Editing Reigate (section)

===Reigate in wartime===
Although little fighting took place in Surrey during the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], the Reigate Hundred was required to provide 80 men for the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] army, but a force of only 60 was raised, including a captain and lieutenant. Troops were garrisoned in the town and by the summer of 1648, serious discontent was rising in the local area as a result.<ref name=Hooper_1979_pp_144-146>{{harvnb|Hooper|1979|pp=144–146}}</ref> The [[Cavalier|Royalist]], [[Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland]], raised a fighting force and marched from Kingston to Reigate where his men plundered local property and briefly occupied the half-ruined castle. Parliamentary troops under Major Lewis Audley were sent to confront Rich, but he withdrew first to Dorking and then the following day back to Kingston. The withdrawal of the Royalists from Reigate was the final incident in the Civil War south of the [[River Thames]] before the [[execution of Charles I]] in 1649.<ref name=Hooper_1979_pp_144-146/><ref>{{cite journal |last= Butt |first= C.R. |year= 1959 |title= Surrey and the Civil War |journal= Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |volume= 37 |issue= 149 |pages= 13–20 |jstor= 44226916}}</ref>

In September 1914, Reigate became a garrison town. Members of the [[London Regiment (1908–1938)|London's Own Territorials]] were billeted locally whilst undergoing training in the area<ref>{{harvnb|Ingram|1992|p=46}}</ref> and Reigate Lodge was used as an [[Royal Army Service Corps|Army Service Corps]] [[supply depot]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ingram|1992|p=49}}</ref> Reigate railway station was closed between January 1917 and February 1919 as a wartime economy measure.<ref>{{harvnb|Mitchell|Smith|1989|loc=Fig. 99}}</ref>

By the end of the First World War, there were three temporary hospitals for members of the armed forces in Reigate. The Hillfield Red Cross Hospital opened on 2 November 1914 and was equipped with an operating theatre and 50 beds. As well as treating injured soldiers transported home from overseas, the facility also treated troops garrisoned locally.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/hillfield.html |title= Hillfield Red Cross Hospital |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= May 2011 |publisher= Lost Hospitals of London |access-date= 13 April 2022 |archive-date= 16 June 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210616023356/https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/hillfield.html |url-status= live }}</ref> The Kitto Relief Hospital in South Park opened on 9 November 1914, initially as an annex to the Hillfield Hospital, but from 28 September 1915 it was affiliated to the [[Horton Hospital]] in Epsom.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/crofthome.html |title= The Croft Home |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= November 2009 |publisher= Lost Hospitals of London |access-date= 13 April 2022 |archive-date= 16 June 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210616013252/https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/crofthome.html |url-status= live }}</ref> The Beeches Auxiliary Military Hospital, on Beech Road, was opened in March 1916 with 20 beds, but expanded to 40 beds that October. The hospital relocated to a larger facility in the same road in July 1917 and became affiliated with the Lewisham Military Hospital two months later.<ref>{{harvnb|Ingram|1992|pp=56–57}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/beechesreigate.html |title= The Beeches Auxiliary Military Hospital |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= May 2011 |publisher= Lost Hospitals of London |access-date= 13 April 2022 |archive-date= 16 June 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210616011200/https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/beechesreigate.html |url-status= live }}</ref>

[[File:Wartime Entrance - Tunnel Road Sand Caves and Mines, Reigate.jpg|right|thumb|Bricked-up entrance to a [[WW2]] air raid shelter, Tunnel Road]]
Some 5000 [[evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuees]] from London were sent to the Reigate and Redhill area at the start of the Second World War in September 1939,<ref name=Slaughter_2004_pp98-99>{{harvnb|Slaughter|2004|pp=98–99}}</ref> but by February of the following year around 2000 had returned home.<ref>{{harvnb|Ogley|1995|p=25}}</ref> The caves beneath Reigate Castle were converted for use as public [[air raid shelter]]s<ref name=Slaughter_2004_pp98-99/> and the first bombing raid on the town took place on 15 August 1940.<ref>{{harvnb|Pilkington|1997|p=196}}</ref> There was a succession of raids in November 1940, including on the 7th when Colley Hill and Reigate Hill were attacked.<ref>{{harvnb|Ogley|1995|p=89}}</ref> Towards the end of the war, in 1944, the Tea House café on top of Reigate Hill was destroyed by a [[V-1 flying bomb]].<ref>{{harvnb|Harding|1998|p=26}}</ref>

For much of the war, Reigate was the headquarters of the South Eastern Command of the [[British Army]].<ref name=Powell_2000_p71>{{harvnb|Powell|2000a|p=71}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ogley|1995|p=171}}</ref> The command was partly housed in purpose-built tunnels beneath Reigate Hill, excavated in 1939 by Welsh miners. The complex consisted of four large underground halls, linked by a network of passageways dug through the chalk. The entrances to the tunnels were destroyed in 1968, after several people had been injured in unauthorised attempts to access the site.<ref>{{cite news |title= Blast will shut tunnels |date= 23 February 1968 |work= Surrey Mirror and County Post |issue= 4770 |page= 1 }}</ref>

During the Second World War, the defence of the town was primarily the responsibility of the 8th Surrey Battalion of the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]],<ref>{{harvnb|Crook|2000|p=25}}</ref> although the East Surrey Water Company and the London Passenger Transport Board formed separate units to defend local infrastructure.<ref>{{harvnb|Crook|2000|pp=69, 71}}</ref> Tank traps in the castle grounds were among the defences installed in the town.<ref name=Powell_2000_p71/> Before being deployed to the [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]], the 1st Battalion of [[the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment]] (part of the [[Canadian Army]], was encamped locally.<ref>{{harvnb|Ogley|1995|p=144}}</ref>{{refn|Canadian servicemen were injured in September 1940, when two bombs fell at the junction of Evesham Road and West Street.<ref>{{harvnb|Harding|1998|p=100}}</ref>|group=note}} On 19 March 1945 a [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|B17G]], returning from a [[strategic bombing|bombing raid]] in Germany, crashed into Reigate Hill in low-visibility conditions. Two memorial benches, carved in the shape of [[wing tip]]s, were installed as a memorial at the crash site 70 years later.<ref>{{cite news |author= <!--not stated--> |date= 19 March 2015 |title= Reigate Hill WW2 plane crash memorial unveiled |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-31953498 |work= BBC News |location= London |access-date= 13 April 2022 |archive-date= 26 August 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210826175420/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-31953498 |url-status= live }}</ref>