The 1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of the British Army from 1920 until 1954. Originally formed in the Royal Engineers (RE), it was transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) at the start of World War II. It fought with distinction in the defence of Calais during the Battle of France, in which it was virtually destroyed. Reformed, it helped to protect the cities of South Wales from the Luftwaffe during The Blitz, and later defended the South Coast of England against Fighter bomber and V-1 flying bomb attacks. It went to North West Europe to defend Antwerp during the final stages of the war, and served in the Gibraltar garrison postwar.
Royal Engineer origins
The Royal Engineers (RE) had developed an extensive anti-aircraft (AA) searchlight (S/L) organisation during World War I,Short et al.Anon, RE History, Vol V, pp. 55–68. but this was quickly reduced after the Armistice. The last remnants of Nos 3 and 17 AA Companies moved to Blackdown Camp at the end of 1920 to form the nucleus of 1st AA Battalion, RE, as part of the newly created 1st Air Defence Brigade. Although destined to become the largest Regular unit of the RE during the inter-war years, its initial strength was three non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and four sappers under the command of a lieutenant of the Royal Field Artillery. A year later, Lt-Col G.C.E. Elliott became its first RE commanding officer, and after nearly two years, it received substantial reinforcements, including troops experienced in operating lorry-mounted searchlights during the Irish War of Independence. It formed two companies, A and B. From early 1925 the battalion also had a detachment at Belfast, but this disappeared in late 1926.Anon, RE History, Vol VII, pp. 203–4.Monthly Army List (various dates)Frederick, pp. 858–63.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 107.
The main responsibility for AA defence of the United Kingdom was entrusted to the part-time Territorial Army, which developed a large-scale organisation under Anti-Aircraft Command before the outbreak of World War II. The Regulars of 1st Air Defence Brigade (later 1st AA Brigade) were to provide AA cover for field forces, initially for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that would go overseas on the outbreak of war. In 1938 it was decided that all coastal and AA searchlights, which operated alongside the Royal Artillery (RA), would become the responsibility of that corps; however, the transfers had not been completed when war was declared in September 1939. A 2nd AA Battalion, RE, was organised at Blackdown in 1936, but this was disbanded in September 1938 and replaced by 2nd Searchlight Regiment, RA.Pakenham-Walsh, RE History, Vol VIII, pp. 5, 161.Robert Palmer, A Concise History of Anti-Aircraft Command (History and Personnel) at British Military History.
World War II
Mobilisation 1st AA Battalion, RE, under the command of Lt-Col R.M. Goldney, RA, was ordered to mobilise by 1st AA Brigade on 1 September 1939, and war was declared two days later. Battalion HQ with A and B Companies (which officially became Nos 1 and 2 Companies) left Blackdown and embarked at Southampton on 10 September, landing at Cherbourg Naval Base the following day.Farndale, p. 19.Joslen, p. 462.1st AA Bn War Diary, 1939–40, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 167/674.Routledge, p. 113. However, this may have been a mistake: it is alleged that the movement order was supposed to have said 'less 1st AA Bn RE', and the battalion was intended to defend the Thames Estuary under AA Command.
On arrival in France, the battalion deployed to protect the BEF's No 2 Base Sub-area at Nantes, but at the end of the month it moved up to Fauquembergues, where its lights cooperated with night fighters of No 60 Wing, Royal Air Force in the Aircraft Fighting Zone (AFZ) bounded by Bergues, Cassel and Guisnes (just inland from the ports of Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk). The 72-light S/L layout (at an average separation of 4500 yards, seven rows deep, with Mk VIII Sound locators in the first row) was built up from west to east as 3rd Searchlight Battery arrived.Routledge, p. 115.
3rd Searchlight Battery, RA, had mobilised at Portsmouth, and sailed from Southampton, disembarking on 16 September at Brest, where it was delayed for a week awaiting the arrival of much of its transport. It joined the rest of the battalion on 3 October and deployed three days later. On 17 October the battalion came under the command of 2nd AA Brigade, and on 2 November the first Luftwaffe raider came over the battalion's area (a Heinkel He 111 shot down by the RAF).3 S/L Bty War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/682.
4th Searchlight Battery, RA, mobilised on 1 December at Yeovil and sailed from Southampton to Cherbourg on 8 December. It joined the battalion and began deploying round La Capelle-lès-Boulogne on 21 December, filling in the west end of the AFZ.4 S/L Bty War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/683. This brought the number of lights operated by the battalion up to 96.Routledge, Table XVII, p. 125. From late December, the regiment provided two sections at Boulogne and Dunkirk to cooperate with Light AA (LAA) guns in trying to prevent German seaplanes from dropping Parachute mines in the harbours.A S/L Coy War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/675.
Phoney War
Apart from occasional air raid alarms, there was little activity during the winter of 1939–40 (the Phoney War). The battalion officially became 1st Searchlight Battalion, RE, on 17 December 1939. and then 1st Searchlight Regiment, RA, on 15 January 1940.1 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.Farndale, Annex M, p. 339.
