37th Anti-Aircraft Brigade

The 37th Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) formed just before the outbreak of the Second World War. It was engaged in defending the Thames Estuary during the war, and continued to form part of Anti-Aircraft Command in the postwar era.

Origin

As international tensions rose in the late 1930s, Britain's Anti-Aircraft (AA) defences were strengthened with new Royal Artillery (RA) regiments. 37th AA Brigade was raised on 1 May 1938, with its HQ at Edmonton in North London, to control some of these AA units in the London area. It was commanded by Brigadier Edward William Gravatt Wilson, MC, appointed 29 September 1938, who after he left in 1940 went on to be AA Defence Commander (AADC) Egypt.Frederick, pp. 1048–51.Monthly Army List, May 1939.Farndale, Annex J.Wilson at Generals of WWII. In 1939 37th AA Brigade joined the newly formed 6th AA Division based at Uxbridge, which had responsibility for air defence of the Thames Estuary, Essex and North Kent, and the approaches to London.

Order of Battle 1939 On formation, 37th AA Bde had the following composition:Routledge, Table LVIII, p. 376.

59th (The Essex Regiment) AA Regiment, RA – converted in 1935 from 5th Bn Essex Regiment59 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.Litchfield, pp. 70–1. HQ at Walthamstow 164th Anti-Aircraft Battery at Walthamstow 167th Anti-Aircraft Battery at Leyton 265th Anti-Aircraft Battery at Whipps Cross – newly-raised before 3 September 1939 61st (Middlesex) AA Regiment, RA – converted in 1935 from 11th Battalion, the London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles)Litchfield, pp. 177–8. HQ at Pentonville 170th Anti-Aircraft Battery at Finchley 171st Anti-Aircraft Battery at Pentonville 195th Anti-Aircraft Battery at Finchley – newly-raised before 3 September 1939 79th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) AA Regiment, RA – converted in 1938 from 343 (Watford) Field Battery from 86th (East Anglian) (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regt, RA)79 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.Litchfield, p. 104.Sainsbury, pp. 27–34. HQ at Watford 246th (1st Watford) Anti-Aircraft Battery 247th (2nd Watford) Anti-Aircraft Battery 248th (Welwyn) Anti-Aircraft Battery at Welwyn Garden City 82nd (Essex) AA Regiment, RA – raised in 1938 HQ at Barking 156th (Barking) Anti-Aircraft Battery – transferred from 52nd (London) AA Regiment, RA 193rd Anti-Aircraft Battery at Leigh-on-Sea –transferred from 59th (Essex) AA Regiment 256th (Barking) Anti-Aircraft Battery – newly raised before 3 September 1939 37th AA Bde Company Royal Army Service Corps

Mobilisation Anti-Aircraft Command, which had been formed within the Territorial Army earlier in the year, mobilised in late August 1939 and was at its stations before war was declared on 3 September. By then, a further newly formed regiment had been added to 37th AA Bde's order of battle:AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot FilesRoutledge, Table LX, p. 378. 90th AA Regiment, RA HQ at Southgate, London 272nd Anti-Aircraft Battery 284th Anti-Aircraft Battery 285th Anti-Aircraft Battery

Phoney War 37th AA Bde deployed and operated a layout from Dagenham to Thorpe Bay in Essex, along the north side of the Thames Estuary, known as 'Thames North'. Thames North had a planned layout of 20 HAA sites, of which only half were occupied by September 1940. It also contained a number of Vital Points (VPs) where LAA guns were deployed, including Purfleet (ammunition stores, including the entire AA ammunition supply for the London areaOsborne, p. 101.), Tilbury (docks), Thameshaven and Coryton Refinery (oil refineries), and a major fighter airfield at RAF Hornchurch.Routledge, p. 388. All equipment was short, especially 40 mm Bofors guns for the LAA sites: Purfleet started the war with one quadruple Vickers gun, later receiving five Bofors batteries.Routledge, p. 59.

Opportunities for action were rare during the Phoney War, but on the night of 22/23 November 1939 the HAA guns of 37 AA Bde ('Thames North') combined with those of 28 (Thames & Medway) AA Bde on the other bank of the river ('Thames South') 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.Routledge, pp. 374–5.

On 26 December 1939, 79th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) HAA Rgt was ordered to prepare to proceed overseas as a Base Defence Regiment for the British Expeditionary Force. The regiment was withdrawn from AA Command on 16 January 1940 and in February and March it was deployed around Le Havre. A fortnight after the Dunkirk evacuation, the regiment was evacuated from St Nazaire. It did not return to 37 AA Bde.Sainsbury, pp. 51–71.Joslen, p. 462.Ellis, Appendix I.Sainsbury, pp. 50–71.

In April 1940, 82nd (Essex) AA Rgt was detached from the brigade and served in the Norway Campaign; after evacuation from Norway it was sent to join the garrison of Gibraltar.Derry, Appendix B.Joslen, p. 461.

In the summer of 1940, all the RA units equipped with the older 3-inch or newer 3.7-inch AA guns were designated as Heavy AA (HAA) regiments to distinguish them from the newer Light AA (LAA) regiments appearing in the order of battle.

Battle of Britain By 11 July 1940, the Thames North AA layout operated by 37 AA Bde had a total of 46 HAA guns (3.7-inch and 4.5-inch).Farndale, p. 106.

The brigade was heavily engaged throughout the Battle of Britain. On 22 August, for example, a mass raid flew up the Thames Estuary to attack RAF Hornchurch on the Essex shore: the raid was broken up by 37 and 28 AA Bdes, 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 2 September another 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 of 28 and 37 AA Bdes 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.Routledge, pp. 385–6.Farndale, p. 109.

