US Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) in Normandy

The ninth LCT was LCT(6) 547 (Craft Serial 63) carrying LTIN 2163 which included 33 men and 6 vehicles (4 Halftrack M3 and 2 Jeeps) from Hq & Hq Btry 197th AAA Bn. See attached landing table sheets for all nine craft loads.

LCT(6) 547 was from LCT Division 110, Group 55, Flotilla 19:


Michel

 

Thanks Michel. That.s why I could not find it with Flotilla 18.

 

Another photo of LCT-547 ...


https://www.history.navy.mil/conten...series/nh-series/80-G-251000/80-G-251951.html

 

Shelly, My grandfather was in 204th AAA Battery D also! I was wondering if you have uncovered any additional information? From what I have found they landed on Omaha Beach 12 days after D-Day and made their way to Eschwege, Germany. Battery C & D shot down the last German plane of the European Theater. If you have not seen it, there is an article and some parts from the plane in the Smithsonian!

 

I’m a new member; my father was part of the 495th AAA Gun Bn (SM). Much was written about what they did at Antwerp, but I have not found a unit history. I’m attempting to piece together where they were after landing at Omaha on 23 June, through the breakout at St. Lo. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

A link to a document that has some information on (see Chapter 2, 3 and Chapter 4) on the 495th AAA Gun Bn was part of the 49th AAA Brigade. I haven’t read thru the entire document

49th AAA Brigade, December 1, 1942 to May 9, 1945.
https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p4013coll8/id/5738/download

 

And this link to a document show the 49th AAA Brigade as part of the First US Army on the Rhine river crossing. I’m not sure if the 495th AAA Bn was part of the Brigade at this point.

https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p4013coll8/id/3201/download

 

And a link to this site that has more information on AAA (includes the 495th on Post #6, but their may be others in the link)

US Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) in Normandy

 

Thanks Temujin. This helps a lot!

 

I did not realize you cross-posted on this site - I replied to you at WWIIForums. Here is my reply in case you have not gone back there:

The 495th AAA Gun Bn was attached to the IX Air Defense Command from the first week of August 1944 until it was inactivated on 30 October 1945. As of 1 June 1944, it was attached to the 55th AAA Brigade (part of the AAA V-1 Defense gun belt in southeastern England and earmarked for Ninth U.S. Army on the Continent) and I believe it landed in Normandy still attached to them and may have remained with them until it was attached to the IX ADC as well in the first week of August. However, in mid-August the 55th AAA Brigade joined the Ninth Army, which was about to go operational in Brittany, while the 495th AAA remained attached to the IX ADC.

Antwerp X was initially organized by the 80th AA Brigade RA (British) until the American 30th AAA Group took over in mid-October with the 125th and 126th AAA Gun Bn (Mbl). The 56th AAA Brigade took over on 22 October and by mid-November it consisted of two brigades (the 56th was joined by the 50th), twelve gun, and two AW battalions.

Note that the 570th AAA Bn (SP) was inactivated 30 June 1944 at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, so he was likely sent to England as a AAA replacement - he could not have left for England as part of that battalion. Do you know when he departed the States and/or arrived in England?

 

Thanks Richard
Yes, I did post on both sites.
I have a postcard with his return address as Btry A, 570th AAA, Camp Edwards, MA, but the postmark is 2 April 1944, New York, NY. I assumed this was just before he shipped to England, and I thought he went with the 570th. His final pay voucher, in the states, just before he was discharged on 7 Jan 1946, showed his Previous Organization as the 495th AAA Gun Bn. If he had been transferred to the 495th in the States, he would have used them as his return address instead of the 570th. I can only conclude that it must have happened in England. What Temujin provided on the 49th AAA Brigade shows that the 495th joined them in England and didn't depart them until Antwerp X began. Did replacements get sent to England with no assignment to a unit? If so, that differed from when I served in the 70s and 80s.

 

Given that the 570th AA ceased to exist as a unit as of 30 June 1944 while it was at Camp Edwards, he could not in any conceivable way have gone to England as part of that unit.That is why I inquired as to when he departed the U.S. and when he arrived in England. His postmark of 2 April 1944 simply confirms he was part of the unit in the Z/I on that date.

