During the Blitz, Holden plotted routes for trains round the bomb craters. At one point the only way to reach London from the south was to take a train to Balham, then the Tube; every other line was blocked. In June 1941 he reported to Longmoor Military Railway and was posted to 191 Rail Operations Company RE, which sailed to Bombay via Cape Town. Arriving at Lalmanirhat in East Bengal, his troops were called out after locals reportedly set fire to the station – only to find a religious procession with fireworks.