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The Officers

When the battalion left for France in October 1939, not every platoon was commanded by an Officer, some were led by WOIII Platoon Serjeant Majors.

If you read through some of their personal diaries, the younger officers attended the same basic training as the men. (See Lt. Kempthorne's diary) but afterwards settled into a more privileged lifestyle.

There seemed to be little offensive or tactical training given and many of their platoons were really run by the SNCO's.

When in March, the War Office decided to replace the WOIII's with very young and inexperienced officers many battalions found a way to keep their PSM's in the field to help mentor them.

When the battalion went into action at Arras and finally at the Ypres-Comines canal, they were a mixture of old WW1 commanders, those who served in Paltestine and the just graduated boys like McIntosh.

Whatever their background, when their backs were against the wall, they did what was asked and fought to the last.

These are the officers of the 2nd battalion in May 1940.

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