Through the 1930s the Corps soldiered on despite the Depression. In 1932 the War Office declared in would not finance annual militia camps in the Empire due to lack of funds. Locally it was felt the Corps depended on the annual camps to maintain recruitment, so the House of Assembly granted L800 for training, the lion’s share (L550) going to the BMA. Nevertheless camps were affected, being held for a shorter period and with reduced numbers for a time. It was not until 1935 that the corps was up to strength. The Band continued to grow in numbers and proficiency, and received an annual grant from Colonial Parliament for the purchase of new instruments. Throughout 1936 – 1937 the band gave a series of concerts in King’s Square, St. George’s which were well received.
With the formation of the BVEs, there seemed to be more inter-corps co-operation. In 1932 for the first time the BMA were training with anti-aircraft Lewis guns, and for first time the BVEs provided lighting for the night shooting with the large search lights, two 90cm defence electric lights (DELs). The BVEs also became responsible for the operation and maintenance of signal communications.In 1934a combined exercise including night firing and an attack on the camp from the landward side was carried out by the BMA, BVEs and BVRC. Joint exercises continued through the decade, with the BVEs holding camp at the same time as the BMA for that purpose. It would appear that until 1936 the two races shared camp facilities, unusual in an otherwise segregated society. There were also combined church parades, and special events like torchlight parade in Hamilton on 6 May, 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. BSM Minors was selected as the BMA representative sent to the U.K. for the coronation of George VI in the spring of 1937.
At 4.00pm on 24 August, 1939, the acting Commander in Chief ordered the embodiment of the BMA by proclamation. The mobilisation scheme was carried out, and by dusk that evening sufficient men, equipment and stores had been collected at St. David’s Battery to ensure the manning of the guns in case of necessity. The function of the Battery was to act as an Examination Battery, with a day and night ‘close defence’ role, and thus was required to work closely with the Royal Navy. In connection with this, in addition to the usual watch-keeping, occasionally the battery fired ‘bring-to’ rounds to stop neutral and allied ships which failed to obey the instructions of the Examining Officer. At the beginning of May 1940 the convoy system was inaugurated, which increased the responsibilities of the Examination Service. The convoys, consisting of up to forty ships, sailed every fourth day, so it was not unusual to sight ten or twelve ships on the horizon at a time. Though the Battle of the Atlantic approached very close to Bermuda’s shores and many sinkings were reported in the area, no enemy submarines were actually sighted.
In September 1939 the Local Defence Committee recommended that defence should be set up against sea attack on the Royal Naval Dockyard from the South, and it was decided that a single 6” gun be mounted on the South Shore at Warwick Camp. The single gun would not be supported by battery observation post, magazine or defence lights. The 6” gun was transferred from the BMA drill shed at St. George’s and ready for action by 6 October, 1939. The War Office later suggested a second single gun unit on South Shore, but after some discussion it was eventually decided to establish a two-gun battery with BOPs at Warwick. The second gun arrived from the UK on 16 April, 1940 and was mounted by 3 May, 1940. Station practice was carried out, and both guns were calibrated on 27 June, 1940.
Further modifications and upgrades were made to the two batteries during the war. In April 1942 a Fire Commander’s Position Finder was installed at St. David’s, and overhead and side armour protection was provided for the 6” guns at both batteries to protect the gun detachments from machine gun attack from low flying aircraft. In September 1943 the AA Lewis guns at each of the batteries were replaced with four Bren guns on two twin AA mountings.
Practice alarms were carried out almost daily and nightly during the first months of the war regardless of the weather, and twice weekly the BVEs manned a motor-launch, equipped with R/T, to carry out night runs with the DELs. Later route marches were instituted, and once a month a detachment marched from St. David’s to Warwick to take up posts there while the Warwick detachment marched back to St. David’s to assume their replacements’ duties at St. David’s. The artillery men were exercised at their trade by day and night practice twice a year; calibration and station practice were carried out, and standard rifle and Bren courses were fired. The batteries were divided into three sections: one section on 24-hour gun duty, one section on reserve and one section on 24-hour leave. As the men with homes at the east end of Bermuda had been posted as far as possible to St. David’s Battery, and those living at the west to Warwick Battery, all were able to take advantage of the short leave periods.
On 6 October, 1939, an infantry company, the Bermuda Militia Infantry, was formed for the local defence of St. David’s Battery with a strength of three officers and sixty other ranks, and placed under the command of the Commandant, BMA. The title of the parent unit, now consisting of two artillery batteries and one infantry company, was thereupon changed to Bermuda Militia. The BMI carried out their preliminary training at St. George’s during January 1940, and having fired their musketry course at Warwick, one platoon was sent to St. David’s to replace the BVRC. It became evident that further training was required, and the BMI was withdrawn to Prospect in April 1940 for six weeks intensive training under KSLI instructors. They returned to their camp at St. David’s at the end of May and continued their normal training. Their war routine included patrols by night, and in bad weather when the night patrol vessel was confined to harbour, the company mounted look-outs at St. David’s Lighthouse. Defensive positions were prepared by the BMI, some of the digging being done in darkness for training purposes. In May 1941, after annual musketry and field training at Warwick, one platoon took over Store Hill from the 4/Cameroons. The introduction of conscription in 1942 provided additional personnel for the expansion of the BMI, and in June 1942 the War Office approved the expansion of the BMI to five officers and 120 other ranks. In 1943, it was divided into two rifle companies, one stationed at St. David’s and the other at Prospect. The company at Prospect was employed on general duties, including off-loading food and war stores at the docks.
The first Battalion Caribbean Regiment was formed on 1 April, 1944 as a line unit with its own support weapons including Bren guns, mortars and anti-tanks guns. The regiment was composed of detachments furnished from Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, British Guiana, Bermuda the Windward and Leeward Islands, British Honduras, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Bermuda’s contribution was five officers and one hundred other ranks, volunteers from the Bermuda Militia. After preliminary training with the Bermuda Command Training Battalion, the contingent left Bermuda in two groups sailing at ten days’ interval during April 1944 and proceeded to a US army training camp, Fort Eustace, Virginia where the Battalion of 1,200 – 1,300 men was being concentrated. Existence of the unit was made public on 8 June, 1944 when Liet. Gen. G.N. Macready, Commander of British Army Staff, reviewed the unit on the King’s Birthday Parade “somewhere in USA.” Along with messages from dignitaries, his address included the observation that this was the first British unit to train of US soil since the Revolutionary War. The Bermuda contingent was not kept as a separate sub-unit; it was found that the education of the Bermudians was superior to that of the men from some of the other colonies, and many Bermudians were promoted to NCOs and distributed within the Battalion. Arthur Wade remembers that the other Caribbean units had their own black officers, unlike the BMA, whose officers were white. (Ist Battallion Caribbean Regiment privately published, Hamilton, Bermuda, 1994) It was understood that the Battalion was intended for service in North Africa, and on 1 July, 1944 embarked for the Mediterranean, but while they were at sea, plans were changed, and on 15 July, 1944 the Battalion disembarked at Naples and proceeded to a training camp in the Naples area. According to Arthur Wade, for the battalion to have seen action, it would have had to be attached to a brigade, which consists of three battalions. After three months in Italy, no brigade had been identified to which they could be attached, and the Battalion found themselves escorting German POWs on two ships to Egypt where better training and administrative facilities were available. For thirteen months they were stationed in the desert 20 miles from Suez where they served as a security force. After the cessation of
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