The IV Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery was a new volunteer unit formed in Kent as part of the Territorial Force (TF) in 1908. It saw active service on the Western Front during World War I and was reconstituted as medium artillery in the interwar years. Later it converted to anti-aircraft artillery, in which role it served in The Blitz, North Africa and Italy during World War II and continued under various designations until its disbandment in 1969.
Origin IV Home Counties Brigade was a volunteer unit of the Royal Field Artillery raised at Erith to provide Howitzer support to the TF's Home Counties Division. It had the following composition:Litchfield, pp. 107–8.458 Rgt at Regiments.org.Frederick, p. 676.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 49–54. 4th Kent (Howitzer) Battery 5th Kent (Howitzer) Battery 4th Home Counties (Howitzer) Ammunition Column
World War I On the outbreak of World War I, most of the Home Counties Division was sent to Gibraltar and India to relieve Regular troops for service in Europe. However, the howitzer brigade did not accompany the division; instead, it was posted to the 27th Division forming at Winchester from these troops returned from India. The brigade (without guns) provided the Divisional Ammunition Column and embarked for France on 21 December 1914. During 1915 the 27th Division was engaged in the Battle of St Eloi (14–15 March) and the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April–25 May).Becke, Pt 1, pp. 97–103.
On 3 August 1914, TF units were authorised to raise 2nd Line units composed of men ineligible for overseas service and new recruits. Units forming the 2nd Home Counties Division (later numbered 67th) began to gather, and the 2nd/IV Home Counties Bde formed at Erith, though it had no guns or ammunition. However, in June 1915 the 1st/IV Home Counties Bde returned to England from France and joined the new division.Frederick, p. 688.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 75–82.
By the end of 1915, the 67th Division was still not fully trained or equipped. On 22 December, the 1st/IV Bde left the division to prepare for overseas service independently. The following day the 2nd/IV Bde joined the division, based at Seal, Kent. At the end of January 1916, the 1st/IV handed over its eight obsolete 5-inch howitzers to 2nd/IV, and received new 4.5-inch howitzers in their place. On 10 March, it disembarked at Le Havre and joined the British Expeditionary Force's Fourth Army.
On 9 June 1916, the brigade joined 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, which had recently arrived in France from the Mediterranean and had no artillery. At the end of the month the brigade was renumbered as 223rd or CCXXIII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. The two batteries (1/4th Kent and 1/5th Kent) became A (H) Battery and B (H) Battery. However, they were immediately reassigned so that the rest of the divisional artillery brigades (from the disbanded 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division) each had a howitzer battery, while the brigade ammunition column was absorbed into 63rd Divisional Ammunition Column. A Battery went to CCCXVIII Bde, which adopted the number CCXXIII Bde. Henceforth, the brigade comprised three six-gun 18-pounder batteries (A, B and C) from the North of England and D (H) Battery (formerly 1/4th Kent (H) Bty), which was later joined by half of 2/4th Durham (H) Bty to make it up to six guns. In this composite form, the brigade served with 63rd Division for the rest of the war, participating in the final phase of the Battle of the Somme (November 1916), the Battle of Arras (April 1917), the final phases of the Battle of Passchendaele (November–December 1917), the German spring offensive (March–April 1918) and the final Hundred Days Offensive (August–November 1918).Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 117–128.
In May 1916, 2nd/IV Home Counties Bde was numbered 338th or CCCXXXVIII (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, but during the year it too was broken up, its two batteries being reassigned to CCCXXXV and CCCXXXVI (formerly 2nd/I and 2nd/II Home Counties) brigades. These brigades never went overseas but remained in the UK, supplying drafts to frontline units.
Interwar years
52nd (Kent) Medium Brigade, RGA The 63rd Division was demobilised in early 1919 and CCXXIII Brigade went into suspended animation. The unit was reformed on 7 February 1920 as a medium artillery brigade in the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), initially numbered 13th, but with the re-establishment of the TF as the Territorial Army in 1921, the unt was re-designated 52nd (Kent) Medium Brigade, RGA with the following composition:Frederick, pp. 723, 733.Titles and Designations, 1927. HQ at Erith 205 (Chatham and Faversham) Medium Battery at Sittingbourne – formerly Home Counties (Kent) Heavy Battery, RGA 206 (Erith) Medium Battery (Howitzer) – formerly 4th Kent Battery 207 (Erith) Medium Battery (Howitzer) – formerly 5th Kent Battery 208 (Bromley) Medium Battery (Howitzer) at Penge – formerly Kent Cyclist BattalionBristow, p. 113.
On 1 June 1924, the RFA and RGA were subsumed into the Royal Artillery (RA).
