Morcombelake Patrol

Locality

Morcombelake is a small village 1 mile inland and 5 miles west of Bridport in West Dorset. It straddles the A35, the major arterial road running east / west through the region.

Patrol members
Name Occupation Posted from Until
Sergeant Robert Henry Smith

Builder & mason

01 Sep 1940 03 Dec 1944
Corporal William John Coles

Dairy farmer

01 Sep 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Maurice William Austin

Brick mason

01 Jul 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Robert William Burt

Quarry gravel digger

01 Sep 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Francis Jack Dare

Assisting father tractor driver contractor

02 Apr 1942 03 Dec 1944
Private William Edward George Dare

Assisting father tractor driver contractor

24 Oct 1941 03 Dec 1944
Private Frederick William George Dyke

Head gardener

01 Sep 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Charles William Henry Loving

Carpenter

01 Mar 1942 03 Dec 1944
Private Reginald Herbert Smith

Dairy farmer

03 Feb 1940 05 Jul 1943
Operational Base (OB)

The OB was in a garden of a private house. It has subsequently been destroyed.

It is reported to be well known locally that the Patrol stored their explosives on Hardown Hill, directly behind Morcombelake village. Several caves still exist that were once excavated for chert and gravel as local building materials. One cave is now a bat-roost. There are concrete sewer pipes running into this cave but they have been verified as more recent and not related to WW2. There were also several short slit-trenches located on the western side of the hill, that the kids used to play in post-war.

It has not been verified if the local Home Guard and / or the Patrol used the caves for weapons storage. There was a probable separate Aux arms cache located close to the OB.

The West Dorset Scout Section are known to have used the Hardown Hill location.

Patrol & OB pictures
OB Image
Caption & credit
View from Hardown Hill along A35 towards Bridport (M.Allen)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Morcombelake HG inc. Aux Patrol members (John Pidgeon)
OB Image
Caption & credit
Morcombelake HG inc. Aux Patrol members names (John Pidgeon)
OB Status
Destroyed
Location

Morcombelake Patrol

Patrol Targets

This was one of a series of Patrols based either side of the A35, then as now, one of the main roads out of the southwest. Presumably the intention was to ambush and delay any German troops landing either on the Dorset coast or further southwest.

There were relatively few military targets otherwise in the area. The closest airfields were some distance away. The nearby town of Bridport might have been a landing site for German troops and a possible target, along with the railway from Bridport to Maiden Newton.

Training

The Patrol would have attended training sessions at the Dorset headquarters at Duntish Court. The Dorset Scout Section would have provided training to the Patrol as well.

Weapons and Equipment

It is likely that the Patrol were issued with the standard weapons.

References

National Archives WO 199/3390, 199/3391

Further Information from John Pidgeon, Lloyd Dare and Martyn Allen

Additional names and dates of death from Ancestry.co.uk

George Elliot personal communication

Helen Doble personal communication

Guy Turner personal communication