The 8th Worcestershire Regiment were transported to the DCLI Depot at Bodmin on 4th July in a fleet of Western National buses. They had been given a month to regroup and reorganise and replace men lost in the Dunkirk campaign before being sent into Cornwall to help build the anti-invasion defences. They arrived by green bus due to a lack of military transport! Does anyone have any detail on what they were doing during the months of July & August 1940 or the places they got to while based at Bodmin?
From the regimental history: The battalion went into a camp at Lanhydrock near Bodmin at the beginning of July. On the 5th August the Battalion moved to Penryn and Falmouth, where, under the orders of Admiral Kitson, it was resonsible for the defence of Falmouth. They appear to have spent the time there digging and wiring around Falmouth with heavy guard duties by night. On the 12th October they returned to Truro. I suspect for more detail you would have to consult the battalions war diary for this period. Cheers Andy
Thanks for that Andy. The camp at Lanhydrock was a tented one under the trees on Viscount Clifden's estate that had been set up for the recuperation of troops returning from Dunkirk. It received a second wave of troops in mid June from Operation Ariel as many of them were landed in Falmouth. So the battalion occupied it in early July. Does anyone already have this War Diary and be willing to share the relevant details or post the relevant pages before I consider a 500 mile trip to Kew?
No probs. If you get no joy finding a copy, give me a shout, It will probably cost less for me to copy it for you.
Thanks for the offer. Will see if anything transpires... Falmouth was a Category A port and had been bombed as early as 5th July with the first civilian casualties on the 7th. So the area saw a lot of pillbox building, trench digging, beach defence construction, etc during the summer of 1940. The Worcesters weren't the only regiment involved in that.
