troops to restore the situation. We hung on at Cassel until the night of May 29, and then tried to reach the Dunkirk bridgehead. German operation maps at the time showed Cassel and district still occupied by the enemy, and leaflets were dropped calling on us to surrender, as “your generals are gone”! I feel it is fair neither to myself nor the troops under my command to let this stand pass from mind, especially as so many gave their lives, and most of the remainder of us spent five years in captivity. Incidentally, by holding on at Cassel we not only deprived the Germans of one of the main roads to Dunkirk, but enabled many British detached units and individuals to reach the bridgehead. All these facts appear to have utterly escaped the notice of the authorities at the time owing to the indescribable confusion, and I feel that an opportunity has now been afforded me of bringing them to light.
Yours faithfully, N. F. SOMERSET
In December 1944, five years after its formation in London as a Territorial unit, the 140th (5th London) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery was disbanded.
References
(1)‘Grand Party‘ (1941) Lt Col Graham Brooks, Fleet Street Press (out of print).
(2) ‘Cassel and Hazebouck 1940‘ Jerry Murland (2017) Pen & Sword Military ISBN 9781473852655
(3) ‘Fight to the Last Man‘ Simon Sebag-Montefiore (2006) Penguin ISBN 139780670910823
(4) http://140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk/
(5) ‘Norman Gibbs, Prisoner of War number 16349, Retrospective Diary’ Joanna Lusek (2018) ISBN 97883-931223-1-8
External links
http://140th-field-regiment-ra-1940.co.uk/
www.lamsdorf.com
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