The 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division (2nd AA Division) was an Air Defence formation of the British Army from 1935 to 1942. It controlled anti-aircraft gun and searchlight units of the Territorial Army (TA) defending the East Midlands and East Anglia during The Blitz.
Origin In December 1935 the TA's 46th (North Midland) Division (which also acted as HQ for the North Midland Area of Northern Command) was disbanded and its headquarters was converted into 2nd Anti-Aircraft (AA) Division to control the increasing number of AA units being created. At first it administered all AA units in Great Britain outside London and the Home Counties, which were covered by 1st Anti-Aircraft Division. The new division was first organised at York, but shortly afterwards took over 46 Division's HQ at Normanton, Derby.Monthly Army List 1936–39.
Order of battle By the end of 1936 the division had the following order of battle, though many of the units were in an early stage of formation or conversion:Routledge, p. 59.
General Officer Commanding: Major-General James HarrisonFarndale, Annex J, p. 299.
30th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Group organised 1 November 1936 in Sunderland 62nd (North and East Riding) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery (RA) – AA guns 63rd (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, RA – AA guns 64th (Northumbrian) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, RA – AA guns 37th (Tyne) Anti-Aircraft Battalion (Tyne Electrical Engineers), Royal Engineers (RE) – searchlights 47th (The Durham Light Infantry) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE – searchlights 31st (North Midland) Anti-Aircraft Group organised 1 November 1936 in Retford 66th (Leeds Rifles) (The West Yorkshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns 67th (The York and Lancaster Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns 43rd (The Duke of Wellington's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 46th (The Lincolnshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 32nd (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Group organised 1 November 1936 at Normanton 69th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns 40th (The Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 42nd (The Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 44th (The Leicestershire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 45th (The Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft Group organised at Chester 65th (The Manchester Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – AA guns 38th (The King's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 39th (The Lancashire Fusiliers) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights 41st (5th North Staffordshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – searchlights
The 40th, 41st, 42nd, 44th and 46th AA battalions had previously been TA infantry battalions in 46th Division.
In 1938 the Royal Artillery replaced the traditional unit designation 'Brigade' by 'Regiment', which allowed the AA Groups to take the more usual formation title of Brigades.
Mobilisation The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis. Because the organisation of the 2nd AA Division and its component units was not yet complete, it was only partially mobilised. The emergency mobilisation lasted nearly three weeks before the TA units were released on 14 October. The experience led to improvements in equipment scales, and a rapid expansion of AA defences brought many new AA gun and searchlight units into existence.Routledge, pp. 62–3. In November 1938, the 32nd and 33rd AA Brigades transferred to the newly formed 4th Anti-Aircraft Division. In June 1939, the 30th and 31st AA Brigades joined the 7th Anti-Aircraft Division.Sir Frederick Pile's despatch: "The Anti-Aircraft Defence of the United Kingdom from 28th July 1939, to 15th April 1945" London Gazette 16 October 1947 They were replaced in the 2nd AA Division by new brigades created in September 1938: the 39th at Retford in Nottinghamshire and the 40th and 41st in London. The 39th AA Brigade was also intended to transfer to the 7th AA Division just before the outbreak of war, but in practice this did not occur.39 AA Bde War Diary 1939–41, The National Archives (TNA), Kew file WO 166/2272. In April 1939, AA Command was formed to control all the AA gun and searchlight defences of the United Kingdom.
Major-General Harrison was transferred to command RA Training Establishments and was replaced as the General officer commanding (GOC) of the 2nd AA Division on 30 May 1939 by Maj-Gen Claude Grove-White.Grove-White at British Military History.
The deterioration in international relations during 1939 led to a partial mobilisation in June, and 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.Routledge, p. 65.
Second World War Order of Battle 1939–40 On the outbreak of war the 2nd AA Division had the following order of battle:Routledge, Table LVIII, p. 376.AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files
GOC: Major-General M.F. Grove-White HQ: RAF Hucknall 32nd (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade at Derby 68th (North Midland) AA Regt RA 42nd (Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) AA Battalion RE (as above) 44th (Leicestershire Regiment) AA Battalion RE (as above) 50th (Northamptonshire Regiment) AA Bn RE 32nd AA Brigade Company, Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) 40th Anti-Aircraft Brigade organised 29 September 1938 at South Ealing, London' 33rd (St Pancras) AA Bn RE 36th (Middlesex) AA Bn RE 58th (Middlesex) AA Bn RE 9th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (60th Searchlight Regiment) 10th (3rd City of London) Battalion. Royal Fusiliers (69th Searchlight Regiment) 40th AA Brigade Company, RASC 41st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade organised 29 September 1938 in Chelsea, London 78th (1st East Anglian) AA Regt RA 32nd (7th City of London) AA Bn RE 1/6th Battalion Essex Regiment (64th Searchlight Regiment) 2/6th Battalion Essex Regiment (65th Searchlight Regiment) 41st AA Brigade Company, RASC 50th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade organised 24 August 1939 at Hucknall 26th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment – mobile reserve 2nd AA Divisional Signals, Royal Corps of Signals (RCS), at Hucknall 2nd AA Divisional Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) at Carter's Green, West Bromwich 904th, 929th Companies 932nd Company (joined July 1941)Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941 with amendments, TNA file WO 212/79. 2nd AA Divisional Company, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), at Hucknall 2nd AA Divisional Workshop Company, Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), at Hucknall
In addition, the 39th AA Brigade remained with the 2nd AA Division with the following composition:
39th Anti-Aircraft Brigade at RAF Digby 62nd (Northumbrian) AA Regt 67th (York and Lancaster Regiment) AA Regt 91st AA Regt 40th (Sherwood Foresters) AA Bn 46th (Lincolnshire Regiment) AA Bn 39th AA Brigade Company, RASC
Phoney War When these units went to their war stations, the division had 97 heavy AA (HAA) guns (3-inch and 3.7-inch)ready for action, distributed as follows:Routledge, Table LIX, p. 377. Hull: 28 (plus 2 out of action) Leeds: 24 (plus 6 out of action) Sheffield: 20 (plus 3 out of action) Derby: 6 Nottingham: 6 (plus 2 out of action) The division also had 6 3-inch and 12 40mm Bofors light AA (LAA) guns, as well as 88 light machine guns (LMGs).
