Does any one have ANY information on 77 AA Brigade up to 1945. I can find no mention of the Brigade at all either on line or in any of my reference books. I am trying to complete the AA Brigades section on my site. Thanks Derek
Is there any evidence that 77 AA Brigade existed before 1947? That is the first mention in Routledge's History of AA
Quite possible as there are 3 more that don't seem to have any information either - 81, 82 & 83 Brigades (not followed these up yet). However, AA Brigades (or any other units) of ADGB are poorly covered after October 1942 when the Divisions were disbanded and replaced by groups. Also those Brigades allotted to Home Forces get very poor coverage also. Routledge is a good source but often misses out units entirely if they weren't doing anything interesting.
Here is an AA Brigade list from Frederick's Lineage series. It appears there may have been a 77th AA Brigade under AFHQ but no war diary was found.
Once upon a time - well about twenty years ago I was chasing information about then Order of Battle of the Royal Artillery in WW2. Simply what units were in what betteries etc. I spoke to the then head of the RA Institute, a retired brigadier. He told me that after Ww2 a civil serv ant had been employed to undertake that task, but he reached retirement age without completing the work. A retired officer then took it on but fell victim to Alzheimers or some such and so the Derek Barton's website is as close to authoritive. However,that doesn't help with questions concerning the history of AA Brigades....
Thanks for that Dryan, I had totally forgotten about that section in Frederick (hurriedly pulls book from shelf). Seems like there was a 77 Brigade after all and in N Africa at some point. That gives me something to go on. The problem with being perceived as an authority (not that I think I am) is you are supposed to know all the answers, not being the one who is asking the question. Fortunately, there are plenty of authorities on this forum to help out as has been proved in this case. Thanks to everyone for your responses and in particular to Dryan for nudging me in the right direction and DannyM for supplying some interesting information. As for the other 3 Brigades I mentioned it seems that 81 existed but 82 & 83 were post war. Thanks again everyone Derek
