Training: An Exercise in Scotland, December, 1942 (1)

Post-Operation Torch, the Invasion of North Africa, November, 1942

Photos by War Office Official Photographer Walter T. Lockeyear

Original wartime caption: Views of Loch Laggan, Inverness-shire.

Credit - Photographer Walter T. Lockeyear, IWM (1/2 H 26350)

Caption: Same as above. Credit - IWM (2/2 H 26350)

Click here to visit above Imperial War Museum file

Introduction:

Recently I have been checking out the 3,853 photos taken by Walter Thomas Lockeyear, one of many fine official wartime photographers whose collection can be viewed at the Imperial War Museum in the UK. 

Imperial War Museum, London, U.K. Reportedly, home of 11,000,000+

photographs. Photo Credit - GH, June 8, 2026

Lockeyear took photos related to numerous events, under many various headings, e.g., 'Loch Laggan', 'Commandos in Training', and some of those places and events seem connected to activities known to (and possibly even participated in by) the Canadian sailors who volunteered for Combined Operations beginning in late 1941. "I trained with commandos, I trained like a commando, but I wasn't a commando," my father once said (forcefully, somewhat angrily) to his brother and nephew when I was no more than ten years old.

The nephew was insisting that my father was officially a commando. Nope, he wasn't.

About thirty of Lockeyear's photographs will be shared here in this short series (3 parts, from H 26350 to H 26376) chiefly organized under the heading "An Exercise in Scotland", but including a few in the same numerical series, entitled "Loch Laggan" and "The Polish Army in Britain, 1940 - 47". 

Based on what is typed on the reverse of the first photo in the series, i.e., see 2nd photo above (2/2 H 26350, the highlighted sentence), I should be sharing photo H 26345 for the story behind this series. But I've searched for that earliest of photos in the series and only get the image shared below:

Screen shot. GH

So, I will contact the "Image and Film Licensing team" and see if I can get a copy of H 26345 that includes the story. That would be helpful.

Please note that in the bottom left-hand corner of the above photo we can see that H 26345, under the heading 'Physical description', is a 'Photographic negative.' As I've perused the first 2,580 of WWII official photographer W. T. Lockeyear's 3,853 photos, I've come across several other photographs with the same description. Surely it won't cost an arm and a leg to get one of many similar negatives. More exciting details to follow.

The beginning of the lengthy numerical series now follows:

Original wartime caption: Views of Loch Laggan, Inverness-shire.

IWM H 26351 (1/2) Physical description - Photographic negative

Original wartime caption: Views of Loch Laggan, Inverness-shire.

IWM H 26351 (2/2) Physical description - Photographic negative

IWM H 26352 and H 26353 - "This media is not currently available online. Contact the "Image and Film Licensing team" about access." Okay, that makes two more photos I may need to chase down.

Photographs in the series now appear under the heading AN EXERCISE IN SCOTLAND:

IWM (H 26354) (1/2) Original wartime caption: Cameronians moving

across the hills to attack the 'enemy'

IWM (H 26354) (2/2) Original wartime caption: Cameronians moving

across the hills to attack the 'enemy'

*re FOR STORY SEE CAPTION SHEET. I have seen a caption sheet in only one instance, i.e., it accompanied photo albums produced by CAFU, Canadian Army Film Unit. I have shared some of their photographs and accompanying captions in earlier entries on this site. I have not seen caption sheets re photos from Imperial War Museum but they most likely exist... somewhere. (HELP WANTED - if a reader knows how to access IWM caption sheets, please contact me - gordh7700@gmail.com)

The map that follows reveals the location of Loch Laggan, top right corner. It is near Invergarry (mentioned on the reverse side of the above photo: see red arrow) and between Fort Augustus and Fort William (mentioned on the reverse side of the photo below: see red arrows).

Map: A screen shot of a Google map. Glasgow in lower right corner

As far as I know, when Canadian sailors (including my father) volunteered for Combined Operations in late 1941 and subsequently began training (re landing crafts) in southern England in early- to mid-1942 (e.g., near Southampton [@HMS Tormentor] and Hayling Island [HMS Northney I-IV]) and northwest Scotland (near Irvine [Camp Auchengate] and Inveraray [@HMS Quebec]), they were sent to some other locations as well, for particular types of training. My father mentions Loch Long on a couple of occasions - but not Loch Laggan. 

My father admittedly did not write a perfect memoir of his WWII experiences (he says so himself) because so many events took place - with different dates, in scattered locations - involving the first 100 members (and about 850 - 900 subsequent volunteers) of RCNVR to join Combined Operations that not one veteran could get it all correct. Only very few even tried.

