The 3rd Survey Regiment RA fought with the BEF in France in 1939-1940. Because of the exceptionally fluid nature of the campaign the Regiment was little employed. After it returned to the UK, It was questioned whether there was a role for Survey Regiments in modern warfare.

A few demonstration squads were gathered on Salisbury Plain in the period 1940-1941 to show what they could do. These squads proved the worth of the Survey arm to the RA, and on the strength of these results a decision was taken to retain the Survey Regiment and to give the go ahead to the formation of the 7th, 8th, 9th, but to have each organised into two composite batteries, each comprising the three disciplines of sound-ranging, flash-spotting and survey.
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The 7th Survey Regiment RA was formed in Sutton Veny in 1941 under Lt.Col Mackay Lewis. The CO sported a Handsome moustache and was known to his fellow officers by the sobriquet "Squirrel" and by the lower orders, they being of more imaginative turn of mind as "handlebar Hank". The Regiment moved several times – to Trowbridge, Goudhurst, and other locations, over the next two years. It was stationed at Hawkhurst in 1943 when Lt Col. Hilary Clegg took command. It was by the a constituent member of 12 Corps whose emblem was a shoulder flash of "Three Trees, these representing the three trees of Kent, the Oak, the Ash and the thorn. 7th Survey Regiment was attached to Corps HQ.

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