Between 16 and 21 March, A and B S/L Companies, RE, were relieved by 1st and 2nd S/L Batteries, RA, direct from 216th S/L Training Regiment at Kinmel Park, Abergele. The equipment and some of the RE officers and sappers transferred to the new regiment but others returned to the UK, while the RA officers and gunners familiarised themselves with the S/L layout.B S/L Coy War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/676.1 S/L Bty War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/680.
From 23 February the regiment formed part of 5th S/L Brigade, which had been formed to control most of the S/L units deployed to protect airfields, ports, and the BEF's forward gun areas.Farndale, Annex A, p. 237.Ellis, Appendix I.Routledge, p. 116; Table XVIII, p. 126.GHQ BEF at RA 39–45. During April, 1st S/Lt Rgt was moved up close to the Belgian Border to protect the artillery concentrating there in accordance with 'Plan D'.Routledge, pp. 115-6.
Battle of France When the Battle of France began on 10 May, the BEF started its planned advance north into Belgium, but the German Army broke through the Ardennes to the east, forcing the BEF to withdraw again. 1st and 3rd Searchlight Batteries were ordered to hold the bridges on the La Bassée–Béthune Canal 'at all costs' against attacks from the south. They deployed their Boys anti-tank rifles and Bren guns, using S/L lorries as roadblocks, while French forces withdrew through them. The towns were bombed and S/L positions were machine-gunned by Luftwaffe fighters.Routledge, pp. 116-7. 4th Searchlight Bty, deployed round Lille, saw constant enemy air activity. On 17 May it detached a group of riflemen with Boys rifles to 5th AA Brigade HQ at Lens (these never returned to the battery during its stay in France) while the remainder joined the Bethune canal guards.
Meanwhile, Army Group A had cut the BEF's lines of communication into France and driven it back towards the coast at Dunkirk, cutting off the British troops at Calais and Boulogne from the main force. When planning the evacuation from Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo), the BEF's commanders decided that Calais and Boulogne should still be held as supply points for further fighting or possible exit points for a final withdrawal.Routledge, pp. 117–8. On 17 May, 1st S/L Bty was ordered back to Calais, a move made difficult because all the roads were choked with refugees. There it operated in the S/L role to defend the port.
Calais By 20 May, the AA units at Calais, including 1st and 2nd S/L Btys, were deployed in a semi-circle from Fort Risban and Fort Vert west of the town, round to the east side where there was a screen of S/L detachments one mile apart. Lt-Col Goldney was appointed AA Defence Commander for the town. The 1st Bn Queen Victoria's Rifles (QVR), the lead unit of 30th Infantry Brigade, arrived by sea on 22 May, just before advanced German troops began probing the defences.Farndale, p. 57.Routledge, p. 119.Ellis, Chapter 10.Neave, pp. 29 & 35.
On the night of 22/23 May the AA units engaged Luftwaffe raiders that bombed Calais, starting fires. But ground attack was now the biggest danger, and the S/L men had to man the perimeter as infantry, a role for which they (mainly older Territorials, raw militiamen and a few ex-RE reservists) were untrained.Neave, p. 33. Goldney ordered his S/L detachments to concentrate at their Troop HQs (THQs) at dawn on 23 May, dig trenches and erect roadblocks.Neave, p. 37. The first serious attack came the following day, against a position held by C Troop of 1st S/L Bty on the Saint-Omer canal at Les Attaques, eight miles south-east of Calais. Reinforced by men from 2nd S/L Bty they put up a stout fight, halting a tank column for three hours before they were overwhelmed.Neave, pp. 40–2.
Next, Goldney's HQ at Orphanage Farm came under attack. The HQ details of 1st S/L Rgt and 172nd LAA Bty (58th (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) LAA Rgt), supported by Bren gunners from Lt Airey Neave's Troop of 2nd S/L Bty at nearby Coulogne, held the position for five hours before Goldney ordered them to slip back towards Calais. He ordered Neave to withdraw his men by lorry to Calais, pausing only to destroy his experimental sound locator, codenamed 'Cuckoo'.Probably the new Mk IX, equipped with Visual Indicating Equipment (Routledge, pp. 55, 61.) Neave with a sergeant and a sapper, failed to blow the apparatus up with Gun cotton, but two French drivers abandoned and set on fire their tankers of aviation fuel and the resultant blaze destroyed the equipment successfully.Neave, pp. 44–5.Jon Latimer, 'Sacrifice at Calais' at HistoryNet.Frandale, p. 64.
By 24 May the town was completely cut off, and 2nd Lieutenant William Dothie, commanding a Troop of six S/L detachments east of the town, found himself out of communication with his Battery HQ. His THQ, including a number of stragglers from other units, came under attack by German tanks and aircraft in the evening and he fell back to a small farm in a nearby wood. The following morning, Dothie led an attack on the tanks in their camp, engaging them with Boys and Bren fire. Although the tanks withdrew, Dothie guessed that they would bring up reinforcements and he ordered his men to withdraw, covering their crossing of some open ground with a Bren gun. However, he and the QVR Bren gunner found themselves cut off on the wrong side of the open ground and could not get back to the rendezvous until after dark, by which time the rest of the party had made their way to Calais.Dothie's detailed citation at TNA file WO 373/60/319.'Early Escapers' at WWII Escape and Evasion.