I'm starting this thread in order to share my research into the 109 (Royal Sussex), LAA. I started this research about 10 years ago, but still have much more to learn. I am eager to add any information that people may have on the regiment, so please feel free to include amendments or stories in the comments. I am also very happy for people to contact me should they have a relative that served in the regiment. I have researched this regiment as my maternal grandfather served with them, joining the original 7th Battalion Royal Sussex in June 1940. The battalion was disbanded 31st December 1941 and reformed as 109 (Royal Sussex) LAA, RA on 1st January 1942. He remained with the regiment until being demobbed 21st April 1946. Part 1 - 1940 to June 1944 7th battalion Royal Sussex was part of the BEF, serving under 37th Brigade. During the retreat from France, the battalion was on a train at Amiens that was hit by a Luftwaffe bombing raid, causing heavy losses. My Grandfather, Sgt Reg Jackson 5441821, joined the Battalion in June 1940 once it had returned to the UK, presumably as a replacement to those lost in France. I confess I have not done much research on this period as they were an infantry battalion based in the UK. From my quick glance at the War Diaries, there seems to be a lot of incident reports and Court of Inquiries for fighting, theft, and general mischief, so I get the impression they were pretty bored. At the end of 1941 the battalion was selected to be disbanded and reformed as a Light Anti-Aircraft regiment, equipped with the Bofors 40mm gun. The battalion reformed 1st January 1942 and was called 109 (Royal Sussex) LAA, Royal Artillery and was made up of HQ, 357, 358, 359 Batteries. Each battery consisted of 3 Troops, and each troop had 6 guns with a team of 6 men running it. My Grandfather was attached to 357 Bty, "C" Troop, 3rd Gun Detachment. Throughout the war he gained ranks of L/Bdr in October 1942, L/Sgt in August 1943, and Sgt in March 1944. Upon being reformed as a LAA unit, it was briefly under the command of Anti-aircraft Command, but was quickly reallocated to 1st Corps Royal Artillery. In February 1943, the 109 (Royal Sussex) came under the command of GHQ Reserve, then in July 1943 came under the command of 21st Army Group until June 1944. From 1942 to June 1944, the 109 (Royal Sussex) were training on their new Bofors guns, and providing anti-aircraft at various locations around Great Britain; Scottish Boarders, the Midlands, London, coastal sites from Cornwall to Clacton. The regiment had their first two claims during this period for shooting down enemy aircraft: 9th April 1943, Folkestone. 359 Bty engaged 4 Focke Wolfe 190s, hitting one which was seen crashing into the sea. (the detachment was awarded £5 as a reward!) 17th September 1943, Margate. 359 Bty engaged an aircraft which was seen to crash into the sea. (no reward this time though haha) The regiment also experienced its first casualties, with two men killed: 1st March 1943, Gunner John Bowden (1554748). There is no information in the war diaries as to how Bowden was killed, nor on his record of death. 8th October 1943, Bombadier William Albert Spall (4803263). Spall was inspecting blackouts in the HQ when it was hit by a bomb (approx 500lb). Spall was injured and later died of his wounds. Spall was in 357 bty. 2 other men were injured during the incident, and a 3rd man lightly injured. The 109 (Royal Sussex) were selected to be part of Normandy campaign, and undertook training to prepare for this. Including aircraft recognition courses, small arms trading and PIAT training among others, and taking part in exercises like Spartan. Although not chosen to be a landing force on 6th June, they were planned to arrive approximately one week after D-Day, with the initial role of airfield protection for 2 TAF, under the command of 106 Anti-Aircraft Brigade, 2nd Army.
