8th Anti-Aircraft Division
Formation sign of the division.[1]
Active16 October 1940 – 30 September 1942
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeAnti-Aircraft Division
RoleAir Defence
Size4–5 Brigades
Part ofI AA Corps
Garrison/HQBristol
EngagementsThe Blitz
Baedeker Blitz

The 8th Anti-Aircraft Division (8th AA Division) was an air defence formation of the British Army during the early years of the Second World War. It defended South West England during The Blitz and the Luftwaffe 'hit and run' raids, but only had a short career.

Mobilisation

The 8th Anti-Aircraft Division was one of five new divisions created on 1 November 1940 by Anti-Aircraft Command to control the growing anti-aircraft (AA) defences of the United Kingdom. The division was formed by splitting the 5th AA Division, with the new formation taking responsibility for the City of Bristol and the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Potential targets in this area included the Bristol Aeroplane Company factory and airfield at Filton, and the Royal Navy dockyards at Devonport (Plymouth) and Portland.[2][3][4][5][6]

The Divisional headquarters (HQ) was at Bristol and the first General Officer Commanding (GOC) was Major-General Robert Allen, who was transferred from commanding the 5th AA Division.[7][8] The division formed part of I AA Corps, which was created at the same time to cover Southern England and Wales.[4] The fighting units, organised in four AA Brigades, consisted of Heavy (HAA) and Light (LAA) gun units and Searchlight (S/L) units of the Royal Artillery, with major concentrations of HAA guns in the Bristol and Plymouth Gun Defence Areas (GDAs)

The Blitz

The Blitzed ruins of Temple Church, Bristol

When the 8th AA Division was formed the Luftwaffe's night Blitz on British cities was already under way. There had previously been daylight raids during the Battle of Britain, notably on Bristol and Portland on 25 September 1940,[9] now the night attacks were stepped up both against London and smaller cities, with the ports of Bristol and Plymouth receiving frequent raids, particularly heavy in March 1941 (the Bristol Blitz and Plymouth Blitz).[4][5][10][11]

In 1939 the scale of HAA guns (3-inch and the newer 3.7-inch and 4.5-inch guns) allocated to the Bristol GDA (covering Bristol and Avonmouth) had been 56, and this was increased to 80 in 1940, but by the end of February 1941 only 36 were in place. This increased to 68 a month later, though further additions to the establishment were already being called for.[12] The position on LAA gunsites was worse: only small numbers of Bofors 40 mm guns were available at the start of the Blitz, and most LAA detachments had to make do with Light machine guns (LMGs).[13]

Order of Battle

The division's composition during the Blitz was as follows:[3][14][15][16][17]

3.7-inch HAA gun preserved at Nothe Fort overlooking Portland Harbour

Mid-War

By October 1941 the availability of S/L control radar was sufficient to allow AA Command's S/L sites to be 'declustered' into single-light sites spaced at 10,400-yard intervals in 'Indicator Belts' along the coast and approaches to the GDAs, and 'Killer Belts' at 6,000 yards (5,500 m) spacing to cooperate with the RAF's Night-fighters.[47]

The ruins of St Catherine's Almshouses, Exeter, preserved amongst modern buildings as a memorial of the Blitz

Early in 1942 the Luftwaffe began a new wave of attacks on British cities (the Baedeker Blitz): Exeter and undefended Bath were hit in March, April and May, and Weston-super-Mare in June. New GDAs were established at Exeter, Taunton, Bath and Salisbury.[48][49][50]

Newly formed AA units joined the division, the HAA and support units increasingly becoming 'Mixed' units, indicating that women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) were fully integrated into them. At the same time, experienced units were posted away to train for service overseas. This led to a continual turnover of units, which accelerated in 1942 with the preparations for the invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch) and the need to transfer AA units to counter the Baedeker raids and the Luftwaffe's hit-and-run attacks against South Coast towns.[5][48]

Those AA units in the War Office (WO) Reserve rostered for overseas deployment were lent back to AA Command when not required for training. One of these, 103rd HAA Rgt, was moved down from Merseyside, which was rarely attacked by this stage of the war, to reinforce the 8th AA Division in Cornwall in April 1942, establishing its batteries at St Ives, Truro and Penzance under the 55th AA Brigade.[51]

In July, the 103rd HAA Rgt was sent for a short attachment to the 11th AA Brigade (the mobile training brigade in Hampshire) and was relieved by 79th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) HAA Rgt which had just completed training with the 11th AA Brigade. The 79th HAA Regiment occupied sites at Hayle, Truro and Penzance on 14 July and the Penzance and Truro guns were in action against raiders early the next morning. The deployment lasted three weeks before the regiment left for further training and the 103rd HAA Rgt returned.[51][52]

In West Cornwall the main threat was from low level daylight 'hit and run' raids by single engined Luftwaffe aircraft (such as attacks by pairs of Focke-Wulf Fw 190s on St Ives on 28 August and Truro on 7 September), which were difficult for HAA guns to engage. Night raids on Truro on 24 September and on Penzance two nights later were engaged by the regiment with both HAA and light machine guns.[51][48]

In August 1942, the 64th AA Brigade was transferred from the 8th AA Division to the 3rd AA Division, a HQ brought down from Scotland to handle the increased workload along the South Coast.[53]

Order of Battle

During this period the division was composed as follows (temporary attachments omitted):[17][53][54][55]

The increased sophistication of Operations Rooms and communications was reflected in the growth in support units, which attained the following organisation by May 1942:

The RAOC companies became part of the new Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) during 1942.

