The 5th Anti-Aircraft Brigade (5 AA Bde) was an air defence formation of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed as a searchlight brigade to protect the British Expeditionary Force's bases just before the Battle of France. After the Dunkirk evacuation it was reformed as a conventional anti-aircraft (AA) brigade and served through the rest of the war in Anti-Aircraft Command, defending various parts of the United Kingdom against bombing raids and V-1 flying bombs. It continued to serve in the Regular Army during the early postwar years.
Origin As the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France expanded during the Phoney War period, new headquarters (HQs) were formed to control the various groups of AA guns and searchlights (S/Ls) of the Royal Artillery (RA) and Royal Engineers (RE) that were deployed to defend its field formations and base installations. 5th AA Brigade HQ was formed at Blackdown on 2 February, redesignated 5th Searchlight Brigade on 6 April, and sent to France shortly before the Battle of France began on 10 May.Frederick, p. 1048. Its commander was Brigadier Edmund Rait-Kerr, RE, who had been commandant of the Army's School of Electric Lighting at Gosport.Rait-Kerr at Generals of World War II.Farndale, Annex J. Coming directly under General Headquarters (GHQ) the brigade's role was to administer the S/L units deployed to protect airfields, ports, and the BEF's forward gun areas.Farndale, Annex A.Routledge, pp. 114–6.
Order of Battle May 1940
At the beginning of the Battle of France the brigade had the following composition:Ellis, France and Flanders, Appendix I.Routledge, Table XVIII, p. 126. 1st Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery1 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45. – Regular Army 1, 2, 3, 4 S/L Batteries – 1 and 2 Btys were newly arrived, replacing RE companies1 S/L Bty War Diary, 1939–40, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 167/680. 2nd Searchlight Regiment, RA2 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45. – Regular Army 5, 6, 8 S/L Btys 3rd (Ulster) Searchlight Regiment, RA3 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45. – Supplementary Reserve 9, 10, 11, 12 S/L Btys
Battle of France When the Battle of France began on 10 May, the BEF started its planned advance north into Belgium (Plan D), 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. 4th Searchlight Bty, deployed round Lille, saw constant enemy air activity. On 17 May it detached a group of riflemen with Boys rifles to defend 5 AA Bde HQ at Lens while the remainder joined the Bethune canal guards. On that day 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.3 S/L Bty War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/682.4 S/L Bty War Diary, 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/683.Routledge, pp. 116-7.
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.
Calais
By 20 May, 1st and 2nd S/L Btys of 1st S/L Rgt, with part of 2nd S/L Rgt, were deployed as a screen of S/L detachments one mile apart round the east side of Calais and Lt-Col Goldney of 1st S/L Rgt was appointed AA Defence Commander for the town. They were joined on 22 May by 30th Infantry Brigade, just before advanced German troops began probing the defences, beginning the Siege of Calais. 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. Nevertheless, they put up a stout fight, halting tank columns for several hours before they were overwhelmed. The remnants were forced back to the citadel and harbour, where some were evacuated by sea but most became Prisoners of war (PoWs) when the citadel fell on 26 May. The town's three-day defence, holding up Heinz Guderian's XIX Panzerkorps, had provided some respite for the Dunkirk evacuation.Ellis, France and Flanders, Chapter X.Farndale, pp. 57–8.Routledge, pp. 118–22.Neave, pp. 29–45, 65, 96 208.Jon Latimer, 'Sacrifice at Calais' at HistoryNet.
Hondeghem 2nd Searchlight Rgt was more widely spread. While part went to Calais, a Troop of one officer and 80 men found themselves attached to K Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, with orders to help hold the small village of Hondeghem which was on the main German axis of advance. The gunners fought a valiant action on 26 May then, running short of ammunition, they charged the German positions and broke through, giving them a route out towards Dunkirk. By now, 2nd S/L Rgt had 5 Bty completely missing, 6 Bty had over 50 per cent missing and 8 Bty was missing just under a quarter. By the time the evacuation was complete, the Regiment had lost over 50 men killed and approximately half the regiment captured.Ellis, France and Flanders, Chapter XI.Farndale, pp. 65–7.Hughes, pp. 184–6.
Dunkirk 3rd (Ulster) Searchlight Rgt fared much better. Its batteries were deployed relatively close together around the Dunkirk perimeter with 12 Bty in the town itself. On 19 May, after some hard fighting often against tanks, the bulk of the regiment was ordered to destroy their searchlights and make for Dunkirk. By 21 May, 9, 10 and 11 Btys were in defensive positions around the port while 12 Bty continued in its S/L role inside the town. Over the next six days the regiment withstood many attacks from the enemy. Once the decision had been made on 24 May to evacuate, the HQs of 2 AA Bde and 5 AA Bde bore the brunt of AA defence of Dunkirk and the beaches, taking over those remnants of AA units that made their way back to the port. On 27 May 3rd S/L Rgt was relieved; RHQ and 9, 10 and 11 Btys were evacuated to England the next day. Two Troops of 12 Battery were evacuated in small boats the following day, while the rest of the battery was ordered to destroy the remaining lights and assist in the defence of the beaches. They were eventually taken off the beach in small batches by 31 May. 3 (Ulster) S/L Rgt had been very lucky with only 28 killed, 41 wounded and three men taken prisoner.Farndale, p. 65.
Home defence Orders were issued on 13 July for the brigade to be reformed (as 5th AA Brigade) in the Gloucester area within 5 AA Division of AA Command. It became a mixed AA formation containing heavy (HAA) and light (LAA) gun units as well as S/L units. The Gloster Aircraft Company factory at Brockworth, Gloucestershire, was a strategic target in the area and was protected by 24 HAA guns.'Reorganisation of 5th AA Division' in 37th (TEE) S/L Regt RA, War Diary 15 May–16 June 1940, TNA file WO 167/679.Collier, Appendix XXII.
Order of Battle July 1940 By about 18 July the reformed HQ had taken over the following units: 85th (Tees) HAA Rgt – returned from Dunkirk and re-equipped with 3.7-inch gunsFarndale, p. 98. 88th HAA Rgt – newly formed in London with 3.7-inch guns 47th LAA Rgt – newly formedFarndale, Annex M.47 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45. 37th (Tyne Electrical Engineers) S/L Rgt37 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45. – returned from France 68th S/L Rgt68 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45. – from 46 AA Bde
Blitz
In November 1940, as the Luftwaffes night bombing campaign against British cities (The Blitz) was getting under way, there was a major reorganisation of AA Command. 5 AA Division's responsibilities were split, with 9 AA Division created to cover the South Midlands and South Wales. 5 AA Brigade came under this new formation, with responsibility for covering Gloucester and Hereford.Farndale, Annex D.Routledge, p. 394.Routledge, Table LXV, p. 396.Pile's despatch. There were few air raids in 5 AA Bde's area, although the Gloster works at Brockworth and Hucclecote were targeted. Otherwise, enemy air activity was reported as 'slight' and 'small scale', and was mainly heading towards Birmingham and Coventry in the neighbouring 11 AA Division area, with one raid on Cheltenham on 11 December.37 S/L Rgt War Diary August 1940–September 1941, TNA file WO 166/3054.Air Raid on Gloster Aircraft Company at BBC WW2 People's War.Air Raid on Cheltenham at BBC Gloucestershire.
From November 1940 searchlights were deployed in clusters of three lights in an attempt to improve the chances of picking up enemy bombers and keeping them illuminated for engagement by AA guns or Royal Air Force (RAF) night-fighters. Eventually, one light in each cluster was to be equipped with Searchlight Control (SLC) radar and act as 'master light', but the radar equipment was still in short supply.Routledge, pp. 388-9, 393.
Order of Battle 1940–41
During the Blitz, which ended in May 1941, the composition of 5 AA Bde was as follows:9 AA Division at RA 39–45.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, TNA file WO 212/79. 85th (Tees) HAA Rgt 174 HAA Bty – attached to 61 AA Bde until Summer 1941 175 HAA Bty 220 HAA Bty – attached to 45 AA Bde until Summer 1941 413 HAA Bty – joined by May 1941 88th HAA Rgt (part) – transferred to 1 AA Division by May 1941 47th LAA Rgt 66, 131 LAA Btys 85 LAA Bty – attached to 8 AA Division 37th (TEE) S/L Rgt 307, 308, 348, 349 S/L Btys
Mid-War In the summer of 1941, AA Command began to receive purpose-built SLC radar in sufficient numbers to allow some S/Ls to be 'declustered' into single-light sites. These were redeployed into 'Indicator Belts' of radar-controlled S/L clusters covering approaches to the night-fighter sectors, repeated by similar belts covering AA Command's Gun Defence Areas (GDAs). Inside each belt was a 20-mile deep 'Killer Belt' of single S/Ls spaced at intervals in a 'Killer Belt' 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 (VPs) such as aircraft factories and airfields was growing, albeit slowly. At this stage of the war, experienced units were being posted away to train for service overseas, which led to a continual turnover of units. However, newly formed units continued to join AA Command, the HAA and support units increasingly becoming 'Mixed' units, indicating that women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) were fully integrated into them.Routledge, pp. 398–404.Routledge, p. 99.
In December 1941 Lt-Col R.C.M. Raikes was promoted from 79th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) HAA Rgt to command 5 AA Bde.Sainsbury, p. 89.
Order of Battle 1941–42
During this period 5 AA Bde was composed 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. 52nd (London) HAA Rgt – from 61 AA Bde January 1942; left AA Command February 1942; to CeylonJoslen, p. 519. 154, 155, 271 HAA Btys 58th (Kent) HAA Rgt – from 6 AA Division Autumn 1941; to 4 AA Division January 1942 207, 208, 264 HAA Btys 85th (Tees) HAA Rgt – to 6 AA Division Autumn 1941 174, 175, 220, 413 HAA Btys 143rd (Mixed) HAA Rgt – new unit formed January 1942; to 67 AA Bde June 1942 474 HAA Bty – from 138th HAA Rgt June 1942