Looking for information on Regiments and Batteries 1941-45

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by Joseph Buckler, May 21, 2020.

  1. So I got my Grandfather's service history and it's definitely something, but I can't find any information on the regiments or the batteries (There's a lot)
    210 Anti-Aircraft training regiment 1941
    426 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery 1941
    126 Heavy Anti-aircraft battery 1942
    Royal Artillery Depot 1942
    126 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery 1943
    668 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery 1943
    181 Mixed Heavy anti-aircraft regiment 1943
    172 medium heavy anti-aircraft regiment 1943
    8 Anti-aircraft reserve regiment 1943
    2 Light Anti-aircraft training regiment
    10 light Anti-aircraft training regiment
    13 light Anti-aircraft training regiment
    212 light Anti-aircraft mixed transport regiment
    27 light Anti-aircraft regiment 1944
    46 reinforcement holding unit December 1944
    Posted to Depot
    Attached to 7 Green Howards
    Struck of strength?
    C Battery Depot Royal Artillery Light Anti Aircraft 1945

    After this it says he was transferred to the Foresters, attached to 1 Dorsets, attached to 1/6 queens, 2nd battalion foresters, 3rd field ambulance, 42 general hospital

    So yeah, he was really passed around! Even got promoted (And relinquished after 3 months) to Lance Bombardier.

    I've struck out and can't find much other than the 27thLAA were apart of the XXXcorps, but I could be wrong.
     
  2. Derek Barton

    Derek Barton Senior Member

    210 Anti-Aircraft Training Regiment was at Oswestry, Shropshire.
    181 Mixed Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment 1943 were with 45 AA Brigade in S Wales.
    172 Mixed Heavy Anti-aircraft Regiment 1943 were with 32 & 63 AA Brigades in 5 AA Group in Nottinghamshire
    2 & 10 Light Anti-aircraft Training Regiments were both at Deepcut, Surrey 1940-44
    27 Light Anti-aircraft Regiment 1944 was with 2 Army at Ipswich, Suffolk in January 44. July Normandy, September Tournai & Nijmegen & March 45 Wesel.

    Here's a few to get you started. The Batteries I will have to look up, I'll post more later.
    Derek
     
  3. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    27 Light AA were the 30 Corps Light AA Regiment with 6, 113 & 149 LAA Batteries. The Light AA were the army's manpower reserve.The arm had been built up in the early war when the Luftwaffe were a major threat. Over 20 infantry battalions were converted to Light AA. By summer 1944 it was obvious that the army no longer needed quite as much AA and the Light AA units were thinned out. About 5,000 men were transferred to the infantry, including your grandfather. He seems to have had a lot of attachments - was he a driver mechanic, wireless operator or cook?
     
    Rothy and 4jonboy like this.
  4. Derek Barton

    Derek Barton Senior Member

    Here's what else I could find:
    426 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery 1941 formed July 41 with 126 HAA Regt in 35 AA Brigade 5 AA Division Portsmouth until July 42
    126 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery - no such battery, it's probably 126 HAA Regiment (see line above) Jul 42 42 AA Brigade 12 AA Div Firth of Clyde, Sep 42 9 AA Div, Aug 43 40 AA Brigade 5 AA Group Nottinghamshire
    The Royal Artillery Depot & the AA Depot were at Woolwich, London
    8 Anti-aircraft reserve regiment sorry can't find any mention of this unit
    13 light Anti-aircraft training regiment sorry can't find any mention of this unit
    212 Light Anti-aircraft Mixed Transport Regiment - no information however a number of units were taken off artillery duties near the end of the war to form transport pools using their unit transport. It might be one of those.
    That's all I could find. Hope it is of some use to you.
    Derek
     
    Rothy, 4jonboy and Joseph Buckler like this.
  5. My Grandfather didn't make it as far as Wesel, he was wounded in Nijmegen and eventually got stationed in Palestine
     

  6. Thank you for all your help, it has been strange that there's not much information on a lot of these, I can't thank you enough for the information you've provided
     
  7. Derek Barton

    Derek Barton Senior Member

    You are most welcome. Wikipedia has some information on the AA Brigades and Divisions that may give you some background information.
     
  8. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    In November 1944 7th Green Howards, part of 50th Division became a training unit in Yorkshire, training soldiers from other arms as infantrymen. His transfer back to the C Battery depot AA RA may be after retraining as an infantryman but before changing cap badge to the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment - Sherwood Foresters. It may even have been notional. The 1st Dorsets and 1/6th Queens were other training units. There weren't any battalions of that regiment in North West Europe, but the 2nd Battalion was in Palestine from January 1945.

    When was he wounded at Nijmegen?

    27 Light AA were there in September October as part of Op Market Garden Here is a page about 6 (Colraine) battery which had similar experiences to the other batteries. http://coleraine-battery.tripod.com/page19084.htm

    What was his name? There is a nominal roll on that website
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2020
  9. He would have been wounded during Market Garden, he never spoke much about it, I know he was left for dead at first, someone once said he was wounded in a lighthouse, but I can't imagine there'd have been lighthouses along the canals. Once he recovered he was stationed in Palestine with the Foresters
     
  10. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    When the 50th (Northumbrian) Division was returned home as a training cadre, 2 of its infantry battalions remained in NW Europe. From the original:

    151st Infantry Brigade - 6th, 8th & 9th Bns Durham Light Infantry
    69th Infantry Brigade - 5th Bn East Yorkshire Regiment + 6th & 7th Bns Green Howards
    231st Infantry Brigade - 1st Bn Hampshire Regiment, 1st Bn Dorsetshire Regiment & 2nd Bn Devonshire Regiment.

    The 9th Bn Durham Light Infantry and the 2nd Bn Devonshire Regiment, swapped places with the 1/7th and 1/6th Queens Royal Regiment (West Surrey) respectively on 4 December 1944, becoming motorised infantry in the 7th Armoured Division. The two aforementioned Queens battalions returned home with 50 Div as part of the training cadre.

    Best,

    Steve.
     
    Joseph Buckler and 4jonboy like this.

Share This Page