Wanting to identify the following cryptics from my father's WW2 record. ANY help much appreciated. appears to be "Hefi", possibly in the Derby area. appears as "Joined G Battery Hayley" - would this be Hayling Island? No. 4 F.F.S. Anything at all on the actions/locations of:- 2 AA Rgt, 3 HAA Rgt, 4 AA Rgt, 5 AA Bgde He joined 15th April 1940, went to Exton. Shown to have gone to Port Said (no knowledge of what happened there). He was certainly in Sicily in 1943, possibly Italy after that. Went to NWE 1st September 1944 - I assume that he was deployed on the Scheldt Estuary. Information from RM sources is minimal, to say the least.
Admin Note. Apologies to all concerned, but this thread, originally beginning with 'RM' seems to have triggered the 406 bug that stopped replies. I've retitled slightly & all should now be well. Apologies again, & thanks to those that reported. ~A
Can you post your father's records. Forum members often prefer to work from the original to get the context which you may have been misreading. Tim
Here are some summaries of 2nd, 3rd and 4th AA Regiments, RM: 2nd Royal Marine Anti-Aircraft Regiment Raised 15 April 1940 at Arborfield Batteries ‘C’, ‘D’ Heavy AA Batteries; 23rd Light AA Battery It was formed under the Coast Defence Group and 205th AA Training Regiment, RA. On 8 August 1940 the regiment was located at Matlock, Derbyshire under Air Defence Great Britain. It came under command Air Defence Brigade MNBDO I at Portsmouth in January 1941. It arrived in Egypt in March 1941 with this formation. In May 1941, ‘C’ Battery, elements of 23rd Light AA Battery and an advance party of ‘D’ Battery were on Crete. In June 1941 the regiment was as Moascar, Egypt with only cadres in each of its batteries. On 21 December 1941 the regiment was reformed in Cairo. HQ became 1st (Heavy) AA Regiment’s headquarters. ‘C’ and ‘D’ Batteries went to that regiment and 23rd Light Battery became part of the new 1st RM (Heavy) AA Regiment. The new 2nd Royal Marine (Heavy) Anti-Aircraft Regiment had only 23rd Light AA Battery under command until 1 December 1942, when ‘A’ Battery came under command in Egypt. ‘A’ Battery was transferred to 1st RM (Heavy) AA Regiment in Scotland in March 1944 after the regiment arrived in the United Kingdom. HQs of the regiment along with 23rd Light AA Battery were disbanded on 23 May 1944. 3rd Royal Marine Anti-Aircraft Regiment Raised 7 January 1941 at Hayling Island Batteries ’E’, ‘F’ Heavy AA Batteries; 24th Light AA Battery The regiment was formed as part of the Air Defence Brigade of MNBDO II. In the winter of 1941 the regiment served in the air defence of Great Britain on the south coast. It rejoined MNBDO II on 3 August 1942 with ‘E’ and ‘F’ Batteries joined by ‘G’ and ‘H’ Batteries of 4th RM AA Regiment and 24th Light AA Battery to 4th RM Light AA Regiment. It was retitled 3rd RM Heavy AA Regiment on 3 August 1942. The regiment was in Nottingham in March 1943 in preparation for embarkation. The regiment was in Egypt in June 1943 with the four batteries at various locations in defence of the Suez Canal and on internal security. In July the HQ remained in Egypt, but the batteries were in Malta as part of the air defence prior to the landing in Sicily. It rejoined the Air Defence Brigade of MNBDO II at Augusta, Sicily on 15 July 1943. It prepared to embark from Augusta in Janaury 1944 and arrived in Scotland in February 1944 in preparation for disbandment. Instead the regiment joined 5th Royal Marine in March 1944 in Scotland and reorganized as a static regiment for Defended Ports. In May 1944 the regiment was at Clacton-on-Sea with the batteries in army training camps. It served in June-July 1944 at various locations in the United Kingdom on Air Defence. In August 1944 it joined 5th RM AA Brigade in Cherbourg for the defence of the port. It was located under the brigade in Antwerp in October 1944 and in Ostend in March 1945. The regiment returned to the Southern England in May 1945 and was disbanded at South Brant Devon on 17 September 1945. 