On 23 September 1939, responsibility for the Humber Gun Zone (including 30 HAA guns manned by the 62nd (Northumbrian) and 91st AA Rgts) was transferred from the 39th AA Brigade to the 31st AA Brigade in the 7th AA Division. This responsibility reverted to the 39th AA Brigade and the 2nd AA Division in May 1940.91 HAA Rgt War Diary 1939–41, TNA file WO 166/2382.
Battle of Britain By 11 July 1940, at the start of the Battle of Britain, the division's strength had risen to 231 guns of all types (HAA and LAA excluding LMGs):Farndale, p. 105. Leighton Buzzard: 4 Nottingham: 16 Derby: 40 Humber: 38 Mobile battery: 8 Airfields: 20 (mainly LAA) Vital points: 82 (mainly LAA)
In August 1940, all RE AA battalions became Searchlight regiments of the RA, and AA regiments became HAA regiments to distinguish them from the new LAA regiments being formed.
In July 1940, at the height of invasion fears, a mobile column called 'Macduff' was formed by the 50th AA Brigade, consisting of one HAA battery and one S/L Company to operate directly under the command of the 2nd AA Division, available to combat enemy paratroopers.365 AA Coy (41st AA Bn) War Diary July 1940, TNA file WO 166/3208.Routledge, p. 382.
The Blitz
By late 1940, the 2nd AA Division formed part of II AA Corps. Grove-White had been promoted on 11 November to command the new corps and at first it shared the 2nd AA Division's HQ at RAF Hucknall. The 2nd AA Division then moved to Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, and then on 27 January 1941 to Milton Hall, near Peterborough.39 AA Bde War Diary 1939–41, TNA, file WO 166/2272. The brigades were the same, but by February 1941 their locations and composition had changed:Routledge, Table LXV, p. 397.Farndale, Annex D, p. 2592 AA Div at RA 39–45
GOC: Major-General F.L.M. Crossman, DSO, MC (transferred from 1 AA Division)Farndale, Appendix J, p. 295. 32nd AA Brigade covering the East Midlands 78th HAA Rgt (part) 113th HAA Rgt (part) formed November 1940 27th LAA Rgt 38th LAA Rgt (part) 64th LAA Rgt (part) 41st S/L Rgt 44th S/L Rgt 58th S/L Rgt 40th AA Brigade covering airfields 78th HAA Rgt (part) 30th LAA Rgt 36th S/L Rgt 64th S/L Rgt 72nd (Middlesex) S/L Rgt 41st AA Brigade covering East Anglia 78th HAA Rgt (part) 29th LAA Rgt 60th S/L Rgt 65th S/L Rgt 69th S/L Rgt 121st AA Z Battery formed by May 1941, equipped with Z Battery rocket projectiles 50th AA Brigade covering Derby & Nottingham 67th HAA Rgt 113th HAA Rgt (part) 28th LAA Rgt 38th LAA Rgt (part) 64th LAA Rgt (part) 42nd S/L Rgt 38th S/L Rgt (part) 50th S/L Rgt 2nd AA Divisional Signals
In the spring of 1941, The 50th LAA Brigade was split up, keeping the S/L regiments while a new 66th AA Brigade took the HAA guns and rockets: 50th AA Brigade 28th LAA Rgt 4nd2 S/L Rgt 50th S/L Rgt 66th AA Brigade 67th HAA Rgt 113th HAA Rgt 38th LAA Rgt 64th LAA Rgt 15th AA 'Z' Rgt
Mid-war The division's order of battle thus contained a large number of S/L units. AA Command redeployed its S/L units during the summer of 1941 into 'Indicator Belts' of radar-controlled S/L clusters covering approaches to the RAF's Night-fighter sectors, repeated by similar belts covering AA Command's Gun Defence Areas (GDAs). Inside each belt was a deep 'Killer Belt' of single S/Ls cooperating with night-fighters patrolling defined 'boxes'. The pattern was designed to ensure that raids penetrating deeply towards the Midlands GDAs would cross more than one belt, and the GDAs had more S/Ls at close spacing. The number of LAA units to protect Vital Points such as airfields was growing, albeit slowly.Routledge, pp. 398–400.
After December 1941 the division's order of battle was as follows: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.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.
32nd AA Brigade 136th HAA Rgt (new regiment formed October 1941; left March–April 1942; returned June 1942)Farndale, Annex M. 45th LAA Rgt (from the 41st AA Brigade August 1942; left September 1942) 64th LAA Rgt (to the 41st AA Brigade by May 1942) 120th LAA Rgt (converted from S/L; joined September 1942)