[3][4][6][7][2][11] Partial mechanisation of the brigade began in July 1927, with 343 and 344 Btys replacing their horses with hired Morris Commercial Series D six-wheeled lorries acting as gun tractors.

[3][13][32] In March 1941 54th (EA) Division left its coast defence role and moved to Gloucestershire to come under GHQ Reserve; 86th (HY) Fd Rgt was billeted in the Tewkesbury area.

Mobile training began in July, when the regiment left Tewkesbury and alternated between divisional exercises and artillery practice camps on Salisbury Plain and at Sennybridge.

[23][33] With no immediate prospect of overseas service, 54th (EA) Division was placed on a lower establishment in January 1942 and it became a source of men and units for other parts of the field force.

The first two weeks of March 1943 were spent in 'Exercise Spartan', which involved much movement, 342 Bty forming part of a 'flying column' that drove from Yorkshire to seize the bridge at Hungerford, Berkshire, before retiring to a defensive 'box' in Northamptonshire.

The final combined landing exercise was carried out at Hayling Island on 4 May and the assault force went into its concentration areas: 86th (HY) Fd Rgt to Camp C14, near Romsey.

[44][45][46] 7 June was spent in 'mopping up' pockets of German resistance – F Trp acting as infantry helped some tanks to clear a nearby wood – and in pushing forward to the Caen–Bayeux road.

The attack on Hottot failed, and a lull fell over the divisional front, though 86th (HY) Fd Rgt supported the neighbouring 49th (WR) Division during Operation Epsom (26–27 June).

Five hundred rounds of ammunition per gun had been dumped for the regiment to use, and 341 Bty alone fired 1500 in the two-hour barrage starting at 05.30 on 16 July, and nearly 3400 in the day, brought down by five OPs out with the attacking brigades.

Late on 6 August the Hussars managed to get their two leading Troops onto the hilltop, accompanied by the OP Sherman of 86th (HY) Fd Rgt's D Trp to call down fire support; the infantry then arrived to consolidate the position overnight.

11th Armoured Division then began a 200 miles (320 km) dash to seize Antwerp, with its open left flank guarded by the divisional reconnaissance regiment, 15th/19th Hussars, supported by the Sextons of 86th (HY) Fd Rgt.

Here a tank or anti-tank gun firing from a flank destroyed a number of the regiment's 3-ton lorries carrying fuel and ammunition and killed Maj Corke, OC 341 Bty.

Ahead of this ambush, Sergeant Couzins of B Trp was ordered to take his Sexton forward and establish an outpost on the outskirts of Avelin; turning a corner he saw a battery of six Germans guns in action in a shallow valley less than 2,000 yards (1,800 m) away.

Next day (4 September) the regiment with 15th/19th Hussars covered the crossing of the Scheldt at Dendermonde and then protected the division's flank as its leading elements entered the Port of Antwerp before nightfall.

Major R.J. Kiln, OC of 342 Bty, was seriously wounded while working with the White Army to prevent German troops crossing the Albert Canal by an undestroyed bridge at Wijnegem.

On 15 September it moved to a gun area immediately south of the Meuse-Escaut Canal, with OPs in the houses of Lommel, ready to take part in the opening barrage for Operation Market Garden.

On 19 September Guards Armoured reached the bridge at Grave and 86th (HY) Fd Rgt was called forward to defend the flank of their long line of communications.

In the afternoon the town came under shellfire as a German battlegroup counter-attacked the vital bridges at Veghel and the battery was constantly in action over the next 24 hours; only the chance discovery of an abandoned ammunition lorry from Guards Armoured kept it supplied.

342 Battery later moved into the safety of Veghel and was attached to 90th (CoL) Fd Rgt of 50th (N) Division, taking part in several battles to keep the road open until the fighting died down on 26 September.

But the fighting bogged down amongst the defences of the Siegfried Line; 86th (HY) Fd Rgt ran out of smoke ammunition to cover the Sherwood Rangers' tanks and had to borrow more from 43rd (W) Division.

While most of 86th (HY) Fd Rgt picked out gun positions round Namur on 22 December, 341 Bty was detached in direct support of the divisional reconnaissance regiment, 2nd Armoured Battalion, Welsh Guards, forward at Jodoigne.

Having shortened the range the regiment's 25-pdrs were now able to join the heavy and medium artillery firing on the Materborn feature for the follow-up attack through the Siegfried Line defences by 44 (Lowland) Bde, though the brigade was unaware that this support was available.

However, mud, floods and traffic chaos prevented this from happening until 12 February, when 341 Bty supported 7th Seaforth Highlanders and a squadron of 4th Armoured Bn Coldstream Guards advancing from Cleve towards Calcar.

2nd Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment seized the vital bridge on the Weeze–Udem road and then held it all night against fierce counter-attacks, with the support of 86th (HY) Fd Rgt and every other gun within range.

Guards Armoured fought its way through thick woods towards Bonninghardt against pockets of strong resistance, then into the village itself, and finally on the morning of 7 March reached the rest of the ridge, looking down on the Germans retreating towards the two Rhine bridges at Wesel, 8 miles (13 km) away.

A second bridge in Nordhorn collapsed behind the group, so the guns were stuck in the town until it could be repaired, but the tanks drove on through the night without lights and through heavy rain, sweeping retreating parties of Germans off the road.

The guns took up positions in woods and gardens round Erichshof, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Bremen, from which they participated in a huge 'softening up' bombardment, beginning on 23 April and continuing throughout the following day.

[97][98][99][100] After VE Day 86th (HY) Fd Rgt rejoined Guards Armoured Division in disarming German troops at Cuxhaven and then moved to Verden, where it was billeted in surrounding villages.

All ranks wore the 89 AGRA formation badge on battledress: this consisted of a yellow 'bomb' inside a white horseshoe (reflecting the predominantly yeomanry regiments in the group) on a dark green square.

When 89 AGRA became 54th (EA) Divisional Artillery, the personnel adopted the division's new arm badge of two arrows crossed through a Coronet of fleurs-de-lis in yellow on a royal blue background.