Gents, do any of you have any knowledge of 87 HAA regt RA, in particular 280 bty? In particular where the unit fitted into the orbat and what their role was. One of my grandfathers service records show him serving with this unit for virtually all of ww2 in N Africa and Italy. I do go to NA and look at war diaries but i just haven't got round to this one yet - at least i'm honest! I was particularly interested if any of the veterans had heard of the unit but obviously any pointers would be very gratefully received from anybody. Many thanks Mac
Hi Mac, There's quite a lot of RA chaps on here (Too many ) I'm sure they will be able to help you out if only with the ref no. for the units war diearies at Kew Goodluck mate. Andy
Hi Mac. 87th HAA Regt TA RA Click on Link; RA 1939-45 87 HAA Rgt The NA War-Diaries ref No for 280 Bty is WO170/1199 Cheers Rob
All information is taken from the 'History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery; Anti-Aircraft Artillery, 1914-55' by Brig. Routledge. Here we go.. it appears 87th HAA were already in Egypt prior to their posting to Palestine/Syria under Ninth Army command in August 1942. From there they transferred to 10th Army, Persia and Iraq force where they were in place by December 1942 under command of 8th AA Brigade. The tasks allotted them were the Basra base area, Habbaniya airfield, Baghdad, Mosul and the oil installations at Kirkuk. Being so dispersed most of the defended points only received one HAA and one LAA battery apiece. here they stayed until March 1943 87th HAA were then in 17th AA Brigade in North Africa, where they were allocated to Eighth Army but held back in reserve until after the breakthrough and advance into Libya. Equipped with 24 x 3.7" guns. an AA OrBat of May 1943 places them still in 17th AA Brig (along with 61st Regt HAA, 638/191 Bty HAA, 200 (Czech) Regt LAA, 38/13 Bty LAA, 100/52 Bty LAA and 390 Bty SL) in and around Tobruk, Gambut and the landing grounds. The next appearance of the 87th is in an OrBat for Op. Avalanche, the allied landings at Salerno in September 1943. Under command of Brig Mortimer Wheeler's 12th AA Brigade. The regiment had assembled in Tunisia for the crossing with 279th Bty assigned to No.3 Beach Group and 280th Bty in No.5 Beach Group. Four beach groups were to cover the landings, consisting of one HAA and one LAA battery each. During the subsequent German armoured counter-attack the 87th HAA Regt were called upon to give ground support fire against road junctions, buildings and troops. From here the Regiment enjoyed a short deployment to Naples from where it then returned to 10th Corps to support the Volturno river crossings, Here it deployed for the protection of bridges, field gun batteries and landing grounds. Their final appearance in the index refers to their arrival at the port of Brindisi as reinforcements from 62nd AA Brigade in March 1944. From there they were earmarked for 'conversion', presumably into an infantry regiment, in September 1944.
