The 208th (Sussex) Field Company was a Territorial Army (TA) unit of Britain's Royal Engineers (RE) raised in Eastbourne in 1920. It formed part of 44th (Home Counties) Division, but shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939 it joined 2nd Division of the Regular Army and served with that formation throughout the Second World War. It was in the Battle of France and the Dunkirk evacuation. Later it was sent to Burma where it was involved in the decisive Battle of Kohima and the assault crossing of the Irrawaddy. The unit was reformed in the postwar TA and continued until 1967.
Origin
The 1st Sussex Engineer Volunteer Corps was raised at Eastbourne in 1890 and by 1901 had expanded to 11 companies across Sussex and Kent.Westlake, p. 13.Monthly Army List, various dates.Morling, pp. 8–9. When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) in 1908, part of the 1st Sussex EVC provided the divisional engineers for the TF's Home Counties Division, with two field companies based at Eastbourne and Hastings.London Gazette, 20 March 1908.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 49–54.Morling, pp. 19, 249 and front endpapers.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 11.Eastbourne at Drill Hall Project.
On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the bulk of the Home Counties Division was sent to garrison India and it never operated as a formation during the war. However, its engineers remained in the UK and later joined Regular Army divisions fighting on the Western Front: 1st HC Field Co with 8th Division and 2nd HC Fd Co with 5th Division.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 65–71, 89–95.Morling, pp. 22–30.Watson & Rinaldi, pp. 28, 34, 61, 65.
The companies remained with these formations for the rest of the war. 1st Home Counties Fd Co (later designated 490th Fd Co) with 8th Division saw action Aubers Ridge, the Somme, Ypres, the German spring offensive and the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. 2nd Home Counties Fd Co (later 491 Fd Co) was with 5th Division at Hill 60, the Somme and Ypres; it then moved to the Italian Front, but was back on the Western Front for the battles of 1918. The companies' 2nd Line duplicates formed during the war remained in the UK and did not see any active service.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 6, 75–82.Morling, pp. 36–7.
44th (Home Counties) Division reformed in 1920 and when the TF was reconstituted as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921, the field companies were renumbered. The recruiting areas of the former 1st and 2nd Home Counties Field Companies were combined to form 208 (Sussex) Field Company, with company HQ at Ordnance Yard, Eastbourne, a drill station at Rock-a-Nore, Hastings, and also recruiting at Bexhill-on-Sea.WO, Titles & Designations.Watson & Rinaldi, pp. 90 & 99.Morling, pp. 44–5, 171.
Second World War Mobilisation Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the TA was doubled in size and 44th (Home Counties) Division formed a duplicate, 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, with its RE based at Hastings. 208 (Sussex) Fd Co formed two of the additional companies from men recruited at Hastings: 262 Fd Co and 265 Fd Park Co. 44th (Home Counties) Division was mobilised on 3 September 1939 and 12th (E) Division became active on 7 October 1939.Eastern Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.Joslen, pp. 71–2.Joslen, p. 56.Morling, pp. 47–5, 210, 212.Watson & Rinaldi, pp. 92, 101, 138–9, 162.
Shortly after mobilisation, 44th (Home Counties) Division formed the 'Ashdown Forest Mobile Group' as an anti-invasion reserve at Groombridge, with 208 Fd Co as its RE component, joining on 14 September. On 29 September it was announced that each of the 1st Line TA divisions would send one field company to France to build defences for the new British Expeditionary Force (BEF). 208 (S) Field Co was selected from 44th (Home Counties) Division and made its way from Groombridge to Southampton, where it boarded the Mona's Queen on 26 September and landed at Cherbourg the following day.Morling, pp. 55–9.
Battle of France
After arrival in France, 208 (Sussex) Fd Co worked in the area of Douai and Lille as part of Force X, building defences for the BEF along the France/Belgium frontier, and airfields and HQs for the Royal Air Force.Morling, pp 60–8. It briefly rejoined 44th (Home Counties) Division when that formation arrived in France on 1 May. As the training of the recently doubled TA formations was still weak, GHQ instituted a policy of exchanging some of their units with Regular formations. Having already been detached during the training period, the CRE selected 208 Fd Co as the one to be exchanged, and it moved to 5 Brigade Group in 2nd Division on 4 May.Joslen, pp. 39–40.Morling, p. 172.Pakenham-Walsh, Vol VIII, pp. 23–5.
When the German offensive in the west opened on 10 May, the BEF advanced into Belgium in accordance with 'Plan D'. By 12 May 208 Fd Co was deployed on the Dyle Line with the tasks of preparing bridges over the rivers Lasgne, Train and Heze for demolition, creating as much of an anti-tank obstacle as possible, and assisting the rest of 2nd Divisional RE and Belgian and French engineers in preparing to blow the Dyle bridges. This work was completed on 15 May, which was the day that the BEF came under attack. 208 Field Co was ordered to blow its bridges and begin its withdrawal that night as the BEF fell back to the Lasgne.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter III.Morling, pp. 69–81, Map II.