Part 2 - Normandy At the start of June 1944 the Regiment was situated in Northampton undertaking training for the upcoming invasion. On 6th June, the invasion of France was announced and the regiment immediately embarked for the Marshalling area in London. From the 8th June, the regiment started embarking from Albert Docks, with Btys arriving in France from 13th June onwards. My grandfather had always assumed that he landed on gold beach, which was also mirrored by the account of another veteran from the regiment. However, the latter later discovered that they landed at Courselles-Sur-Mer, which was on the edge of Juno beach. On 21st June, while en route to Normandy, the ship carrying members of 358 Bty was shelled, resulting in two men being injured: Captain J S Plaice and Lance Bombadier O'Farrell. From the 13th June onwards, the HQs for the different batteries started to form in different towns based on where the new allied airfields were being built. The regiment had the role of providing anti-aircraft protection for allied airfields that had been established across the British/Canadian sectors, up until 23rd August when they were called away to support the Americans at Cherbourg. Locations for each Bty: RHQ June 13. Cruelly June 14. Cainet June 18. B.9 Lantheuil June 23. B.5 Le Fresne Camilly June 25. B.9 Lantheuil July 23. B.4 Beny-Sur-Mer Aug 17. B.8 Sommervieu Aug 23. Cherbourg 357 Bty June 13. B.5 Le Fresne Camilly June 25. (C Troop) B.4 Beny-Sur-Mer July 26. (C Troop) B.16 Villons Les Buissons Aug 6. B.1 Asnelles Aug 17. B.8 Sommervieu Aug 23. Cherbourg 358 Bty June 19. (F Troop) B.9 Lantheuil June 25. B.11 Longues-Sur-Mer July 10. B.8 Sommervieu July 22. (F Troop) B.4 Beny-Sur-Mer July 26. (F Troop) B.8 Sommervieu Aug 6. Port-En-Bessin Aug 17. B.8 Sommervieu Aug 23. Cherbourg 359 Bty June 20. B10 Plumetot July 23. (J Troop) B.10 Plumetot Aug 6. B.8 Sommervieu Aug 17. B.8 Sommervieu Aug 23. Cherbourg While providing air cover for the airfields, the regiment found it a frustrating task as the Royal Airforce airfield commanders refused permission to the 109 (Royal Sussex) to engage enemy aircraft unless the airfields were being actively attacked. Despite this limitation, the regiment was still able to score many Cat I (shot down), and Cat II (observed hits) on enemy aircraft, primarily bf109 and fw190 but also a JU88: *Cat I – Confirmed kill Cat II – Observed hits 20 June 359 H Troop Cat I 1x Me 109 Plumetot 21 June 357 Cat II 1x Me 109 Le Fresne Camilly 24 June 357 Engaged 2x Me 109 Le Fresne Camilly Cat I 1x Me 109 (pilot bailed out and captured) 27/30 June Intermittent shelling of airfields. Engagements on all airfields. No claims. 1 July 357 A Troop Cat II Me 109 Le Fresne Camilly 4 July 357 C Troop Cat I Me 109 Camilly/Lanthueil 358 F Troop 5 July 357 A Troop Cat II Me 109 Camilly/Plumetot 359 H Troop Cat II FW 190 7 July 359 H Troop Cat II 2x Me 109 Plumetot/Lantheuil 358 F Troop Cat II Me 109 8 July 358 D troop Cat II Ju 88 Longues Sur Mer 10 July 358 F Troop Cat I Fw 190 Lanthueil/Plumetot 359 H & G troop Shared with above 11 July 357 A Troop Cat I Me 109 Camilly/Lanthueil 14 July Regt. Cat I 10x Camillly/Lanthueil/Plumetot/Longues An interesting story I discovered regarding this period of the Regiments history, is the awarding of an OBE to Lieutenant (temp Captain) A. Mitchell (242355). Capt. Mitchell was an officer of 358 Bty who were situated at airfield B.11 Longues-Sur-Mer between the dates of June 25 - July 10. If you have ever visited the gun emplacements at Longues-Sur-Mer, the first emplacement you encounter has received huge structural damage. This is often assumed to have been caused by naval gunfire on D-Day, but for the first emplacement this is not the case. The citation for the OBE details the true events leading to the damage: "On the 6th July 1944, Captain Mitchell was in command of two guns of a Light Anti-Aircraft Battery sited on top of an old German coastal gun emplacement near Bayeux, Normandy. A fire broke out inside the gun emplacement and Capt. Mitchell immediately took charge of the situation, although he knew that there was a considerable quantity of ammunition stored below in the magazine which might explode at any moment. The fire spread to the gun pits but this officer succeeded in removing the 40mm ammunition from the loaded guns and other rounds from the gun pits, in spite of exploding small arms ammunition. Just after the gun pits had been cleared there was a tremendous explosion inside the fort, the back of which was blown out and the sides shattered, causing some casualties. Capt. Mitchell acted throughout with coolness and courage. it was largely due to his leadership and disregard for danger that the two 40mm guns were eventually recovered undamaged." Unfortunately 4 men still lost their lives in the explosion, but they do not appear to have been members of 109 (Royal Sussex). On August 23rd the regiment was relieved of its duty providing airfield defence, and was relocated to Cherbourg to protect the port. During this time they came under the command of 101 AA Brigade, 21st Army Group. As far as enemy aircraft was concerned, this period had very little for the regiment to do as there were no recorded attacks or engagements with enemy aircraft. However, the regiment lost two more of its men: 17 September: Lance Bombadier John Boote (1056058), 359 Bty. Boote was killed as a result of an explosion. 