Hi I am trying to find out more about 77th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment RA who were in India from mid 1942 to Nov 1944 when it was disbanded. I've pasted what I have below but would be interested in any other input/info/thoughts: Convoy WS17 sailed on 23 March 1942 with the main embarkations having been carried out in Liverpool and on the Clyde. 77 LAA Regt was made up of 269, 270 and 286 Batteries. It says it arrived in Bombay 7 July 1942 and went to Barrackpore near Calcutta. They then went on to Comilla on 14 Oct 1942. On 1 January they went to Chittagong as part of 13th AA Brigade which was commanded by Brigadier HN Loveson-Gower. (Source: Farndale p367) 13th AA brigade were used in defence of the support area airfields in Chittagong, East Bengal and Bawli. They were made up of 70 British Heavy Anti Aircraft Regt and 6 and 7 Indian HAA Regiments plus 35/12 Indian HAA Battery. The Light Anti-aircraft complement was 77 British LAA Regt and 3, 6 and 8 Indian LAA Regiments plus 10 Indian LAA Battery. (Source: Farndale p242) It was disbanded on 12 Nov 1944. (Source: Farndale p367) At this time the Infantry units were really short of manpower and the aerial threat from the Japanese, especially to India, was much reduced so a number of anti-aircraft units were disbanded and the soldiers converted to infantrymen. They were posted to various infantry battalions if fit enough or to other Corps if not. 13th AA brigade was disbanded in September 1945 (Source: Farndale p305) The War Diaries from The National Archives at Kew support this timeline of in the UK until March 1942 and in India from May 1942 until disbanded in November 1944: WO166/2749 1 May 1941 – 31 Dec 1941 WO166/7665 1 Jane 1942 – 31 March 1942 WO172/782 1 May 1942 – 31 Dec 1942 WO172/2374 1943 WO172/4723 1 Jan 1944 – 30 Nov 1944
Ha ha - thanks dryan67 .... you beat me to it. skoyen89 - if you'd care to contact me, I can help with the period the Regiment spent in India. Rothy
