41st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade

41st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade
Active	29 September 1938–31 October 1955
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Territorial Army
Type	Anti-Aircraft Brigade
Role	Air Defence
Part of	2nd AA Division 1st AA Group
Engagements	Battle of Britain The Blitz

The 41st (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Anti-Aircraft Command in the British Territorial Army, formed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Its role was to defend East Anglia.

Origin

The brigade was formed on 29 September 1938 at Ebury Street, London, as part of 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. By the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, it had the following units under command:^{[1][2] [3][4]}

• 32nd (7th City of London) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers – searchlight unit formed in 1935 by conversion of 7th London Regiment and transfer to the Royal Engineers (RE)^[5][6]
  • 328, 329 & 330 AA Companies RE
• 1/6th Battalion, Essex Regiment, (64th Searchlight Regiment) – formed in 1938 by conversion of infantry battalion^[7][8]
  • 441, 442 & 443 AA Companies
• 2/6th Battalion, Essex Regiment, (65th Searchlight Regiment) – formed in 1938 by conversion of duplicate infantry battalion^[9][10]
  • 444, 445 & 446 AA Companies
• 78th (1st East Anglian) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery – formed in 1938 by conversion of 84th (1st East Anglian) Field Regiment, RA^[11][12][13]
  • 243 (2nd Norfolk) AA Battery
  • 244 (3rd Norfolk) AA Battery
  • 245 (1st Norfolk) AA Battery
  • 409 (Suffolk) AA Battery
• 41 AA Brigade Company Royal Army Service Corps

World War II

Although based in London, the brigade's war station was in East Anglia, and its units deployed across the region on the outbreak of World War II. The first months of the war were quiet, but on the night of 7/8 June 1940, 32nd AA Battalion was the first searchlight unit to bring down an enemy aircraft, the crew of a Heinkel He 115 coastal reconnaissance aircraft being dazzled by a detachment at Rendelsham and crashing nearby.^[5][14]

By the summer of 1940, all TA searchlight regiments had been transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA), and AA regiments had been redesignated Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) to distinguish them from the new Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) regiments being formed. During the intense period of activity of the Battle of Britain and subsequent Blitz, 41 AA Bde's organisation changed in other ways as well, giving it the following order of battle by November 1940:^{[15][16] [17][18]}

• 78th (1st East Anglian) HAA Regiment (part) – as above
• 29th LAA Regiment – new unit being formed in Lincolnshire on the outbreak of war; joined 41 AA Bde in October 1939^[19][20]
• 60th (Middlesex) Searchlight Regiment – formed in 1938 by conversion of 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment^[21][22][23]
• 65th (Essex Regiment) Searchlight Regiment – as above
• 69th (3rd City of London) Searchlight Regiment – formed in 1938 by conversion of 10th (3rd City of London) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers^[24][25]

Postwar

On 1 January 1947, 41 AA Bde was redesignated 67 AA Bde in the reformed TA, with its HQ at Shepherd's Bush and constituting part of 1 AA Group. It had the following units under command:^[26][27]

• 452 (London) HAA Rgt^[28]
• 453 (City of London) HAA Rgt^[28]
• 454 (City of London) HAA Rgt ^[29]
• 488 HAA Rgt ^[30]
• 608 (Kent) HAA Rgt^[31]
• 607 (Middlesex) S/L Rgt ^[21]

The brigade was placed in 'suspended animation' on 31 October 1955, shortly after the abolition of AA Command, and formally disbanded on 31 December 1957.^[26]

Notes

1. 2 AA Division 1939 at British Military History.
2. AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.
3. Routledge, Table LVIII, p. 376.
4. Routledge, Table LX, p. 378.
5. Litchfield, p. 170.
6. 32 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
7. Litchfield, p. 72.
8. 64 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
9. Litchfield, p. 73.
10. 65 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
11. Litchfield, p. 185.
12. Norfolk Artillery Volunteers at Regiments.org
13. 78 HAA Rgt at RA 39–45.
14. Planck, p. 228.
15. 2 AA Division 1940 at British Military History.
16. 2 AA Div at RA 39–45.
17. Routledge, Table LXV, p. 396.
18. Farndale, Annex D, p. 258.
19. Litchfield, p. 143.
20. 29 LAA at RA 39–45.
21. Litchfield, p. 179.
22. 60 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
23. 9th Middlesex at Regiments.org.
24. Litchfield, p. 174.
25. 69 S/L Rgt at RA 39–45.
26. 67–106 AA Bdes at British Army 1945 on.
27. Litchfield, Appendix 5.
28. Litchfield, p. 164.
29. Litchfield, p. 165.
30. Litchfield, pp. 166–7.
31. Litchfield, p. 109.

References

• Gen Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat: Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988/London: Brasseys, 1996, ISBN 1-85753-080-2.

• Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, ISBN 0-9508205-2-0.

• C. Digby Planck, The Shiny Seventh: History of the 7th (City of London) Battalion London Regiment, London: Old Comrades' Association, 1946/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2002, ISBN 1-84342-366-9.

• Brig N.W. Routledge, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55, London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, ISBN 1-85753-099-3.

Online sources

• British Army units from 1945 on
• British Military History
• Orders of Battle at Patriot Files
• Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth (Regiments.org)
• The Royal Artillery 1939–45