4th Royal Marine Anti-Aircraft Regiment Raised 2 January 1941 at Hayling Island Batteries ‘G’, ‘H’ Heavy AA Batteries; 25th Light AA Battery The regiment was formed as part of the Air Defence Brigade of MNBDO II. 25th Light AA Battery was added on 11 January 1941. It served in the winter of 1941 as part of the air defence of Great Britain on the south coast. On 3 August 1942 it was in the Nottingham area under Air Defence Brigade MNBDO II. At this time ‘G’ and ‘H’ Batteries transferred to 3rd RM (Heavy) AA Regiment and the regiment was redesignated 4th RM (Light) AA Regiment with 24th, 25th and 26th RM Light AA Batteries. The 26th Light AA Battery had been a unit of HQ of the Air Defence Brigade of MNBDO II. The regiment prepared for embarkation. It landed in Malta (less 26th Light AA Battery) on 10 June 1943. In was in Egypt in June 1943 with the batteries at various locations in the Mediterranean. It then was under command of Air Defence Brigade MNBDO II in Augusta, Sicily on 15 July 1943. It prepared to embark from Sicily in January 1944. The regiment was then lcoated in Scotland from March to April 1944 with 24th Light AA Battery being disbanded at Motherwell on 11 April. The regiment came under command of 5th RM AA Brigade on 23 April 1944 and was joined by 22nd RM Light AA Battery. It was reorganized as a regiment for Defended Ports Abroad. From August to September it served with the brigade at Cherbourg and from October to November it served at Antwerp. In March 1945 it moved to Ostend and returned to the United Kingdom in May 1945 at Ivybridge, Devon. On 30 September 1945 25th and 26th LAA Batteries were disbanded there followed by 22nd LAA Battery on 29 October. It sent its personnel to ‘D’ Battery (Holding).
A number of RM AA units were sent out to the Middle East at various points in time. Without knowing when he was in Port Said, it's pretty much impossible to help you with what he got up to. He may have been involved in the defence of Crete. Sicily, perhaps... Also taking part in the Sicily campaign were the second M.N.B.D.O. and the 7th Battalion R.M., the second of two battalions originally earmarked for the third Brigade of the Division. The second M.N.B.D.O. began to form in January, 1941, around the nucleus of the R.M. Fortress Unit. After deployment in Home Defence it mobilized and embarked for the Middle East in January, 1943, arriving in March. For the purpose of Operation Husky-the Sicily invasion-the anti-aircraft and coast defence components were organized into one anti-aircraft and coast defence brigade, which was deployed during June in defence of Malta. The Coast Artillery element landed early in the assault and took over captured Italian guns at Syracuse ; the remainder of the brigade arrived at Augusta, where it took over A.A. defence of that port, with Syracuse the principal supply base of the Eighth Army. At the end of July the remainder of the M.N.B.D.O. began to arrive, the A.A. and C.D. Brigade merging again into the larger formation, which was employed in supply and maintenance of 15th Army Group.. NWE, perhaps... The 5th R.M. A.A. Brigade, standing by to cross the Channel, was diverted to tackle the latest of German novelties-the flying bomb. Two regiments were deployed in critical areas in the approaches to London, and between them they accounted for 122 flying bombs before they were moved across Channel to carry on with the same task in Antwerp....then... The R.M. A.A. gunners were deployed to protect the approaches [MarkNote: Scheldt estuary] from explosive motor boats and midget submarines, while Marines in small L.C.S. (M) played a part in the naval force that patrolled the waterways against these " mosquito " attacks.
Having the 75 AA Bde War Diaries from 1 May 45 onwards can confirm that 3 RM AA Regt were under command 75 AA Bde in Groede on the Dutch coast and reverted to 5 RM AA Bde (HQ Hotel Alfa Ostend-B) on 16 May 45 https://britisharmyingermany.com