On 15 September, remembered as the climax of the battle, 220 bombers attacked London in the morning despite heavy casualties inflicted by the RAF fighters. More attacks came in the afternoon and the AA guns around London, particularly 37 AA Bde, were continuously in action. Between the guns and fighters, the Luftwaffe lost 85 aircraft that day, an unsustainable rate of loss.Farndale, p. 110.

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).Collier, Appendices XXX–XXXII. This meant that 37 AA Bde was in action night after night as the bomber streams approached the London Inner Artillery Zone, but even with the assistance of searchlights (S/Ls), the effectiveness of HAA fire and fighters was greatly diminished in the darkness.Routledge, pp. 387–95.

Order of Battle 1940–41 During the Battle of Britain and subsequent London Blitz, 37 AA Bde had the following order of battle.6 AA Division at RA 39–45.Routledge, Table LXV, p. 396.Farndale, Annex D, p. 258.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. 59 HAA Rgt – as above; to 28 AA Bde summer 1941 61 HAA Rgt – as above; left summer 1941 75th (Home Counties) (Cinque Ports) HAA Rgt, RA (part) – converted in 1938 from 59th (Home Counties) (Cinque Ports) Field Rgt, RA; to 10th AA Division Spring 1941; rejoined summer 1941Litchfield p. 106. HQ at Dover 223rd (Kent) HAA Battery 224th (Cinque Ports) HAA Battery 306th HAA Battery 422 HAA Bty joined in Summer 1941 121st HAA Rgt, RA – joined after February 1941; to 29 (East Anglian) AA Bde May 1941 385 HAA Bty 387, 388 HAA Btys – attached direct to 37 AA Bde 17th LAA Rgt, RALitchfield, pp. 68–9. – to 12th AA Division Autumn 1941 HQ at Chelsea, London 48th LAA Battery at Chelsea 49th LAA Battery at Purfleet 50th LAA Battery at Shellhaven 2nd LAA Rgt, Royal Canadian Artillery – attached from 1st Canadian Division assembling in the UK 5th LAA Rgt, RCA – attached by February 1941, before joining 4th Canadian Division

Mid-War The Blitz ended in May 1941, but occasional raids continued. 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. By December 1941, 37 AA Bde only had 75 HAA Rgt under its command. However, 29 (East Anglian) AA Bde, which had controlled 6 AA Division's S/L and LAA units in Essex, was disbanded in February 1942 and 37 AA Bde took over its responsibilities as far north as The Naze. This continual turnover of units, which accelerated in 1942 with the preparations for Operation Torch and the need to relocate guns to counter the Baedeker Blitz and the Luftwaffes hit-and-run attacks against South Coast towns.Routledge, pp. 399–404.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/80.29 AA Brigade War Diary 1942, TNA file WO 166/7386.

A reorganisation of AA Command in October 1942 saw the AA divisions disbanded and replaced by a number of AA Groups more closely aligned with the groups of RAF Fighter Command. 6 AA Division merged into 2 AA Group covering South East England outside the London Inner Artillery Zone and cooperating with No. 11 Group.Robert Palmer, A Concise History of Anti-Aircraft Command (History and Personnel) at British Military History.Pile's despatch.

Order of Battle 1941–43

During this period the brigade was composed as follows (temporary attachments omitted):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.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 1 October 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/82.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 13 March 1943, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/83. 71st (Forth) HAA Rgt – from 29 AA Bde May 1942; left July 1942, later to Operation TorchJoslen. p. 465.Routledge, Table XXX, p. 188.Litchfield, p. 283. 227, 229, 327 HAA Btys 75th HAA Rgt – left for Persia and Iraq Command (PAIFORCE) April 1942Joslen, p. 488. 223, 233, 306 HAA Btys 422 HAA Bty – to 127th HAA Rgt, 28 AA Bde, April 1942 84th HAA Rgt – joined Spring 1942; to 56 AA Bde August 1942 260, 262, 263 HAA Btys 86th (Honourable Artillery Company) HAA Rgt – joined August 1942; to Home Forces December 194286 (HAC) HAA Rgt War Diary, 1942, TNA file WO 166/7460.Order of Battle of the Field Force in the United Kingdom, Part 3: Royal Artillery (Non-Divisional Units), 18 February 1943, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/9.Litchfield, p. 149. 273, 274, 383, 446 HAA Btys 102nd HAA Rgt– joined August 1942; left for Middle East Forces (MEF) early 1943Joslen, p. 484.Litchfield, p. 313. 314, 315, 316 HAA Btys 104th HAA Rgt – joined April 1942; to Sicily (Operation Husky) early 1943Joslen, p. 466. 328, 329, 336 HAA Btys 452 HAA Bty – joined June 1942; left July 1942 121st HAA Rgt – joined April 1943 385, 387, 388 HAA Btys 124th HAA Rgt – joined early 1943, left May 1943 219, 410, 412, 415 HAA Btys 131st HAA Rgt – joined July 1942, to 4 AA Division August 1942 310, 376, 368, 428 HAA Btys 167th (Mixed) HAA Rgt – new unit formed August, joined September 1942Farndale, Annex M. 464, 562 HAA Btys 610, 639 HAA Btys – joined early 1943 4th (Ulster) LAA Rgt – joined June 1942; unbrigaded October 1942, later to 27th (Home Counties) AA BdeLitchfield, p. 310. 7, 8, 10 LAA Boys 11 LAA Bty – left July 1942