Increasing concern during the 1930s about the threat of air attack led to large numbers of units of the part-time Territorial Army (TA) being converted to anti-aircraft (AA) gun and searchlight roles in the Royal Artillery (RA) and Royal Engineers (RE), and higher formations became necessary to control them. One such formation was 5 AA Division, raised on 1 September 1938 at Reading, Berkshire, to command all the TA AA units in the South, South West and South Midlands of England and South Wales. Its area was roughly aligned with that of No 10 Group of RAF Fighter Command under whose orders Anti-Aircraft Command operated. The formation's first General Officer Commanding (GOC) was Major-General Alan Cunningham.
The divisional badge was a falling black aircraft silhouette trailing red flames, on a khaki background.
The deterioration in international relations during 1939 led to a partial mobilisation of the TA in June, after which a proportion of TA AA units manned their war stations under a rotation system known as 'Couverture'. Full mobilisation of AA Command came in August 1939, ahead of the declaration of war on 3 September 1939.
The division's composition on mobilisation in August 1939 was as follows:
35th Anti-Aircraft Brigade
56th (Cornwall) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) unit converted from medium artillery in 1932
57th (Wessex) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – HAA unit converted from field artillery in 1932
72nd (Hampshire) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – HAA unit converted from field artillery (originally Yeomanry cavalry) in 1938
48th (Hampshire) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE – Searchlight unit converted from fortress engineers in 1937
35th AA Bde Company, Royal Army Service Corps (RASC)
45th Anti-Aircraft Brigade
77th (Welsh) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – HAA unit converted from field artillery in 1938
6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, Welch Regiment (67th Searchlight Regiment) – infantry battalion converted in 1938
1st (Rifle) Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment (68th Searchlight Regiment) – infantry battalion converted in 1938
45th AA Bde Company, RASC
46th Anti-Aircraft Brigade
76th (Gloucestershire) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – HAA unit converted from field artillery in 1938
98th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – new HAA unit formed in 1939
4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (66th Searchlight Regiment) – infantry battalion converted in 1938
46th AA Bde Company, RASC
47th Anti-Aircraft Brigade
80th (Berkshire) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – HAA unit converted from field artillery in 1938
30th (Surrey) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE – searchlight battalion formed in 1924
35th (First Surrey Rifles) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE – infantry battalion converted in 1935
4th Battalion Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) (63rd Searchlight Regiment) – infantry battalion converted in 1938
72nd (Middlesex) Searchlight Regiment, RA – new unit formed in 1938
47th AA Bde Company, RASC
55th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade
23rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – new unit formed in 1938
24th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – new unit formed in 1938
34th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – new unit formed in 1939
35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – new unit formed in 1939
36th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – new unit formed in 1939
55th AA Bde Company, RASC
5th AA Divisional Signals, Royal Corps of Signals (RCS) – formed at Reading in 1939; became a 'Mixed' unit in 1941 when women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated into the unit'
5th AA Divisional RASC
5th AA Divisional Company, Royal Army Medical Corps
5th AA Divisional Workshops, Royal Army Ordnance Corps – Workshop companies became part of the new Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineerrs (REME) during 1942
On mobilisation in August 1939, 5 AA Division had the following equipment:
Heavy AA guns: 106
Light AA guns
3-inch: 27
40 mm Bofors guns and 2-pounder 'pom-pom': 22
Light machine guns (LMGs, mainly Lewis guns) :1186
Searchlights: 466
The HAA guns were deployed as follows in September 1939:
Bristol (Docks and Bristol Aeroplane Company): 14 + 4 out of action
Plymouth (Royal Naval Dockyard): 14
Portland, Dorset (Royal Naval Dockyard): 2 + 2 out of action
Portsmouth (Royal Naval Dockyard): 29
Southampton (Docks and Supermarine Aviation Works): 30
Holton Heath, Dorset (Royal Navy Cordite Factory): 4
Bramley, Hampshire (Ordnance Depot): 7
The process of training and equipping the newer AA units had hardly begun when they were mobilised, but the delay in active operations during the autumn and winter of 1939–40 (the Phoney War) gave the AA formations time to address the worst deficiencies. Modern guns remained scarce, however.
