At the outbreak of war in September 1939, the 140th Field Regiment mobilised under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Cedric Odling. In November 1939, after the soldiers had been equipped and had finished basic training in
London, and
Dursley,
Gloucestershire, the regiment was assigned to join the
British Expeditionary Force as "Army Troops", not assigned to a particular formation. On 2 March 1940, the regiment left Dursley and landed at
Le Havre, in France, on 6 March 1940. By 9 May 1940, the regiment had been assigned to
I Corps. Following the
German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, the BEF advanced north into Belgium to defend the line of the
Dyle river under
Plan D. The regiment allegedly fired the first British artillery round during the Dyle-line defence. But the
German Army broke through the
Ardennes to the east, forcing the BEF to withdraw to the line of the
Escaut river. On the evening of 16 May 1940, the regiment withdrew—via Brussels, Ninove, and Tournai—to the Escaut line, as the French military situation worsened to the south. The policy was to "superimpose" army field artillery regiments onto divisional artillery to give enhanced firepower as required. During the fighting on the Escaut, the regiment was in action with
42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division at
Wannehain, where it suffered its first battle casualties and had three guns knocked out by enemy shellfire. On 22 May 1940, the regiment withdrew across the Franco-Belgian border into the French village of
Sainguin-en-Melantois. The two batteries operated together as a single fighting unit until 23 May 1940. After then, as the British and French military situation worsened further, they were separated and were assigned to different sectors. 366 Battery, under the command of
Major 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 during 27–28 May 1940, then withdrew under cover of darkness on 28 May 1940, having disabled its guns, and successfully reached the Dunkirk beaches on 29 May 1940. 367 Battery, together with RHQ, under the command of Colonel C.J. Odling, was assigned to protect the western corridor and was initially assigned to "MacForce" under the command of
Lieutenant-General Noel Mason-MacFarlane, on 23 May 1940, before joining "Somerforce" at the French hilltop town of
Cassel under the command of
Brigadier Nigel Fitzroy Somerset, on 25 May 1940. Somerforce included units of Brigadier Somerset's own
145th Infantry Brigade (2nd Battalion
Gloucestershire Regiment, 4th Battalion
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry), together with armoured cars of the
East Riding Yeomanry, and various support units, including the 140th Field Regiment and 5th Regiment,
Royal Horse Artillery. Its role was to hold the line from Cassel to
Hazebrouck at the outer perimeter of the Dunkirk pocket.
Last stand at Cassel During four days, 25–29 May, 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. By 27 May, Cassel was surrounded and there was heavy fighting around the hilltop town, with 140 Field Regiment's 18-pdrs "doing great execution". On 29 May, the enemy closed in with tanks: five of these were knocked out before the remainder forced their way into the town, and German infantry attacked troop command posts until they were driven out by the gunners. The regiment adopted a position of all-round defence. Finally, a military policeman on a motorcycle got through the surrounding enemy to deliver a day-old order for Somerforce to withdraw. Lieutenant-Colonel Howard ordered his men to hold out until nightfall and then destroy all equipment and make their escape. The regiment destroyed its guns and set off in the dark in a north-easterly direction towards Dunkirk, intending to join the evacuation (
Operation Dynamo). A large number were captured during the day of 30 May 1940, on the Franco-Belgian border near the town of
Watou. 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
prisoners of war (POWs). ==Home Defence==