69th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. (T.A.) HQ, 190th-191st Btys: Edgbaston, Birmingham 15 192nd, 199th Btys: King’s Norton Birmingham The regiment served under command of 34th Anti-Aircraft Brigade at the start of the war. 200th Battery joined after September 1939. The regiment was sent to Malta in early 1941 from Coventry. It then moved to Egypt and arrived there on 6 May 1941 under BTE. In September 1941 the regiment relieved 4th Anti-Aircraft Brigade in Tobruk. 190th Battery left on 15 November 1941. The regiment then served under 8th Army in the Western Desert from November 1941 until December 1942. It served under 2nd AA Brigade at El Alamein and then moved to the Benghazi area with 1st AA Brigade in January 1943. It was located in Tripolitania under 2nd AA Brigade in May 1943. The regiment moved to Italy in October 1943 at Taranto under 8th AA Brigade. It remained with the brigade until July 1944, when it came under command of 25th AA Brigade in the Bari-Brindisi-Taranto area. It stayed with this brigade until the regiment and batteries were placed on suspended animation on 30 January 1945.
Thank you David. Is that correct? It would appear that the Regiment had 5 Batteries between October 1939 & October 1941?
Thank you. I hope you did not mind me querying it. It was just that it seemed a little odd that a unit would be so "overstrength", that's all.
No, all are listed as HAA Batteries. Here is the full entry from Frederick: 10/12/36 - 6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment (T.A.) converted to 68th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) AA Brigade, R.A. (T.A.) [provisional title] with 190-2 and 199 Btys (later 69 AA MG Bty to 1/5/37) 1/1937 - Designation fixed as 69th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, R.A. (T.A.) 1/1/39 - Brigade designated 69th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) AA Regiment, R.A. (T.A.) 9/1939+ - 200 Bty joined from 68th AA Regt 1/6/40 - 'AA' redesignated 'HAA' 15/11/41 - 190 Bty joined 10th HAA Regt 30/1/45 - Regt with 192, 199 and 200 Btys S/A You might try getting your hands on a copy of the Frederick Volumes. They would answer a lot of your questions. Combine that with the three published histories of the RA and you are golden. Frederick, J.B.M. Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660-1978. Volumes 1 & 2. East Ardsley, Wakefield, Yorkshire: Microform Academic Publishers, 1984. Farndale, Sir Martin. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Volume V: The Years of Defeat 1939-41. London: Brassey’s, 1996. Farndale, Sir Martin. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Volume VI: The Far East Theatre 1941-46. London: Brassey’s, 2000. Routledge, Brig. N.W. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Volume IV: Anti-Aircraft Artillery, 1914-55. London: Brassey’s, 1994.
I am trying now to find out if in between May and September of 1941 the Regiment had any 3" guns, or were they all 3.7" by then?
