World War 2 Eighty Years On - 1944 - Home Guard

December

Disbandment for the local Home Guard Battalions was held at Windsor Castle on Sunday, December 8th. Among the Home Guard units on parade were the Heavy AA Battalion, the 8th Berks. (Windsor Borough Batt.), the 9th. Berks. (Windsor Crown Land Batt.) and ‘D’ Stretch Upper Thames Patrol who were under the command of Major C.D.N. Butler.  Assembling at Victoria Barracks the parade marched to the Castle via Sheet Street and Park Street. With the band of the Royal Horse Guards playing an appropriate march the troops arrived at their appointed places for inspection by the King. Among those on parade was Alf Cook from Eton Wick to whom the King put questions about the cap badge of the Upper Thames Patrol.

 

King George VI, a keen collector of cap badges, taking a close interest in Eton Wick resident Private Alf Cook’s ‘Upper Thames Patrol’ unit Badge.

The summer had seen the successful invasion of German occupied France and the Allied Armies had by December liberated Paris. V-1 flying bombs still fell on London and Manchester where fifty Heinkel Bombers launched a V-1 raid killing 37 people. Anti Aircraft Gun batteries were strengthened more raids materialized.  The introduction by the Germans of  a new and more deadly weapon had  came into use which was officially revealed by the Prime Minister in November.  The  V– 2 rocket travelled at 3000 miles per hour carrying a one ton of explosive.  The first arrived on September 13th falling on Chiswick causing much destruction and heavy casualties.  Against the V–2 there was no defence and  it was of utmost priority that the Allied armies capture the launching sites in Holland.   

Units were affiliated to their regular county regiments.

December 8th 1944

 Stand Down of the Windsor and Eton Home Guard Battalions

 King George VI inspects lady Home Guard volunteers 

who had been the back room support manning telephones,  

clerical, and catering.

2nd right , Mrs Lovell,  of Eton Wick.

Windsor Home Guard Anti  - Aircraft  Battery

The home Guard Gunners served alongside Royal  Artillery  AA Batteries. The formation of Home Guard AA units allowed the release of regimental Royal Artillery gunners for posting to active war fronts. The 3.7” guns shown in the photographs were located in the Windsor Great Park. 

The 3.7”  heavy A.A gun was designed to engage raiders up to 30,000 ft or more. The difficulty of getting a hit on target resulted in a timed fuse to burst the shell when it had been calculated to reach the target giving a radius of burst of approximately 60 feet.. Precise fuse setting  was required for the shell to burst at the exact point to damage and bring down the target as the shell, travelling at 2000ft./sec., having an error setting error of one tenth of a second would  cause a burst  200ft. From the target.    Improved performance  of the 3.7” was achieved by lining down a 4.5” to shoot a 3.7” shell using a 4.5” cartridge. This proved highly successful until the A.A. gun was replaced by the guided weapon.

This is an extract from Round and About Eton Wick: 1939 - 1945. The book was researched, written and published in 2001 by John Denham.