By 5 June 1940, just before the start of the Battle of Britain, 5 AA Division's armament state was:
HAA
4.5-inch :24
3.7-inch: 93
3-inch: 56
LAA
3-inch: 28
40 mm Bofors: 4
Single Vickers guns: 18
LMGs: 386
S/L
150 cm: 46
90 cm: 535
Major-General Cunningham was transferred to the command of an infantry division on 10 January 1940 and was replaced as GOC by Maj-Gen Robert Allen, brought in from the command of the artillery of an infantry division, but who was a former commander of 48th AA Brigade. (Cunningham went on to command a succession of infantry divisions before becoming GOC East Africa Command and commanding the campaign against the Italians, and then GOC Eighth Army in Operation Crusader.)
The Royal Artillery's AA regiments were redesignated Heavy AA (HAA) in 1940 to distinguish them from the new Light AA (LAA) units being formed. Also the RE and infantry AA (searchlight) battalions were transferred to the RA in August 1940.
In July 1940, after the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk, the Regular 5th AA Bde was reformed in the Gloucester area under 5 AA Division. It was to consist of:
85th (Tees) HAA Regiment, RA – from 43rd AA Bde, 7 AA Division
88th HAA Regiment, RA – from 27th (Home Counties) Bde, 1 AA Division
37th (Tyne Electrical Engineers) Searchlight Regiment, RA – from BEF
68th Searchlight Regiment, RA – from 45th AA Bde
An additional LAA regiment to be formed from the northern part of 35th LAA Regiment (55th LAA Bde)
Meanwhile, 46th AA Bde at Bristol was now to consist of:
76th (Gloucestershire) HAA Regiment, RA
23 LAA – from 50th LAA Bde
15th (Isle of Man) LAA Regiment, RA– from 53rd LAA Bde, 4 AA Division
66th (Gloucesters) Searchlight Regiment, RA
On 11 July 1940, at the start of the Battle, 5 AA Division's guns were deployed as follows:
Cardiff (Docks and industry): 12
Newport, Wales (Docks and industry) 4
Brockworth, Gloucestershire (Gloster Aircraft Factory): 36
Bristol: 36
Falmouth, Cornwall (Docks): 8
Plymouth: 18
Portland: 6
Holton Heath: 8
Southampton: 43
Portsmouth: 44
Bramley: 8
Airfields: 20
Vital points: 136
The Battle of Britain opened with the Luftwaffe attacking shipping and coastal towns by day and bombing ports and industrial cities by night, which involved all of AA Command's divisions. In July the Luftwaffe switched to day raids in strength against ports and Midlands industry. Portland and Portsmouth were regularly raided. On 4 July, Portland was attacked by a continuous flow of Ju 87s and Ju 88s, lasting two and a half hours, yet none was shot down. But AA Command's shooting and techniques improved with experience. In attacks on Portsmouth on 12 August, six Bf 109s were shot down and a searchlight detachment on the Isle of Wight shot down another with its LMG.
After these preliminary skirmishes, the battle intensified from 13 August with bombing raids primarily directed against Fighter Command's airfields. Some of the greatest battles were fought on 15 August, from South Wales to the Yorkshire Coast, when 5 AA Division was hotly engaged, being credited with several 'kills'. Another peak day came on 24 August, when the gunners were in action at Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol, Portland and Bramley, with the Swansea gunners claiming hits. Then on 6 September the Luftwaffe switched its attacks from airfields to London.
The climax of the battle was on 15 September, when massed raids attacked London and suffered severe casualties from the fighters and guns. On the same day there were attacks against Portland and Southampton, and with all available fighters engaged elsewhere, 5 AA Division had to defend against these on its own.
After its crushing losses in day raids, the Luftwaffe switched to night bombing of London and the industrial cities ('The Blitz'), with Southampton, Cardiff and Swansea being among the targets attacked using Knickebein navigation aids. During the Portsmouth Blitz, two bombs dropped directly on a position of 35th AA Bde, killing an officer and 10 men, wrecking the command post and one gun. Two of the remaining guns continued to fire by improvised methods.
