Units are organised into Batteries and Regiments with, as far as possible, with the same types of equipment to simplify maintenance, manning and training. However, regiments and batteries were not the operational command structure for AA, which formed part of an integrated air defence system. For tactical reasons a vulnerable point might need a mix of Heavy and Light AA equipment, all of which would be controlled by an AA Operations Room, linked to an Air Operations Room - just like the battle of Britain. (This wasn't always true of the Light AA Regiments under Corps and Divisional command, but these were only a minority of AA troops) On D Day in June 1944 the air defences of each beach were based on "battlegroup"s with a mix of HAA and Light AA Batteries under the command of a regimental HQ (Light or Heavy) as the AA commander. This was complicated further by 93 Light AA Regiment which manned the 20mm equipments. Its batteries were assigned as troops under the command of 40mm batteries. The static, or rather semi static, defences of the UK did not conform to tidy regimental or battery groupings. There were lots of different equipment: 5.25" 4.5" 3.7" and 3" HAA as well as various Z Battery rocket mountings: Light AA included 3", 40mm/ 2pdr pom pom, 20mm cannon and LMG, with varying degrees of mobility and dotted across VPs from airfields to City centres. These were manned( or perhaps resourced) by a jigsaw of organisations including all male, mixed and home guard batteries.. Look at the listings of AA guns defending specific Simple eh?
At the outset of WWII HAA regiments were commonly divided into three batteries, each being subdivided into two troops, being designated A, B; C, D; and E, F respectively, i.e. six troops in total. Each of the batteries were under the command of their respective Battery Headquarters (B.H.Q.). A Major was responsible for each Battery as Officer Commanding (O.C.) supported by Captains, and Lieutenants/Subalterns, and who in turn were supported by a Battery Sergeant Major (B.S.M./W.O.II), and N.C.O.s. The Regiment was commanded through Regimental Headquarters (R.H.Q.), comprising the Commanding Officer (C.O), a Colonel, together with a team of commissioned officers, a Regimental Sergeant Major (R.S.M./W.O.I), and N.C.O.s. Regiments were usually homogeneous units fixed by type and normally not self-sufficient when operating in the field. H.A.A. regiments could be allocated to duties alongside other diverse regiments, these collectively creating a Brigade, under the direction of a Colonel, Brigadier, or Brigadier General. A Brigade was most often a unit of various regiments (e.g. infantry, tanks, and artillery) created for a specific campaign purpose. The organisation of a Brigade was flexible, and could operate independently in the field. Several Brigades could be assembled to form a Division, under the direction of a Major General. Divisions could be assembled into Corps commanded by a Lieutenant General, Corps in turn making up Armies, for example 8th Army, as commanded by Field Marshal Montgomery
Suggestions please! Dad joined the royal Artillery in Glasgow and is listed on his marriage certificate(Dec 1940) as "Gunner RA now on War Service". At that time his name was Dominic Cunningham Casey. As he did not return post war his first wife had him presumed dead and her marriage annulled. In fact, Dad had changed his name (Dominic Michael Stringer) and remarried. Technically my husband is his next of kin but obviously surnames do not match. I should dearly like to access Dad's service records as I believe he was at Singapore with the RA but should like to prove it. I do not have a service number. Just to add to the confusion there is a possibility he signed up under his brother's name! Any ideas how to tackle this?
