Country United Kingdom Type Anti-Aircraft Brigade | Branch Territorial Army Role Air Defence | |
Active 29 September 1938–31 December 1957 Part of 2nd AA Division7th AA Division10th AA Division5th AA Group | ||
39th Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Britain's Territorial Army (TA). It was responsible for protecting industry along the Humber Estuary and airfields in Lincolnshire during World War II.
Contents
Origin
With the expansion of Britain's Anti-Aircraft (AA) defences in the late 1930s, new formations were created to command the growing number of Royal Artillery (RA) and Royal Engineers (RE) AA gun and searchlight units. 39th AA Brigade was raised on 29 September 1938 at Retford in Nottinghamshire, the HQ later moving to RAF Digby in Lincolnshire. Initially, it formed part of 2nd AA Division, and its units were all transferred from other brigades within the division. Its role was to defend airfields and other vulnerable points (VPs) in Lincolnshire and Humberside. The commanding officer was Brigadier O.T. Frith.
Mobilisation
At the time the brigade was formed, the TA's AA units were in a state of mobilisation because of the Munich crisis, although they were soon stood down. In February 1939 the TA's AA defences came under the control of a new Anti-Aircraft Command. In June a partial mobilisation of TA units was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA and searchlight positions. The same month, 39th AA Bde came under the command of the newly-formed 7th AA Division, which was created to control the AA defences of North East England, Yorkshire and Humberside. Its exact responsibilities were still being worked out when war broke out. AA Command mobilised fully on 24 August, ahead of the official declaration of war on 3 September.
Order of Battle
On mobilisation in August 1939, 39th AA Bde had the following composition:
The AA regiments of the RA were redesignated Heavy AA (HAA) in 1940 to distinguish them from the new Light AA (LAA) regiments being formed.
Later, 67th HAA Regiment transferred to a newly-raised 50th Light AA Bde in 2nd AA Division to cover Derby and Nottingham, and 46th AA Bn RE exchanged with 13th LAA Rgt, RA (37th, 38th and 122nd (Mobile) Btys, based at Sheffield) from 57th Light AA Bde within 7th AA Division.
In March 1940, 30th (Surrey) AA Bn, RE transferred to the brigade from 5th AA Division in Southern England, with battalion HQ setting up at Market Rasen Racecourse in Lincolnshire. The battalion's searchlights were deployed to cover airfields and other VPs in Lincolnshire and along the Humber Estuary.
Battle of Britain
After the Fall of France, German day and night air raids and mine laying began along the East Coast of England, intensifying through June 1940. Some of the airfields in 39 AA Bde's area were attacked, 30th (Surrey) AA Bn reporting damage to searchlight equipment from bomb splinters, and one searchlight site engaged an enemy aircraft with its Lewis gun. As the Battle of Britain got under way during the summer, the Luftwaffe concentrated on Southern England, with occasional raids on the Humber and Midlands.
On 1 August 1940 the AA battalions of the RE were transferred to the RA, where they were termed searchlight regiments and the companies became batteries.
The Blitz
As German night air raids on UK cities intensified (The Blitz), 39 AA Bde sent detachments to London in September and then to Sheffield in November to assist in their defence. 13th LAA Regiment left the UK in November, arriving in Egypt in January 1941, where it served in the Greek campaign, the Siege of Tobruk and later in the Italian campaign.
A new 10th AA Division was created in November 1940, and 39th AA Bde was transferred to it, retaining its responsibility for the defence of the Humber Estuary and Scunthorpe. In March 1941, German bombers began dropping mines in the Humber Estuary, and 39 AA Bde ordered 30th (Surrey) S/L Rgt to establish a mobile detachment to help the defenders engage these raiders. The 'Northern Rovers' and 'Southern Rovers', each of three sections, patrolled the north and south banks of the estuary.
By this stage of the war, 39th AA Bde's order of battle was as follows:
At the end of March 1941, 30th S/L Rgt was sent to help in the Bristol Blitz, handing over its Northern and Southern Rover duties to 84th S/L Rgt. Two of 30th S/L Rgt's batteries then embarked for the Middle East, but were diverted to the Far East where they were captured at the Fall of Singapore. 30th S/L Rgt returned to 39th AA Bde in October 1941.
During 1941 the searchlight layout over the Midlands and South Yorkshire was reorganised, so that any hostile raid approaching the Gun Defended Areas (GDA) around the towns had to cross more than one searchlight belt, and then within the GDAs the concentration of lights was increased.
In February 1942, Brigadier Frith was promoted to command 4th AA Division.
Later war
The AA divisions were disbanded in September 1942 and replaced by a system of AA Groups corresponding to the Groups of RAF Fighter Command. 39th AA Bde came under 5 AA Group based at Nottingham and affiliated to No. 12 Group RAF.
All of the above regiments left the brigade during the mid-war period and were replaced by war-formed units. The first to leave was 91st HAA Rgt, which went to the Middle East in October 1942 serving under Ninth Army, and later under Eighth Army in Italy. 62nd HAA, 39th LAA and 30th S/L Rgts all embarked for North Africa in November 1942, joining Allied Force Headquarters in January 1943 for the Tunisian Campaign and later in Italy. 40th S/L Rgt was converted into 149th LAA Rgt in June 1943 and first joined 55th (West Lancashire) Division and then Second Army, under which it served in the North West Europe campaign. 84th S/L Rgt was disbanded in October 1943.
Postwar
When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, 39 AA Bde was reorganised as 65 AA Brigade, with its HQ at Doncaster, still forming part of 5 AA Group at Nottingham. It comprised the following units:
('Mixed' indicated that members of the Women's Royal Army Corps were integrated into the unit.)
AA Command was disbanded on 10 March 1955, and there was a considerable reduction in the number of TA AA units. Within 65 AA Bde, 467 HAA merged with a field artillery regiment, 513 LAA merged into a light airborne artillery regiment, and the two KOYLI regiments merged with another Yorkshire LAA regiment. The brigade itself was placed in 'suspended animation' in October that year, and formally disbanded on 31 December 1957.