That being said, I think photographer W. T. Lockyear's experiences and photographs relate closely to many activities Canadians in Combined Ops were involved in and would have been able to recount had they been prompted years after WWII had ended. 

Please click here to view information about training at HMS Quebec, No. 1 Combined Ops Training Camp.

A lovely street with a lovely view in Inveraray, Scotland. Photo - G.H.

Please click here to view information about various training camps and locations.

Lockeyear's pictorial account of his own travels continues:

 

The next photograph in the series now appears at IWM under the heading THE POLISH ARMY IN BRITAIN, 1940-47*:

IWM (H 26355) (1/2) Troops firing at an "enemy" Westland Lysander

aircraft attacking them from a low level on the road. Photograph taken

between Fort Augustus and Fort William

IWM (H 26355) (2/2) An exercise designed to give troops training in

mountain warfare took place in Scottish Highlands and was witnessed by

General Bernard Paget, the GOC of GHQ Home Forces, General Andrew

Thorne and General Neil Methuen Ritchie. Troops of the 1st Polish Corps

took part acting as the "enemy"

*Note the heading on the reverse side of the photo above, i.e., AN EXERCISE IN SCOTLAND

Astute readers will notice that W. T. Lockeyear's photos were taken on or near December 18, 1942. Some of the earliest Canadians to volunteer for Combined Operations would have been on leave (perhaps in London, visiting relatives of their own family back in Canada, or getting ready for Christmas by buying a gift or two) after their participation in Operation TORCH - the invasion of North Africa beginning in November, about six weeks earlier. My father was one of those Canadians.

Please click here to read one story he tells re that time, Christmas 1942, London, England:

Article: "Stout Heart Required in War-Time England"  It is a lengthy post and the Christmas story is the second half. A favourite pub is mentioned in the first half of the post, recorded here at "1,000 Men" in February, 2016. In the summer of 2026 I visited it with my two sons. Together we also visited the apartment where the Christmas story took place.

Photographs in the series now appear under the heading AN EXERCISE IN SCOTLAND:

IWM (H 26356) (1/2) Cameronians advancing in the hills

IWM (H 26356) (2/2) Towards Fort William.

The next photograph in the series appears under the heading THE POLISH ARMY IN BRITAIN, 1940-47:

IWM (H 26357) (1/2) Covenanter tank of the 1st Polish Armoured Division,

silhouetted against storm clouds, moving forward to meet the "British invader"

IWM (H 26357) (2/2) Photograph probably taken between Fort Augustus

and Fort William

AN EXERCISE IN SCOTLAND:

IWM (H 26358) (1/2) Troops of a Commando Depot, took part also.

Photograph shows Commandos setting out at dusk to raid 'enemy'

positions during the night

IWM (H 26358) (2/2) Commandos from Anchacarry Depot

IWM (H 26359) (1/2) Commandos setting out at dusk to raid

'enemy' positions during the night

IWM (H 26360) (1/2) Major General N. M. Ritchie, CBE., DSO., MC.,

moves round the 'battle' area on the pillion seat of a motor cycle.

IWM (H 26360) (2/2) Maj.-Gen. Ritchie commanding 52 DIV.

THE POLISH ARMY IN BRITAIN, 1940-47:

IWM (H 26361) (1/2) "Enemy" Ordnance QF 2-pounder anti-tank gun

taking up a position overlooking the road on the shore of Loch Laggan

IWM (H 26361) (2/2) An exercise designed to give troops training in

mountain warfare. Troops of the 1st Polish Corps took part acting

as the "enemy"

AN EXERCISE IN SCOTLAND:

IWM (H 26362) (1/2) A Bren gunner of the Royal Scots Fusiliers covers

a road on the banks of a Loch

IWM (H 26362) (2/2) 4/5th Royal Scots Fusiliers at Loch Laggan**

*re 'For story see caption sheet'. Nearly all photos in the series was accompanied by that line. I will keep my eye open for information regarding an IWM caption sheet. If it is like the Canadian Army Film Unit (CAFU) sheet, it will be very large and will reveal 100s of captions not available to the casual viewer. 

**We started this part of the series with views of Loch Laggan by photographer W. T. Lockeyear. Subsequently we learned the Polish Army was a participant in a wartime exercise along with a Scottish Regiment. So a series photographed by one official cameraman, with the resulting photos organized under three headings makes some sense, or is at least less confusing now than it was when I first encountered it. 

Questions or comments can be addressed to Gord at gordh7700@gmail.com

More photographs related to "An Exercise in Scotland" will soon follow.

Please click here to view Training: A Landing Exercise, May 1942

Unattributed Photos GH