Country United Kingdom Type Anti-Aircraft Brigade | Branch Territorial Army Role Air Defence | |
 | ||
Active January 1936–September 1948 Part of 1st AA Division
6th AA Division | ||
29th (East Anglian) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Britain's Territorial Army before and during World War II. It defended Kent during The Blitz.
Contents
Origin
29th (East Anglian) Anti-Aircraft Group was organised in January 1936 at RAF North Weald, Essex, as part of 1st Anti-Aircraft Division. Its original composition was as follows:
29th and the other Anti-Aircraft groups adopted the more normal formation title of 'Brigades' after the Royal Artillery redesignated its Brigades as 'Regiments' in 1938.
World War II
By the time war was declared on 3 September 1939, 29th AA Bde had been transferred to 6th AA Division, which was formed in 1939 to take responsibility for air defence of the Thames Estuary, Essex and Kent. At this point the brigade was entirely composed of searchlight units:
During August 1940 the AA Battalions were transferred from the Royal Engineers to the Royal Artillery, when they were designated Searchlight Regiments. At this time AA Command was heavily engaged in the Battle of Britain, in which 29 AA Bde was responsible for guarding Kent. This was soon followed by the night-bombing campaign of The Blitz, in which searchlights were a key element in the defences. At his time 29 Bde consisted of two units:
In November 1940 the brigade was joined by the newly formed 48th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. This regiment was sent overseas in December 1941, arriving in Java where it was captured by the Japanese.
By the end of 1944, however, the German Luftwaffe was suffering from such shortages of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious aerial attacks on the United Kingdom could be discounted. At the same time 21st Army Group fighting in North West Europe was suffering a severe manpower shortage, particularly among the infantry. In January 1945 the War Office began to reorganise surplus anti-aircraft and coastal artillery regiments in the UK into infantry battalions, primarily for line of communication and occupation duties, thereby releasing trained infantry for frontline service.
Postwar
When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, the East Anglian AA Brigade was reformed, numbered as 55 (East Anglian) AA Brigade (the TA AA brigades were now numbered 51 and upwards, rather than 26 and upwards as in the 1930s). It was based at Barking, Essex, and was subordinate to 1 AA Group (AA Command's corps and divisions had been disbanded in 1942 and a group structure introduced; 1 AA Group controlled the air defences of the London region). At this time the brigade comprised the following units from Essex:
However, 55 AA Bde was disbanded the following year, completely disappearing in September 1948.