ABSTRACT
General Sir Alan Brooke had planned to meet the Director of Military Training after spending the morning of 21 September in his office. He then had an appointment with the New Zealanders’ commander, Major-General Bernard Freyberg, VC, who was on the point of departing for the Middle East. 1 He was woken at 0500 hours with the reports of radar sightings of large groups of vessels on the move in the English Channel and the assessment that Sealion was starting. Although he felt that preparations were far from complete it was a relief to be in action again. The first of his appointments was cancelled and he put a call through to Freyberg at once. The New Zealand Division was near Maidstone and Brooke ordered them to stay there unless directly attacked; they were a card to be played later.
