Battlefield Study
103 Bn REME – Lenham BFS 24/06/21 Scribe: Sgt Nuttall
O
n the morning of 24th June, the Permanent Staff of 103 Bn REME set off from their various Coy locations and made their way to 133 Rec Coy in Ashford. The aim was to conduct planning and hold a (COVID compliant) mini Battlefield Study. 133 Coy were chosen to host due to their proximity to Charing Heath, where 77 years earlier, the largest single loss of REME life occurred. This article, hopes in some way to inform the wider Corps audience of a tragic incident that they may not know of. Our historian, Maj Phil Linehan, briefed us about the formation of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade Workshop and explained to us the crucial role they played in upgrading the Brigades Churchill tanks prior to their upcoming deployment to Normandy. Following months of continuous hard graft, the workshop had been granted a short period of respite before they were to depart for Normandy 2 days later. Sadly on the morning of 24th June 1944, a V1 flying bomb was intercepted by an allied aircraft, knocking it off course and causing it to detonate on one of the accommodation blocks, killing 52 and
Lenham Memorial
42 craftsmaneditor@reme-rhq.org.uk
seriously injuring 21 more, the vast majority of which were junior ranks. Because of security reasons, orders were made to conduct an active service burial in the nearby village of Lenham. A mass grave was dug and the dead were buried that night by lantern light. The Wksp 2IC and ASM recorded the exact placement of the bodies on a plan, a copy of which was sealed in a bottle and placed under a wooden cross after the grave had been filled in. Following the war, the Commonwealth War graves Commission took charge of the mass burial site and thanks to the meticulous detail of that plan they were able to erect 52 headstones to record the names of those who died. Years later, the REME Association decided that a permanent memorial should be erected at the cemetery and 44 Command Wksp, based in Ashford was given the task of designing and constructing memorial gates which are still maintained by 133 Coy to this day. Every year 103 Bn remember those who lost their lives at Charing Heath and this year was no different, with the BFS culminating in a short service next to the graves and the laying of a wreath.