58th (Kent) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, RA In 1935, the unit was one of a number of medium artillery units selected for conversion to the Anti-Aircraft (AA) role as 58th (Kent) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, RA, and was assigned to 28th (Thames and Medway) Anti-Aircraft Group of 1st Anti-Aircraft Division. In April the following year, 205 Battery was transferred to the smaller 55th (Kent) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, RA based at Rochester. When the TA was augmented at the time of the Munich Crisis, a new 264 Battery was raised on 1 October 1938 within 58th AA Bde at Dartford. On 1 January 1939, the RA redesignated its 'brigades' as 'regiment'.Monthly Army ListFrederick, pp. 755–6, 770.
In May 1939, a new 6th AA Division was formed within Anti-Aircraft Command for the air defence of the Thames Estuary, Kent and Essex, and the 28th (Thames and Medway) AA Brigade and its units transferred to the new formation. 28th AA Bde was responsible for the 'Thames South' layout of gun sites. This organisation was in place when war broke out in September 1939.AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot FilesRoutledge, Table LX, p. 378.
World War II
Phoney War Opportunities for action were rare during the Phoney War; however, on the night of 22/23 November 1939, the HAA guns of 28 AA Bde manning the 'Thames South' layout combined with those of 37 AA Bde on the other bank of the river ('Thames North') to engage at least two enemy mine-laying aircraft that had strayed into the mouth of the Estuary. One wrecked aircraft was found on the marshes and credited to 206 Bty of 58th HAA Rgt at Allhallows, Kent. Routledge, pp. 374–5.
On 1 June 1940, along with other AA units equipped with older 3-inch, newer 3.7-inch, or 4.5-inch AA guns, the 58th was designated a Heavy AA Regiment.
Battle of Britain The regiment was heavily engaged throughout the Battle of Britain defending the Medway Towns against German bombers.58 HAA at RA 39–456 AA Div at RA 39–45 On 18 August, for example, German air raids appeared over RAF airfields at West Malling, Manston, Kenley, Biggin Hill, Gravesend and the town of Sevenoaks, all within four and a half hours in the afternoon. All the gunsites of Thames South and its neighbours were in action and accounted for 23 enemy aircraft. Four days later, a mass raid flew up the Thames Estuary to attack RAF Hornchurch on the Essex shore: the raid was broken up by the guns, and then the fighters of No. 11 Group RAF attacked. Follow-up raids were marked for the fighters by 'pointer' rounds of HAA fire. On 1 September, over 200 aircraft attacked Maidstone, Biggin Hill, Kenley and Chatham: in joint action with the fighters, the guns broke up the formations and shot down four aircraft, but the airfields at Biggin Hill and Kenley were badly hit. Next day, a mass raid arrived over the Medway and flew up the Thames towards Hornchurch. They came under heavy fire from the 3.7s and 4.5s and 15 were shot down before the fighters took over. On 7 September, heavy raids up the estuary attacked oil wharves at Thameshaven, Tilbury Docks and Woolwich Arsenal: a total of 25 aircraft were destroyed by AA guns and fighters. On 15 September, remembered as the zenith of the battle, the guns were in prolonged combat, especially with aircraft over Chatham in the morning, and again in the afternoon.Routledge, pp. 385–6.Farndale, pp. 109–10.
The Blitz
After 15 September, the intensity of Luftwaffe day raids declined rapidly, and it began a prolonged night bombing campaign over London and industrial towns (The Blitz). This meant that the gunsites of 'Thames South' were in action night after night as the bomber streams approached the London Inner Artillery Zone (IAZ).Routledge, pp. 387–9; Table LXV, p. 396.Farndale, Annex D, p. 257. This period of intense activity lasted until May 1941, but occasional raids kept the AA defences on high alert.
On 12 July 1941, the experienced 206 (Erith) HAA Bty transferred to 60th (City of London) HAA Rgt. The regiment sent a cadre to 206th HAA Training Rgt, Arborfield, to provide the basis for a new 419 HAA Bty; this was formed on 10 April 1941 and joined the regiment on 7 July 1941 to replace 206 HAA Bty. The regiment later provided the cadre for 474 HAA Bty formed on 4 September 1941 at 207th HAA Training Rgt, Devizes, which joined 138th HAA Rgt.Frederick, p. 758–9.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. In the autumn of 1941, the regiment left 28 AA Bde and joined 5 AA Bde in 9th AA Division covering South West England, while 419 Bty joined 474 HAA Bty at 138th HAA Rgt in 9th AA Division on 17 December 1941.Frederick, p. 786.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, TNA file WO 212/81.
By May 1942, the regiment had transferred again, to 44th AA Bde in 4th AA Division in Manchester. However, that month, the regiment left AA Command and prepared to go overseas as a mobile unit.
In September 1942, 58th (Kent) HAA Rgt joined First Army with the following composition:Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 14 August 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/7.Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 22 November 1942, TNA file WO 212/8. 207 (Erith) HAA Bty 208 (Bromley) HAA Bty 264 (Dartford) HAA Bty 58 HAA Rgt Signal Section, Royal Corps of Signals 58 HAA Workshop Section, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers 58 HAA Rgt Platoon, Royal Army Service Corps
North Africa