Next day the company came under shell fire and by 17 May was on the River Senne, the first stage of its retreat to the Escaut. After blowing its last bridge on the Senne the company was without orders, so made its way back through traffic jams to the River Dendre. The whole of 2nd Division was back on the Escaut by 18 May, though this river was not much of a defensive obstacle, and the division came under heavy attack on 21 May. 208 Field Co spent 20–22 May putting houses astride the road at Taintignies into a state of defence and laying a minefield at Rumes. However, the BEF had to withdraw from the Escaut to the 'Canal Line', and 208 Fd Co was ordered to strip the detonators from the mines so that friendly troops could retreat through them. The company was ordered back on 23 May and passed through the burning town of La Bassée the following day. Operating with 6 Bde on 25 May the company attempted to destroy bridges over the La Bassée Canal near Merville and repair a vital bridge at St Venant, while confused fighting was going on nearby and several casualties were suffered from shellfire. 6 Brigade having been forced back, 2nd Division counter-attacked on 26 May to try to regain the Canal Line to cover the start of the BEF's withdrawal to Dunkirk.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter IV.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter VIII.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter IX.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter XI.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter XIII.Morling, pp. 82–95, Maps I & II.
There was confused fighting throughout 27 May, with parties of 208 Fd Co separated, some in the fighting line, others as demolition parties manning 'last minute' bridges at St Venant and Merville. Most of the unit's transport was disabled and had to be abandoned. By now 2nd Division had little fighting strength left and was itself withdrawn to the Dunkirk bridgehead on night of 28/29 May, moving with difficulty on the congested roads. A party of volunteers from 208 Fd Co remained at the De Moers Canal to blow the bridges while the remainder of the company entered Dunkirk, destroyed their remaining vehicles and waited on the Mole for their place in the evacuation. They boarded the drifter Fisher Boy of Grimsby and landed at Ramsgate at 00.30 on 31 May, while their Officer Commanding, Maj L.F. Morling, remained for a few hours as Mole Master. He and the men who had been separated got away with other parties. Eight men of 'last minute' demolition parties were left behind.Ellis, France & Flanders, Chapter XV.Morling, pp. 96–108.
Home Defence The remnants of 2nd Division reformed around Halifax, West Yorkshire, from 1 June, with the men of 208 Fd Co arriving from depots scattered all over the country. The company was reinforced and began to re-equip for redeployment in France, but the French surrender ended those plans. Instead the division was sent to defend the Yorkshire coast, with 208 Fd Co billeted at Hornsea from 23 June. Work on defences began immediately, and continued in Kingston upon Hull from 22 October. During the Hull Blitz the unit suffered some casualties while firefighting on 13/14 March 1941, and its own vehicles were bombed on 18/19 March. In April the unit was moved to Epworth, Lincolnshire, for training in bridgebuilding, and then to Selby in August. In October 1941 the unit was ordered to mobilise for overseas service, and in November the division came under War Office control. Mobilisation and training was continued at Chipping Norton through the winter, and on 11 April 1942 the company embarked at Liverpool aboard the Marnix van Sint Aldegond and sailed in convoy for India on 15 April.Collier, Maps 17 & 20.Morling, pp. 109–16.
India The company disembarked at Bombay on 12 June and went into camp near Kirkee, returning to Bombay in January 1943. 2nd Division's role was to reinforce the central reserve and train to for possible amphibious operations in the recapture of Burma. 208 Field Company was not with 6 Bde from the division which participated in the Arakan Campaign in March 1943, instead it continued amphibious and jungle training at Ahmednagar until March 1944.Morling, pp.115–24.Woodburn Kirby, Vol II, pp. 235, 331–56, 390.
Kohima In March 1944 the Japanese launched a pre-emptive attack (the U Go Offensive) against Kohima and Imphal, and 2nd Division was among the reinforcements rushed to the Central Front. Between 25 and 28 March the company set off from Ahmednagar by road and rail to Dimapur where 2nd Division was to concentrate. By the time 5 Bde Group arrived, IV Corps had completed its withdrawal to defensive positions in the Imphal Plain. The brigade's orders were to break through to relieve the garrison of Kohima, and on 11 April two companies of 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment and No 2 Section of 208 Fd Co led the way to reconnoitre the route. The sappers' first task was to repair broken bridges. On the night of 13/14 April infiltrating Japanese troops bumped into 208's sentries and there was a sharp hand-to-hand action. The Worcesters and tanks then drove off the attackers; later 208's sappers had the gruesome job of removing booby-traps from Japanese bodies. They continued to improve the track and bridges, and to prepare gun positions, and on 18 April 2nd Division broke through to relieve the defenders of Kohima.Morling, pp.123–9.Pakenham-Walsh, Vol IX, p. 215.Woodburn Kirby, Vol III, pp. 190–1, 235, 241–5, 299–306.
2nd Division's next task was to clear the Japanese from Kohima Ridge. The divisional RE failed in several attempts to bulldoze a route up to 'IGH Spur' overlooking the District Commissioner's Bungalow (scene of hard fighting during the siege), but 208 Fd Co cut a mule track for supplies. 5 Brigade then attacked towards Naga Village on the evening of 25 April in heavy rain, with 208's sappers cutting tracks and guiding supplies and stretcher-parties along them. The action continued for days; on 3 May the tired Worcesters were relieved from defending the perimeter of the brigade 'box' by sappers of 208, similarly they relieved 1/8th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers (4 Bde) on 15 May. On 10 May the sappers made a new track to get a dismantled 6-pounder anti-tank gun up to the ridge to deal with Japanese bunkers at close range. On 16 and 17 May the sappers winched tanks up to the ridge by bulldozer, and 208 Fd Co also sent out parties with pole charges to destroy bunkers. By 24 May the reinforced 2nd Division had succeeded in driving the Japanese off Kohima Ridge and 5 Bde was relieved.Morling, pp.130–9.Pakenham-Walsh, Vol IX, p. 220.Woodburn Kirby, Vol III, pp. 306, 330–9, 345–6, 352.