62nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery

The 62nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, (62nd LAA Rgt) was an air defence unit of the British Army during World War II. After serving with Anti-Aircraft Command during and after the Blitz, it trained to take part in the Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord). However, shortly before D Day, it was broken up to reinforce other units that fought in the ensuing campaign.

62nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA
Cap badge of the Royal Artillery
Active22 October 1940–15 April 1944
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
RoleAir defence
SizeRegiment
Part ofAnti-Aircraft Command
21st Army Group
EngagementsThe Blitz

Origin

The regiment was formed as part of the rapid expansion of AA Command during The Blitz in the autumn of 1940. Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) was formed on 22 October at Perranporth, Cornwall, with 185 and 186 LAA Batteries, which had been formed on 15 September.[1][2]

The Blitz
1st AA Division's formation sign.

After initial training, the new regiment was assigned to 26th (London) AA Brigade in 1st AA Division. At that time the division was operating the London Inner Artillery Zone (IAZ) fighting the London Blitz.[3][4] At this stage of the war most LAA units were still armed with Light machine guns (AALMGs), but the new Bofors 40 mm gun was arriving in increasing numbers. These units were deployed to defend vulnerable points (VPs) such as bridges, factories or airfields against low-flying or dive-bombing daylight raids, but could do little against high-flying night raiders during the Blitz.[5]

The regiment was joined by 214 LAA Bty on 21 February 1941. This battery had been formed on 14 November by 224th LAA Training Rgt at Aberystwyth, based on a cadre of experienced officers and men provided by 42nd LAA Rgt. 62nd LAA Regiment provided its own cadre for 235 LAA Bty, which was formed by 208th LAA Training Rgt at Yeovil on 10 April and joined the regiment on 8 July.[2] 62nd LAA Regiment was still in 26th AA Bde when the Blitz ended in May 1941.[6]

Mid-war
A Bofors 40 mm LAA gun crew under training, January 1942.

186 LAA Bty was attached to 49th AA Bde within the division until mid-June 1941 when it embarked for Malta as part of a much-needed AA reinforcement for the besieged island, which was under constant air attack. The battery arrived in Malta in August 1941 and joined 74th LAA Rgt there. It later served in the Allied landings in Sicily and Italy.[2][6][7][8][9]

62nd LAA Regiment supplied another cadre to 208th LAA Training Rgt at Yeovil to form 292 LAA Bty on 7 August. This was regimented on 11 November when 185 LAA Bty left to provide the basis for a new 87th LAA Rgt. On 19 February 1942, the fourth Troops of each of the regiment's batteries (214, 235 and 292 by this stage) were detached and combined to form a new 456 LAA Bty within the regiment. This formed part of a new 141st LAA Rgt on 10 July.[2][10][11][lower-alpha 1]

62nd LAA Regiment remained in 26th (London) AA Bde until June 1942, when after a brief unbrigaded period it transferred to 49 AA Bde. By the summer of 1942 every available LAA gun was being deployed to the South Coast towns of England to defend against 'hit and run' attacks by Luftwaffe Fighter-bombers. In August, 214 LAA Bty was attached to 8th AA Division in South West England.[11] By early November the whole regiment had transferred to 38th LAA Bde in 1 AA Group (which had replaced 1st AA Division), but left again shortly afterwards. It then moved to 63rd AA Bde in 6 AA Group covering South East England outside London.[13]


Mobile training

In March 1943 62nd LAA Rgt left AA Command and joined the field force under the control of the War Office, coming under the command of 75th LAA Bde during April. It gained its own detachment of the Royal Corps of Signals in May.[13][14]

By 24 July 1943 the regiment was designated as a mobile unit assigned to 21st Army Group.[15] All the units in 21st Army Group now entered a period of intense training for the planned Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord), for which 75th AA Bde was a follow-up formation.[16]

Disbandment

In early 1944 it was decided to increase the war establishment of the LAA regiments of the armoured and infantry divisions assigned to Overlord, particularly to man the multiple-barrelled 20 mm guns (usually Oerlikons or Polstens) that were being added to some regiments.[17] 62nd LAA Regiment was broken up to provide some of the additional personnel. In the first phase, on 23 February, the regiment's troops were individually numbered:[2]

  • A, B and C Trps of 214 LAA Bty became 39, 40 and 50 Trps
  • D, E and F Trps of 235 LAA Bty became 51, 52 and 53 Trps
  • G, H and I Trps of 292 LAA Bty became 54, 55 and 56 Trps

In the second phase, on 14 March, these Troops were transferred to other regiments:[2]

Finally, RHQ and the battery HQs of 214, 235 and 292 LAA Btys were disbanded by 15 April 1944.[1][2]

Footnote
  1. Transferring part of each battery to form a new battery that then left the regiment was a method sometimes used to remove the less physically fit personnel from a regiment selected for training for overseas deployment. For example, 73rd LAA Rgt (which landed on D Day), formed 466 LAA Bty from men of low medical categories; coincidentally, 466 LAA Bty also joined 141st LAA Rgt.[10][12]

Notes
  1. Farndale, Annex M.
  2. Frederick, pp. 802–3, 807, 830.
  3. Farndale, Annex D.
  4. Routledge, Table LXV, p. 396.
  5. Routledge, pp. 52–5.
  6. Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, with amendments, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 212/79.
  7. Frederick, p. 832.
  8. Routledge, pp. 168–75, 263–7, 269.
  9. Rollo, Annex A.
  10. Frederick, pp. 832, 842.
  11. Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/81.
  12. 73 LAA Rgt War Diary 1942, TNA file WO 166/7662.
  13. Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 1 October 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/82.
  14. Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 18 February 1943, with amendments, TNA files WO 212/9 and WO 33/1987.
  15. Order of Battle of the Forces in the United Kingdom, Part 2: 21 Army Group, 24 July 1943, TNA file WO 212/238.
  16. Routledge, p. 315.
  17. Routledge, pp. 78, 306.
  18. Frederick, p. 835.
  19. Joslen, p. 43.
  20. Frederick, p. 826.
  21. Joslen, p. 83.
  22. Joslen, p. 11.

References
  • Gen Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat: Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988/London: Brasseys, 1996, ISBN 1-85753-080-2.
  • J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol II, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN 1-85117-009-X.
  • Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.
  • Denis Rollo, The Guns and Gunners of Malta, Valetta: Mondial, 1999, ISBN 99909-68-84-5.
  • Brig N.W. Routledge, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55, London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, ISBN 1-85753-099-3
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