Disbandment

A reorganisation of AA Command in October 1942 saw the AA divisions disbanded and replaced by a number of AA Groups more closely aligned with the groups of RAF Fighter Command. The 8th AA Division merged with the 5th AA Division into the 3rd AA Group based at Bristol and cooperating with No. 10 Group RAF.[2][3][5][48][6][102] Major-General Allen retired.[8] The 5th and 8th Divisional Signals re-amalgamated at Bristol as the 3rd AA Group Signals. Postwar the unit became The 57th (City and County of Bristol) Signals Squadron, today part of 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment.[45][46][103]

General Officer Commanding

The 8th AA Division only had one commander during its existence:[7][8]

Notes

  1. ^ Cole p. 56
  2. ^ a b Frederick, p. 1047.
  3. ^ a b c 8 AA Division 1940 at British Military History.
  4. ^ a b c Routledge, p. 394; Map 34.
  5. ^ a b c d Pile's despatch.
  6. ^ a b "AA Command 1940 at British Military History". Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. ^ a b Farndale, Annex J.
  8. ^ a b c Allen at Generals of World War II.
  9. ^ Routledge, Table LXII, pp. 379–80.
  10. ^ Collier, Chapter 17.
  11. ^ Collier, Appendix XXX.
  12. ^ Collier Chapter 18.
  13. ^ Routledge, pp. 383–4, Table LXVI, p. 397, p. 398.
  14. ^ Farndale, Annex D, pp. 257–9.
  15. ^ Routledge, Table LXV, p. 396.
  16. ^ 8 AA Division 1940 at RA 39–45.
  17. ^ a b Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941,with amendments, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 212/79.
  18. ^ a b 76 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  19. ^ Litchfield, p. 84.
  20. ^ 23 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  21. ^ Litchfield, p. 88.
  22. ^ 66 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  23. ^ a b Litchfield, p. 86.
  24. ^ 68 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  25. ^ Litchfield, p. 182.
  26. ^ a b 56 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  27. ^ Litchfield, p. 35.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Farndale, Annex M.
  29. ^ 118 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  30. ^ 58 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  31. ^ Litchfield, p. 292.
  32. ^ Joslen, p. 221.
  33. ^ a b 81 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  34. ^ 82 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  35. ^ 104 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  36. ^ 44 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  37. ^ a b 35 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  38. ^ Litchfield, p. 100.
  39. ^ 2 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  40. ^ a b 3 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  41. ^ a b Litchfield, p. 310.
  42. ^ 76 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  43. ^ a b 85 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
  44. ^ 9 AA Z Rgt at RA 39–45.
  45. ^ a b Lord & Watson, p. 170.
  46. ^ a b Brief History of 39 Signal Regt at British Army website.
  47. ^ Routledge, p. 399.
  48. ^ a b c d Routledge, pp. 400–4.
  49. ^ Collier, Chapter 20.
  50. ^ Collier, Appendix XXXVII.
  51. ^ a b c 103 HAA Rgt War Diary 1942, TNA file WO 166/7471.
  52. ^ Sainsbury, p. 90.
  53. ^ a b 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.
  54. ^ Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/80.
  55. ^ Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 1 October 1942, TNA file WO 212/82.
  56. ^ a b c d Joslen, p. 465.
  57. ^ a b c d Routledge, Tables XXX–XXXII, pp. 188–90.
  58. ^ "112 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  59. ^ "116 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  60. ^ "119 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  61. ^ "133 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  62. ^ "140 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  63. ^ "150 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  64. ^ "165 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  65. ^ 36 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  66. ^ a b 47 LAA LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  67. ^ 1 AA 'Z' Rgt at RA 39–45.
  68. ^ Joslen, p. 519.
  69. ^ "79 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  70. ^ Litchfield, p. 104.
  71. ^ 103rd HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  72. ^ "162 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  73. ^ "166 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  74. ^ a b Joslen, p. 523.
  75. ^ 46 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  76. ^ Litchfield, p. 43.
  77. ^ 55 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  78. ^ Joslen, p. 524.
  79. ^ 137 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  80. ^ Litchfield, p. 108.
  81. ^ "29 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45".
  82. ^ "108 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  83. ^ 12 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  84. ^ Joslen, p. 488.
  85. ^ Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 25 March 1941, with amendments, TNA files WO 212/5 and WO 33/2323.
  86. ^ "67 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  87. ^ Litchfield, p. 174.
  88. ^ "74 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45".
  89. ^ "89 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45".
  90. ^ 133 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  91. ^ 98 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  92. ^ Joslen, p. 558.
  93. ^ 75 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  94. ^ Litchfield, p. 180.
  95. ^ Joslen, p. 466.
  96. ^ Routledge, Table XLII, p. 267.
  97. ^ 87 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  98. ^ "127 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45".
  99. ^ 24 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  100. ^ Joslen, p. 522.
  101. ^ 72 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
  102. ^ Routledge, Map 36.
  103. ^ Nalder, p. 620.

References

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