In November 1940, as the Blitz was getting under way, there was a major reorganisation of AA Command. 5 AA Division's responsibilities were split, with 8 AA Division created to cover South West England, and 9 AA Division to cover the South Midlands and South Wales. Thereafter, 5 AA Division's remit was to concentrate on Southern England. All three divisions came under the command of a newly formed I AA Corps. There were other consequential reorganisations: 5th AA Divisional Signals divided to form 8th AA Divisional Signals at Bristol, for example. Major-General Allen moved to command 8 AA Division and was replaced as GOC by Acting Maj-Gen Robert Pargiter from 7 AA Division.
After the reorganisation of November 1940, 5 AA Division had the following composition:
27th (Home Counties) AA Bde at Portsmouth – from 6 AA Division
31st (City of London Rifles) Searchlight Regt
70th (Sussex) Searchlight Regt
35th AA Bde at Portsmouth
72nd (Hampshire) HAA Regt
80th (Berkshire) HAA Regt
118th HAA Regt – new unit formed December 1940
48th (Hampshire) Searchlight Regt
47th AA Bde at Southampton
27th (London Electrical Engineers) Searchlight Regt
30th (Surrey) Searchlight Regt
63rd (Queen's) Searchlight Regt
65th AA Bde at Southampton – new formation
57th (Wessex) HAA Regt
24th LAA Regt
43rd LAA Regt – new unit formed November 1939
58th (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) LAA Regt – from BEF
5th Anti-Aircraft Z Regiment, Royal Artillery – formed by 5 AA Division in September 1940, equipped with Z Battery rocket projectiles/
5th AA Divisional Signals, RCS
Fringe and Baedeker raids
The Blitz ended in May 1941 when German attention switched to Russia, the Balkans and North Africa. A new Luftwaffe campaign against the mainland UK opened in March 1942, with a series of low-level fighter-bomber attacks against coastal towns, many in 5 AA Division's area, which had few LAA guns available for defence. HAA and LAA guns were moved from all over England to reinforce the naval bases and create new Gun Defended Areas (GDAs) including Winchester and Brighton. As well as these 'Fringe Targets', the Luftwaffe switched night bombers from target to target in what were dubbed 'Baedeker' raids. Newly-formed AA units joined the division, the HAA units increasingly being 'mixed' ones into which women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated. At the same time, experienced units were posted away for service overseas. This led to a continual turnover of units, which accelerated in 1942 with the preparations for Operation Torch and the need to transfer AA units from North West England to counter the Baedeker raids and the Luftwaffe's hit-and-run attacks against South Coast towns.
During this period the division was composed as follows (temporary attachments omitted):
5 AA Brigade – joined from 9 AA Division June 1942
64 (Northumbrian) HAA Rgt – from 72 AA Bde August 1942
97 (London Scottish) HAA Rgt – from 35 AA Bde June 1942; left AA Command August 1942, later went to Sicily and Italy
106 HAA Rgt – joined from 2 AA Division July 1942
128 HAA Rgt – joined from 10 AA Division June; to 2 AA Division July 1942
143 (Mixed) HAA Rgt – to 11 AA Division June 1942
148 (Mixed) HAA Rgt – from 35 AA Bde June 1942
46 LAA Rgt – from 65 AA Bde June 1942
97 LAA Rgt – from 65 AA Bde June 1942
84 LAA Rgt – from 12 AA Division August 1942
112 LAA Rgt
37 S/L Rgt – to 11 AA Division June 1942
27 AA Bde
107 HAA Rgt – joined from 4 AA Division June 1941; to 35 AA Bde June 1942
146 HAA Rgt – joined from 7 AA Division August 1942'
124 HAA Rgt – from 35 AA Bde autumn 1941
68 LAA Rgt – joined from 7 AA Division August 1942
98 LAA Rgt – from 72 AA Bde August 1942
132 LAA Rgt – formed from 85 S/L Rgt March 1942; to 6 AA Division June 1942
1 S/L Rgt – joined from 9 AA Division January 1942
31 S/L Rgt – as above
34 S/L Rgt – as above
35 S/L Rgt – returned summer 1941; to 47 AA Bde December 1941
35 AA Bde
54 (City of London) HAA Rgt – joined from 1 AA Division autumn 1941; returned to 1 AA Division February 1942
57 HAA Rgt – left for 1 AA Division autumn 1941
