I have a photograph of a graduating class at Bovington, apparently WW2, but the back is written as "EW Personnel". Surely this can't mean Electronic Warfare? I wouldn't have thought we had any Electronic Warfare until decades later.
From our Abbreviations and Acronyms List: EW/TDD: Experimental Wing Tank Designs Department (Source: British Military Terminology, [US] Military Intelligence Service, War Department (1943).
Electronic warfare was a major factor in WW2 from the German navigational beams and British jamming of them, radar spoofing, ELINT operations etc etc - whether they were referred to as electronic is another matter. The use of electronics as a word seems to date from the 60s when Electronic Intelligence was recognised as a separate branch of Signal Intelligence
Bovington was used for basic training "The training was mainly drill parades and lectures covering a broad spectrum from grenade throwing to instructions on the opposite sex" when "training was completed the intake moved down to the 58th Training Regiment" to learn how to be tank crewmen. This first stage was known as the Primary or Elementary Wing EW is probably Elementary Wing
