THE KING VISITS ARMY UNITS PREPARING FOR THE INVASION OF EUROPE [Allocated Title]

HM King George VI visits the 49th (West Riding) Division in East Anglia.

The King is met at Beccles Station by a 1/4th Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Guard of Honour. He and Major-General Barker, the divisional commander, watch the sappers of 294th Field Company Royal Engineers launch a Bailey bridge over a stream and inspect a water tower they have constructed with scaffolding. HM inspects troops from 147th Brigade (?) - the 1/6th and 1/7th Battalions Duke of Wellington's Regiment and the 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers - and the divisional services and, at another location, men serving with the 10th and 11th Battalions Durham Light Infantry. At Thetford Station, the King is welcomed by a guard of honour from the 1st Battalion Tyneside Scottish Regiment. At Fakenham (?) he inspects men from the 144th Battalion Royal Armoured Corps (?). In the grounds of Shadwell Court HM watches a Tyneside Scottish section at bayonet practice and inspects the battalion's carrier platoon and 6- and 17-pounder gun detachments from the 217th Anti-Tank Battery Royal Artillery before leaving in his Bentley.

35mm