22 September: Gunner Clifford Brain (11058598). Brain's record of death states that the cause of death was an "accidental injury, battle injury". I suspect this indicates it was a blue-on-blue, or friendly fire incident. 4 days after this incident, 26 September, the regiment was relocated to St Pol, approximately 40 minutes from Arras, and close to the Belgium border and returned to the command of 2nd Army. They would soon move into Mierlo, a town just outside of Eindhoven. Although they were not called upon during Market Garden, their new role would be to protect the territory gained during the operation, and assist with the allied advance into Germany. This will come in part 3.
My father Peter Dalgliesh served with 109 LAA from its creation (from 7th Royal Sussex Battalion) in January 1942 until the end of the war. Coincidentally in September 1942 he was promoted to Battery Captain for 357 Battery serving under Major John Mayer. I have a copy of the regimental scoreboard which also shows the deployments of the three batteries numbered 357, 358 and 359 and RHQ in the period 13th June 1944 to 5th May 1945. My father also wrote about some of his reminiscences. He joined the TA just before war broke out and by the end had been promoted to Major. His anecdotes only reference a few people by name. If any of this is of interest I would be happy to supply further information. Likewise if anyone has any knowledge of references to my father I would be pleased to hear of them.
Hi RWD, Thanks for messaging on this thread. I would be very interested in hearing the anecdotes and any other information you may have. I have a fair bit of research into the 109 that I am happy to share with you, including some photos, the war diaries, and some understanding of the specific places 357 were located from Normandy up to December 1944 (I haven't had a chance to go into 1945 and 1946 with my research yet). You also mentioned the scoreboard, have you seen the photos of this on the propellor? Please feel free to send me a direct message if you would like to chat further. Kind regards, Ian
Hi Ian, Thank you for your very prompt response and the excellent photos of the propeller. My father's notes say that it was given to the Royal Sussex Regiment Depot after the war - do you know its current whereabouts? As you will see from the attachments I have a rather poor copy of a photo of the propeller blade but the scoreboard may be of more interest to you. I am working on converting my father's reminiscences from a scanned copy as I would like to edit them before I put post them on. Some of the content I would prefer to keep within the family. But generally I would be pleased to exchange further info. Regards Robert P.S How do we best exchange messages outside of the forum?
It is possible this Battle of Britain Aircraft Recognition Manual,March 1940, may have belonged to your grandfather? See the inscription inside front cover: L/Sgt Jackson R.M. and then the AA battery although CAE suggests Chief Aircraft Engineer and you say he was not made up to L/Sgt until 1942? Interesting though.
Sadly no, I don't think it belonged to my grandad, but thats for checking! What a great manual and a great piece of hostory!
Thanks for checking - it was close! I collect Battle of Britain memorabilia and it is surprisingly affordable and amazing to have original artefacts from such a piece of history. BTW my father was in the Royal Artillery in WW2 on 3.7inch AA guns. He was originally in Hornsey in Essex having joined up before the war started, as coming back through Germany from a holiday in Switzerland in 1938, he saw fields and fields of planes and tanks and decided it would be best to choose the regiment before he was made to go anyway when the war started. However, unfortunately he was posted to Singapore as part of the Hong Kong and Singapore RA, eventually becoming a Japanese POW for nearly four years. I know he had a battery of 3.7inch AA in Singapore but I cannot establish exactly where - I think a lot of the records were burnt as all defeated armies must do. Anyway this is a good place to remember those things.
