page_title: 6th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
section_title: Battle of France
hierarchical_section_title: 6th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery / World War II / 52nd (6th London) Anti-Tank Regiment / Battle of France
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in the United Kingdom 1939-45 2-pounder anti-tank gun of 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment, Scotland, 3 September 1942.
context_page_description: The 6th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, was a new unit formed when Britain's Territorial Force was created in 1908. Its origin lay in Artillery Volunteer Corps formed in the Surrey suburbs of South London in the 1860s, which had later been incorporated into a larger London unit. Together with its wartime duplicate it served on the Western Front, at Salonika and in Palestine during World War I. Converted to the anti-tank role just before World War II it saw widely varied service during the war, while its duplicate regiment landed on D-Day. The regiment continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1961.
context_section_description: On the outbreak of war 52nd A/T Rgt mobilised at Brixton under Lt-Col J.H. Page and then Lt-Col F.H.S. Pownall, and trained at Potters Bar. On 17 November, with a full complement of 48 2-pounder guns it sailed to join 5th Division, which was being assembled in the new British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. For the remainder of the war it served in this formation, alongside 91st (4th London) and 92nd (5th London) Fd Rgts.
  During the Norwegian Campaign 5th Division was pulled out of the line and warned for a transfer to Norway, so that when the Battle of France began on 10 May, the division was in reserve. The BEF started its advance north into Belgium to defend the line of the Dyle in accordance with 'Plan D', and 5th Division reached as far as Brussels. But the German Army broke through the Ardennes to the east, forcing the BEF to withdraw again to the line of the Escaut. The anti-tank guns formed part of the rearguards. By 16 May 52nd A/T Rgt was covering the Hal–Leerbeck road, south west of Brussels, with 205 and 207 Btys detached with 13th and 17th Brigades respectively. By 19 May they had fallen back to Seclin, then on 20 May to Avion. By now the German breakthrough had cut the BEF off from the French armies. On that day 5th and 50th (Northumbrian) Divisions together with 1st Tank Brigade formed 'Frankforce' (under Maj-Gen H.E. Franklyn of 5th Division) to hold the south-facing salient around Arras. From Avion the regiment was ordered to send 206 and 208 Btys to Arras to join 50th (N) Division for a counter-attack.
  Next day, Frankforce attacked the German Panzers moving west past Arras. Two columns were formed, each with a tank battalion, a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry from 50th (N) Division, and artillery from 5th Division; 206 A/T Bty accompanied the Left Column. The armoured thrust made some progress, but ran into strong opposition and was bombed by the Luftwaffe. The attacking columns withdrew at nightfall, but it is now recognised that the Arras counter-attack seriously delayed the German advance.
  On 22 May the Germans began crossing the River Scarpe from the west and by late afternoon on 23 May they were across in  strength. At last light, Frankforce was ordered to hold out to the last round, but the situation in Arras was now hopeless and the BEF's commander, Lord Gort, changed the orders at midnight, directing Frankforce to move north out of the salient as quickly as possible. The gunners began a 'nightmare' withdrawal down the only road, which was being used by two divisions. Nevertheless, most of the garrison got away to new defensive positions on the canal between Béthune and La Bassée. 
  On 26 May, Frankforce was rushed further north to plug a gap in the line left by the retreating Belgian army. 5th Division only arrived at the last minute, with the positions they were to occupy at Ploegsteert south of Ypres already under German shellfire. The commander of II Corps, Lt-Gen Alan Brooke, had little more than artillery to plug the gap, and he deployed much of it himself. He placed additional guns under the command of 5th Division, including some 18-pounders posted to 'thicken up' 52nd A/T Rgt's anti-tank screen. The fire of these guns held up the German advance for the whole day on 27 May (the Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal), which ended with a bayonet charge by 2nd Bn Cameronians to stabilise the position for the night.
  On 26 May Gort had made the decision to evacuate the BEF from Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo). 5th Division held off the Germans on the canal for another whole day, then slipped away to the Yser on the night of 28/29 May. It was not seriously attacked the following day, and withdrew within the perimeter that night and embarked for England, but guns were required to stay behind to bolster 50th (N) Division's defences for a further 24 hours, and it was not until early on 1 June that the last of 5th Division's gunners destroyed their remaining equipment and were evacuated.
caption: 2-Pounder A/T gun in the UK.
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