437 & 667 HAA Bty's questions

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by cww, May 16, 2017.

  1. cww

    cww Active Member

    Hello good people of the Forum
    I'm totally new to this Forum, and I look forward to using it.
    I hope someone can help.
    I have received my Wife's Grandfathers Service Record, he was a lovely man, he only talked about his war years to me, o think its because I am ex Army, and he knows I understood, I miss him dearly.

    He was in the Royal Artillery, anti aircraft, he then transferred to the 4th KSLI and served in NWE in 1944.

    The questions I have are with regard to the RA HAA Battery's he served in.
    He was in the 437 HAA Battery from 1941 til 43, then went to 667 HAA Bty in 1944.

    Could someone please tell me what the higher formations were for both these Batteries, which HAA regiments they were attached to, where they were situated etc, any information at all would be great.

    Sorry to waffle,
    Your time is greatly appreciated
    Thank you
     
  2. cww

    cww Active Member

    Forgot to say. I also have his badges, one of them is that of the 9th AA Division, (black cat one) was 437 Bty part of this?
     
  3. hutt

    hutt Member

    Hi

    There is a diary for a 437 Searchlight Battery for 1939 Aug.- 1941 Apr at WO 166/3282 ANTI-AIRCRAFT COMMAND: SEARCHLIGHT BATTERIES: 437 Searchlight Battery (SL)

    I have a download from the internet that suggests that they (437) were then part of 4th AA Division which was split in late 1940 to form 9th AA Division so that ties in with your badge.

    There are a number of diaries for 9th AA Division at Kew.

    I have part of one diary for 4th AA Division which suggests that it consisted of 33rd, 44th and 53rd AA Brigades and again these formations would appear to have diary coverage for periods between 41 - 43 at Kew.

    If you want details of which Regiment the battery was under then the first diary (WO 166/3282) should be the place to start.

    Sorry drawing a blank on 667.

    Graham
     
  4. dml34

    dml34 Junior Member

    437 HAA Bty joined 79 HAA Regt in August 1941. It stayed with this regiment until July 1942, when it transferred to 138 HAA Regt.

    667 HAA Bty was part of 190 HAA Regt. The battery disbanded in Feb/Mar 1944 with the regiment disbanding in Jul/Aug 1944.

    Hope this helps!

    Dave
     
  5. cww

    cww Active Member

    Thank you both for your responses, and great information, greatly appreciated.
    Is that 79th Hearts Yeomanry HAA regt??
    Is there anywhere I can look up the Batteries locations?
    Thanks again
     
  6. cww

    cww Active Member

    Reading it again, he was posted to 24 (ATS) (Specialist) AA TRG Regt RA in Blackdown for a month, after 437 Bty, he then went to 667 Bty after the 24 Trg Regt.
    What was specialist about this TRG Regt? What would he have been training on. I assume ATS is Aux Territorial Service, so was it training them to be in a 'mixed' HAA regt as 667 Bty was?
    Your help and time are, again, greatly appreciated.

    Thank you
     
  7. dml34

    dml34 Junior Member

    The full name of 79 HAA Regt is 79th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment R.A. (TA). In Jan 1941, the regimental HQ was in Swansea. The Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies in Hertford have some regimental archives.

    138 HAA Regt joined 9 AA Division in 1 AA Corps in July 1942.
    AA Corps and AA Divisions were replaced by AA Groups in Oct 1942, and in the AA Command Order of Battle of 1 Aug 1943, 437 HAA Bty was in 138 HAA Regt in 61 AA Bde in 3 AA Gp.

    If you want more information, I suggest you look at the following War Diaries in the National Archives, or ask members of this forum to get copies for you:

    79 HAA Regt Jul 40 - Dec 41 WO 166/2370
    Jan - Dec 42 WO 166/7455
    138 HAA Regt Nov - Dec 41 WO 166/2428
    Jan - Dec 42 WO 166/7505
    Jan - Dec 43 WO 166/11619
    190 HAA Regt Jan - Dec 43 WO 166/11670
    Jan - Aug 44 WO 166/14842

    I cannot find any War Diaries for 437 and 667 Bties.

    Good luck!

    Dave
     
    Tricky Dicky likes this.
  8. dml34

    dml34 Junior Member

    Just seen your last message.

    I think that you have probably guessed right. I had a quick look but cannot see any War Diary for 24 AA Trg Regt.

    Dave
     
  9. cww

    cww Active Member

    Thank you Dave for that information, greatly appreciated. Sheds more light
     
  10. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    Specialist trades are typically the clever trades needed to make AA units function: i.e. other than gunnery, signals, or driving. They are skills needed to operate technical equipment such as Height and Range finders, Telescopic Identification (T.I.), Predictors and gun laying radars. Maybe a month long posting to 24 Training Regiment was for a course on one of these equipments.

    What trade did it say in his service record?
     
  11. cww

    cww Active Member

    Hello Sheldrake.
    Sorry for late reply.
    I cannot see a trade written on his record, where is it written normally.
    Very interesting about the specialist equipment.
    Why does 24th Bty have ATS in the title, was it simply because there were Women in the Battery as well?
     
  12. David Molloy

    David Molloy New Member

    Hello good people of the forum, my father was in the 437th Searchlight, Loyal North Lancs. I would be very interested if anyone has a history of where they were deployed 39-45. I have a large photo of the regiment taken in 39 that I'm happy to share, also a few of him with other members of the regiment. I live in the US so it's hard to look up his service records, any suggestions to that end greatly appreciated. Thanx!
     
  13. Susan A

    Susan A Member

    Hi David,

    Rather late in the day for a reply to your message but should you read this - would you share the photo?
    I’ve only recently started to look into my grandfathers military record so unfortunately don’t have much information I can share with you.
    My grandfather also served with 437 Battery, 62nd The Loyal (North Lancashire) Searchlight Regt. Another WW2Talk member advised that 437 battery served in the Orkney Islands (Scotland) and I’ve now found on my gf’s records a visit to a dentist (of all places) in Kirkwall (Orkney) 10 June 1940. The regiment converted to the 150th (Loyals) Light Anti Aircraft Regt RA in April 1943 and were deployed to Cornwall (another dental record! has my gf in Truro, Cornwall in August ‘43). The Regt moved to Leeds approx Sept. ‘43.

    I hope you manage to read this sometime and it helps with your search.

    Regards
     

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