No, he would not have been transferred to the 495th AAA "in the States". They were already in England. That is why I posited that he - and likely most of the other former personnel of the 570th - were sent off as replacements. Yes, replacements were sent as a replacement draft rather than as a unit, although that varied. It was a common practice. Other replacements were drawn in England from units there, but that obviously did not happen here, since the 495th was in England by 6 November 1943, when he was till in the States.

By June 1944, the decision was to reduce the size of the AA Command and the start was with units in the Z/I that had not deployed. Some personnel were transferred as replacements, some went to retrain for other duties. Logically, he went off as a replacement, because he remained with the AAA and eventually joined the 495th in Europe.

The simple solution, if you do not have the dates he went to England, is to request the Morning Reports for Battery A, 570th to track where and when he was reassigned. You can also work backwards from the MR of the 495th in December 1945/January 1946 - a bit clunkier since you would need to survey the Hq&Hq Battery and the four firing batteries - since it should record the outflow of personnel. Once you find him in the correct Battery of the 495th you can track him backwards to his assignemnt date.

 

Thanks Richard
I will give the Morning Reports a try.

 

Yes, the other way to track him would be if you know the date he arrived in England, which should be on his discharge as time overseas. That will give you at least an approximation of when he was assigned to the 495th. Searching the MR for the 495th for that month should reveal the Battery he was assigned to and you can go from there. It will tell you when he reported sick and any TDY he had.

There is also the possibility that he only was only assigned to the 495th for his return to the States. That actually happened quite frequently. My Dad, for example, returned with Company A, 772d Tank Destroyer Battalion, even though he was a CAC officer and had spent most of the war with Battery A, 537th AAA AW Bn. If it happened to your Dad, then it may get a bit more complicated tracking him.

 

Hello, is there anyone who has more information about the 413th AAA. Arthur Bernard campo is who I am looking more info on.

Any after action reports of the unit would be great. September would be awesome. His dutch family lives in my hometown. Merkelbeek the Netherlands. THe rumor has he visit the family farm on a motor cycle.

 

I don't have anything, but History Hub answered a question on the 413th AAA Gun Battalion. They summarized the records that are available and how to request them. See if that link helps you. Good luck!

Chuck

 

My Grandfather served with Battery A 461st A/A AW Battalion. Anyone with any information on this battalion? I’d love to learn as much as I can.

 

My grandfather was in battery A 461st.

 

Hello. This is my first posting as I just joined this forum. My dad, Garrett Slater, was a member of the 457th AAA AW Battalion that landed on Omaha Beach very early June 7. I've discovered that they were the first Bofors unit to land on D-day. If anyone could explain to me what that is or tell me anything more about the 457th and how it would have been functioning that day, I'd greatly appreciate it. I've found one account of their experiences from the daughter of another Bn member that I've posted here: (2) Tom Slater | Facebook. I will also be grateful to anyone who could read and respond to this account or tell me where I can find more information on the duties and activities of AAA units. Many thanks, Tom Slater.

 

The 457th, like my Dad's 537th, was a Third Army assigned unit attached to the First Army NEPTUNE. It was a "Mobile" AW Battalion, which meant it was equipped with 32 40mm "Bofors" antiaircraft guns and .50 caliber machine guns. The .50 guns were supposed to be quad-mounted on trailers, also 32 of them, but prior to the invasion the 20 mobile battalions intended for the assault turned in all their trailer mounts. In place they were given 16 self-propelled mounts - M16B, which were assembled in Britain by Army Ordnance using spare M3 Half Tracks and the guns from one of the trailer mounts. They also had 32 single-mount water-cooled .50 caliber, which came from the 90mm Gun Battalions in England, which had them replaced by the rest of the trailer-mounted .50 caliber.

The 457th landed with 538 O & EM and 104 vehicles in Force B. 279 O & EM and 101 vehicles was scheduled to land on D+10 on OMAHA. They were an Army of the United States organization, which were units raised for service in the war as opposed to Regular Army, Organized Reserve, or National Guard. Activated 1 September 1942 at Camp Hulen, Texas; departed the NYPOE 3 December 1943; arrived in the UK 15 December 1943; returned to the Z/I 20 November 1945 and inactivated the next day at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts.