The 2nd Searchlight Regiment was an air defence unit of Britain's Royal Artillery, formed just before World War II. Deploying to France with the British Expeditionary Force and RAF Advanced Air Striking Force in 1940, it found itself caught up in ground fighting during the Battle of France, including actions at Arras, Boulogne, Calais, and Hondeghem. After the evacuation from Dunkirk it served in home defence in Anti-Aircraft Command until 1944, when it deployed to Europe again, seeing action in the defence of Antwerp and the Scheldt, then the river crossings as 21st Army Group advanced into Germany at the end of the war. It was disbanded in 1948.
Origin During the 1930s the growing threat of air attack led to the rapid expansion of the British Army's anti-aircraft (AA) units. At that time AA searchlights (S/Ls) were operated by the Royal Engineers (RE). The 2nd AA Battalion, RE, was formed in 1937 with two companies designated A and B. By 1938 it had been decided that the S/L responsibility should be transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA). On 24 May 1938 the 2nd AA Bn was disbanded and replaced by 2nd Searchlight Regiment, RA with A and B batteries.Watson & Rinaldi, p. 107.Frederick, pp. 858–63. It was formed at Portsmouth and the first commanding officer (CO) was Lieutenant-Colonel T.R. Anderson, MC, who had seen active service on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia during World War I.Farndale, p. 19.IWM WMR Ref 26603.Spink catalogue entry for auction of Anderson's medals and memorabilia.
World War II Mobilisation The regiment was stationed at Portsmouth in Southern Command on the outbreak of war.Army List.Southern Command at Patriot Files. It sailed for France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on 1 January 1940 and was initially deployed in the Airaines area with Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) at Fruges. It was reported that the weather was so cold that 'the vehicles had to be kept running all night to prevent them from freezing up'.
During February, A and B S/L Btys were joined by two newly formed ones, 6 and 475, though during the coming campaign the four were designated 5, 6, 7 and 8, even if this change did not officially take effect until July. The establishment of a S/L battery at this time was four Troops each of six 'projectors', giving a total of 24 per battery. Each S/L site was also equipped with Light machine guns (LMGs, usually Lewis guns) for local defence.Routledge, pp. 121–2. The regiment came under 5th S/L Brigade when that was formed in February, with 5 S/L Bty detached to Boulogne. 8 S/L Battery (as well as 9 S/L Bty of 3rd (Ulster) S/L Rgt) was supporting two batteries of 2nd Heavy AA Rgt in the Arras Gun Defence Area (GDA) On 14 April the regiment was ordered to send 7 S/L Bty to Rheims to join 12th AA Brigade supporting the RAF Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF).Ellis, France & Flanders, Appendix 1.Farndale, p. 43; Annex A.Joslen, p. 462.Routledge, pp. 116, 121; Table XVIII, p. 126.
Battle of France When the Phoney War ended with the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, 2nd AA Rgt was scattered across Northern France: some troops were from their battery HQ (BHQ) and even further from RHQ. They took part in defending against the Luftwaffe's initial attacks while the BEF advanced into Belgium in accordance with Plan D, but the German Army broke through the Ardennes to the east, forcing the BEF to withdraw again. As Army Group A cut the BEF's lines of communication into France and drove it back towards the coast at Dunkirk, 2nd S/L Rgt's subunits found themselves involved in ground fighting and rearguard actions. On 19 May Arras was threatened and the BEF was forced to improvise a number of defence groups: RHQ of 2nd S/L Rgt took on the ground defence of the town with a mixture of troops under command during the Battle of Arras. Meanwhile, the S/L units at airfields were given additional LMGs to defend against low-flying daylight attacks.Routledge, p. 117.
Two Troops of 8 S/L Bty had been defending Conteville and Crécy airfields with 210 AA By of 73rd AA Rgt under 2nd AA Bde when the German forces took nearby Péronne. On 20 May they were ordered to move south-west to Rouen to come under 3rd AA Bde. However, 2nd Panzer Division was already in Abbeville blocking the way, and they had to fight a rearguard action with enemy ground troops to get to the coast and make it back to Dunkirk.2 AA Bde War Diary, France 1940, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 167/427.Ellis, Chapter V.Ellis, Chapter VI.
Boulogne When planning the defence of Dunkirk as a possible evacuation port, the BEF's commanders decided that Boulogne and Calais should still be held as supply points for further fighting or possible exit points for a final withdrawal. Their AA defences were therefore strengthened. At Boulogne there were a battery of HAA guns, two LAA troops with LMGs, and 5 S/L Bty manning S/Ls and LMGs. Two battalions from 20th Guards Brigade arrived by sea on 22 May and took on the perimeter defence, joined by detachments from 5 S/L Bty. The Battle of Boulogne began with an attack by 40–50 aircraft on the harbour, which was engaged by all the AA sites who achieved a number of hits. This was followed by an attack by 2nd Panzer Division against several points on the perimeter, which drove the Guards and S/L detachments back by stages into the town. Meanwhile, non-combat troops and wounded were being evacuated and demolitions were carried out. On the evening of 23 May 20 Guards Bde was ordered to evacuate and the remaining troops, including the AA survivors, closed in to form a tight perimeter. On 25 May the French troops manning the old fortifications gave up and German infantry penetrated to the quayside, overrunning the last strongpoints. Only a party of 5 S/L Bty got out, making its way along the beaches to Calais.Ellis, France & Flanders, pp. 153–9.Farndale, pp. 56–7, Map 13.Routledge, pp. 117–9.
Calais The story was repeated in the Siege of Calais. 1st S/L Regiment was stationed there, and 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. The town was bombed by Luftwaffe raiders that night but ground attack was now the biggest danger, and the S/L men had to man the perimeter as infantry. They were joined on 23 May by two officers and 230 other ranks from 2nd S/L Rgt. By 24 May the town was completely cut off and the first serious attacks came in against points on the perimeter. The S/L men put up a stout fight, engaging Panzer troops with LMGs and Boys anti-tank rifles (A/T rifles), but the perimeter was breached and 30th Bde's infantry and the S/L gunners were involved in close-quarter fighting and forced back to the citadel and the harbour. Many wounded and 'non-fighting' personnel were evacuated on the City of Canterbury and the Kohistan and a Flotilla of Destroyers. The AA Defence Commander allowed about 200 AA troops to leave, but ordered the remainder to stay and fight. Hundreds of 'non-fighting' men were left at the port and later in the dunes hoping for evacuation. The garrison held out in the citadel and port until 16.00 on 26 May. Most of the survivors became Prisoners of war (PoWs), although during the final stages and during the night of 26/27 May some of the defenders escaped or were picked up by boats. The three-day defence of Calais, holding up Heinz Guderian's XIX Panzerkorps, had provided some respite for the Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo), which was now under way.Ellis, France & Flanders, pp. 159–69.Farndale, pp. 57–8, 64, Map 14.Neave, pp. 35–45, 65, 96, 208.Routledge, pp. 119–20.Jon Latimer, 'Sacrifice at Calais' at HistoryNet.
Hondeghem Among the units covering the BEF's retreat to Dunkirk was F Trp of K Bty, Royal Horse Artillery (RHA), equipped with four World War I-vintage 18-pounder guns and reinforced by 80 men from 2nd S/L Rgt. They held the village of Hondeghem during six hours of bitter street fighting beginning at 07.30 on 27 May. Although the two outer guns were quickly overwhelmed the other two in the village square were manhandled round corners to engage tanks and infantry at close range while the other RHA and S/L gunners fought with rifles, LMGs and a few A/T rifles. The other troop of K Bty brought down accurate shellfire from a nearby hill until three of its four guns were hit. About 15.30 ammunition began to run out, though the gunners with rifles kept the Germans' heads down until at 14.15 the survivors broke out to St Sylvestre, miles away. The Germans were already in this village, but the assorted gunners, together with some drivers of the Royal Army Service Corps, charged them, driving them off, and then got away in whatever vehicles were still running.Ellis, France & Flanders, p. 188.Farndale, pp. 65–7, Map 17.Hughes, pp. 184–6.
Evacuations Meanwhile, Lt-Col Anderson with RHQ, 8 S/L Bty and odd details of other batteries of 2nd S/L Rgt had fallen back from Arras to St Omer, where by 24 May they were deployed to defend the canal. Once relieved, this remnant withdrew through Herzeele and was concentrated at Les Moëres where it rested for the first time in five days, while Anderson went into Dunkirk to try to find news of his lost batteries. On 29/30 May this part of the regiment was evacuated from Dunkirk to Dover.
Even after the Dunkirk evacuation ended, a number of fighting formations and a large number of rear echelon units were still in France south of the River Somme, and fresh British forces were being landed at France's western ports. The AASF's remaining bombers flew back to the UK, while its fighters moved to Nantes to cover this new troop concentration. 12th AA Brigade set off though Vendôme, Le Mans and Rennes to Nantes, where its remaining HAA batteries and 7 S/L Bty (without searchlights), occupied positions on either side of the River Loire. But the situation in France was now beyond remedy, and the British government decided to evacuate its remaining troops from the Atlantic ports between 15 and 17 June (Operation Aerial).Ellis, Chapter XXI.Routledge, p. 123.53 HAA Regt War Diary 1939–40, TNA file WO 167/617.
Home Defence On their return to England the BEF's AA units were rapidly reinforced and re-equipped to take their places in Anti-Aircraft Command.Farndale, p. 95. From July 1940 the rebuilt 2nd S/L Rgt was stationed at Cranborne in East Dorset under the command of 64th AA Bde. This brigade's role was to provide S/L and Light AA (LAA) cover to Royal Air Force (RAF) airfields in South West England under 8th AA Division. The regiment was now organised with 4, 5, 6 and 475 S/L Btys; 4 Bty had transferred from the reformed 1st S/L Rgt in exchange for 7 Bty.Farndale, Annex D.Routledge, Table LXIV, p. 396.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, TNA file WO 212/79.