72 HAA Rgt – left for 6 AA Division December 1941
80 HAA Rgt – left AA Command July 1941; later went to North Africa
97 (London Scottish) HAA Rgt – joined from 1 AA Division March 1942; to 5 AA Bde June 1942
101 HAA Rgt – joined from 6 AA Division July 1942; left for 1 AA Division August 1942
104 HAA Rgt – joined from 8 AA Division December 1941, left for 6 AA Division April 1942
107 HAA Bde – from 27 AA Bde June 1942
124 HAA Rgt – new unit formed March 1941; to 27 AA Bde autumn 1941
148 (Mixed) HAA Rgt – new unit formed February 1942; to 5 AA Bde June 1942
151(Mixed) HAA Rgt – from 4 AA Division July 1942
157(Mixed) HAA Rgt – new unit formed May 1942;'
160(Mixed) HAA Rgt – new unit formed June 1942;
48 S/L Rgt – from 47 AA Bde August 1942
5 AA 'Z' Rgt – as above
47 AA Bde
35 S/L Rgt – from 27 AA Bde December 1941
48 S/L Rgt – to 35 AA Bde August 1942
63 S/L Rgt (Queens) – left for 1 AA Division autumn 1941
70 S/L Rgt – as above
65 AA Bde – left for 10 AA Division May 1942
23 LAA Rgt – left AA Command December 1941, later went to Ceylon
24 LAA Rgt – left for 8 AA Division summer 1941
35 LAA Rgt – returned from 55 AA Bde summer, left for Far East December 1941 and captured on Java
43 LAA Rgt – left for 6 AA Division June 1941
46 LAA Rgt – from 55 AA Bde summer 1941
60 LAA Rgt – joined from 12 AA Division autumn 1941
80 LAA Rgt – new unit formed August 1941; left for 9 AA Division December 1941
81 LAA Rgt – joined from 6 AA Division March 1942
97 LAA Rgt – new unit formed November 1941 to 5 AA Bde June 1942
72 AA Bde – new formation, joined June 1942
50 (Northamptonshire Regiment) S/L Rgt – joined June 1942
64 (Northumbrian) HAA Rgt – joined June 1942 ; to 5 AA Bde August 1942
157(Mixed) HAA Rgt – joined June 1942
19 LAA Rgt – joined June 1942
110 LAA Rgt – joined August 1942
123 LAA Rgt – joined August 1942
The increased sophistication of Operations Rooms and communications was reflected in the growth in support units, which attained the following organisation by May 1942:
5 AA Division Mixed Signal Unit HQ, RCS
HQ No 1 Company
5 AA Division Mixed Signal Office Section
27 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
108 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
111 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
308 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
346 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
47 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
109 RAF Fighter Sector Sub-Section
313 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
13 AA Line Maintenance Section
HQ No 2 Company
112 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
33 AA Sub-Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Sub-Section
5 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
409 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
35 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
303 AA Gun Operations Room Mixed Signal Section
72 AA Brigade Signal Office Mixed Sub-Section
14 AA Line Maintenance Section
HQ 5 AA Div RASC
183, 916 Companies
5 AA Div RAMC
5 AA Div Workshop Company, RAOC
5 AA Div Radio Maintenance Company, RAOC
The RAOC companies became part of the new Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) during 1942.
In August 1942, 27th and 47th AA Brigade were transferred to 3rd AA Division, a HQ brought down from Scotland to handle the increased workload of combating the 'hit and run' raids.
Disbandment
AA Command was reorganised again in October 1942, when the AA Corps and Divisions were disbanded and replaced by a single-tier 'Group' structure, with each group corresponding to a Group of Fighter Command. 5 AA Division's role was subsumed into 2 AA Group. 5 AA Divisional Signals re-amalgamated with 8 AA Divisional Signals at Bristol, and formed 3 AA Group Signals.
General Officer Commanding
The following officers commanded 5th AA Division:
Major-General Alan Cunningham (1 September 1938–9 January 1940)
Major-General Robert Allen (10 January–10 November 1940)
Major-General Robert Pargiter (11 November 1940–30 September 1942)
