In May 1940, as part of the rapid expansion of the British Army in World War II, the Worcestershire Regiment, based at Worcester, raised its 50th (Holding) Battalion, which assembled at Burton upon Trent on 1 June under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel A.P.

It moved from Burton to Dudley on 15 October, where the men were frequently employed clearing air raid debris during the Birmingham Blitz.

[1][2] On 4 June 1941, the battalion sailed from Greenock to Reykjavík to join the Occupation of Iceland under the command of 49th (West Riding) Division.

Artillery regimental and battery commanders lived with the brigades and battalions they were to support, and Forward Observation Officers (FOOs) and their signallers were in close touch with the frontline infantry companies.

From the spring of 1943 43rd (W) Division was assigned to 21st Army Group and training was directed towards the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord.

Disembarkation was delayed by bad weather, but the bulk of the division was concentrated north of Bayeux by 24 June with VIII Corps.

[16][17][18] The division's first major offensive action of its own was Operation Jupiter, to take Hill 112, which had been briefly captured by British armour during 'Epsom' but had to be abandoned.

It was supposed to break through and seize bridgeheads over the River Orne, but the massive barrage only stunned and failed to suppress the defenders from 10th SS Panzer Division.

The DCLI held out through the night but by mid-afternoon on 11 July all the anti-tank guns on the hill had been knocked out, the tanks had to retire to the reverse slope, and the defence was almost over.

[20][21][22][23] After a short rest 43rd (W) Division moved to XXX Corps to launch an attack towards the dominating height of Mont Pinçon as part of Operation Bluecoat.

[29][30] The breakout achieved, XXX Corps drove flat out for the River Seine (Operation Loopy), with 43rd (W) Division sent ahead to make an assault crossing at Vernon.

The roughly 100 vehicles of 112th Field Rgt moved with the bulk of the divisional artillery in Group Two and arrived too late to participate in the bombardment covering the initial assault crossing on the evening of 25 August.

The divisional artillery assembled on the hillside overlooking Vernon and fired with the assistance of air observation post aircraft against the counter-attacks on the other side of the river.

By 28 August the Sappers had bridged the river, the armour had begun to cross in numbers and 130th Bde was clearing the high ground opposite, allowing the artillery reconnaissance parties to follow up.

Major Sir John Backhouse was killed on 29 August when these clashed with a German Flak88 gun in the woods at close range.

The first elements moved up to Brussels to protect headquarters, then the division concentrated at Diest to take part in Operation Market Garden, beginning on 17 September.

The whole divisional artillery opened up at 21.00, while the sappers crossed and recrossed the river in stormboats ferrying around 2300 exhausted survivors of 1st Airborne back to the south bank.

On 26/27 September sizeable parties of Germans crossed onto the Island, infiltrating into the flank held by 130th Bde and 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment.

[44] 43rd (W) Division was relieved on 10 November and then shifted east with XXX Corps to cooperate with the Ninth US Army by capturing the Geilenkirchen salient in Operation Clipper.

By 22 November any further advance was impossible due to the waterlogged state of the country, which then had to be defended in conditions resembling the worst of the Western Front in World War I.

From 20 December a battle group under 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment with 112nd Field Rgt, two anti-tank troops and two infantry companies covered the river with a series of OPs and small detachments holding possible crossing places.

The advance began on 30 March: after initial traffic jams, the groups either overcame or bypassed German rearguards and Lochem was liberated on 1–2 April.

[61][62][63] The pursuit continued through April and ended with the division's capture of Bremen against sporadic opposition and XXX Corps' drive into the Cuxhaven peninsula.