76th HAA Regt RA, (236, 237, and 349 Batteries)

Hi. Don’t apologise for being picky. My reason for posting is to try and work out my Dads WW2 details. I know he was in the TA before the war started and then I have a record of him joining 76th HAA. He always told me he was a tiffy. An artificer ( same as me actually except i was in the RN). We know he was at El Alemain and at Monte Cassino. We think we moved regiments by then but not sure. He had photos of the abbey etc. He was sent to the rear during cassino with battle fatigue and spent some weeks recovering before joining back into the fight. He also told me about the later battles...attacking the Gustav line. Near the end of his life, my sister, brother and I all managed to get him to speak about his time but we’re still missing so much info.
I have his medals..,they are very shabby now...and am about to get them refurbished and mounted.

 

Hi Tudor, 76th were not at El Alemain, the first of 76th, 236Bty, arriving in Algiers as part of Operation Torch from Glasgow on 8 November, the remainder arriving early December. Do you have a copy of his army record? Just wondering if when he was in 76th he was in 238Bty , which was transferred out of 76th (which ended up in the Middle East) - or whether he was transferred as an individual, and thus appeared at El Alemain.

Medals look good, and certainly tell a story! '39-'45 star, Africa star with clasp, Italy star, Defence medal, War medal, and Territorial Efficiency medal. Defence medal plainly shows he was active during Battle of Britain. What's the number of the clasp, as I cannot read that?

 

Hi. The clasp says 8th Army
Talking with my brother we think dad originally was in the 76th at the start of the war. He was stationed at Bampton and kendel we believe during BoB.
We think he may have transferred after then as he always talked about fixing 25 Pounders which are def not HAA kit. We know he worked on 3.7inch during BoB as he lost his front teeth being hit by a breach recoil whilst working on it.

 

8th Army clasp definitely confirms he had transferred, as 76th were 1st Army. Have you applied for his army record?

 

Do you notice in the picture detailed somewhere in Italy that the one showing the 3.7" mobile crossing a bridge shows a large section of the parapet wall knocked off and lying in the area below.?

 

Something must have bumped it! A tank?

 

we're going to do that. The details on the Territorial medal are 1443388 GNR K.R. Weeks R.A

 

I'm very much looking forward to seeing it. Have you seen that the Portbury site is very much intact and largely untouched as I think it's Port of Bristol land. Google Maps

What was your father's name?

 

attached a photo of a paper article. My dad said he was at the gun. Difficult to see it’s very grainy.

 

That's a great image especially as it shows Portishead in the background. What book is that from? I'd love to track down a copy.

 

some more photos of my Dad in 1939 and a copy of the record of his medals.

 

Records indicate that HAA batteries fired 59,745 rounds in defending Bristol during the course of the war, resulting in only two known aircraft being brought down, both by 76th HAA Regt, many more being brought down by the RAF. Those brought down by HAA fire were:

1. He 111P, Wnr.1525, G1+EP of 6/KG 55 on 25 September 1940, shot down by AA fire from 237/76th HAA Regt. based at Portbury (Bristol B2). The Heinkel’s target had been the British Aircraft Corporation factory at Filton. The aircraft was abandoned by the crew once it had been hit, it crashing at Racecourse Farm, Failand, near Bristol at 11.50 hrs. Only one of the crew survived, although injured, being Hptm. Helmut Brandt who became a prisoner of war.

2. Ju 88A-5, Wnr.7134, of I/KG 5 shot down whilst targeting Avonmouth on 16 March 1941, hit by fire from ‘A’ Troop, 236 Battery, located on the Gordano gun site (Bristol B1 3), Markham Farm. The plane subsequently struck a cable of a barrage balloon, breaking off its port wing, before it crashed at Portbury Wharf, Somerset. No crew survived.

The number of rounds fired with only two aircraft confirmed as destroyed as a result of these actions seems enormous, but the effect of flak keeping the enemy away from their targets cannot be underestimated, whilst additionally drawing the attention of RAF fighters to the location of the raiders.

 

Were there more pictures of Portbury as they didn't upload unfortunately?

I thought you may be interested in my grandfather's account of Portbury:
After three weeks at a site in Filton (behind where the Premier Inn is I believe), armed with a couple of Lewis guns, he moved down to the Portbury site as the 3.7" guns had arrived. They were under the eye of a (unnamed) Sgt-Major who was determined to break them, which was unsuccessful and ended in an 'armed truce' until he left. After getting their new guns they had to be 'proved' and were done so with 2 rounds which blew the windows out of the newly erected huts. This was the first time that most of the men had heard the guns firing so it was quite an experience. It was then a long time until they were fired again (although, as HAARA describes above, one was successful in knocking out an HE111).

The next few months were largely uneventful so were filled with kit inspection, drills, guard mounting and fatigues but what my grandfather found most frustrating was being ordered to do completely pointless tasks just to keep them occupied. This changed in the spring when they did a tour of the south coast and saw a lot more action at places such as Tangmere.

 

Here's two more images of the gun crew that I've found - although they weren't scanned at very high res (I will need to get into my parents' house to correct this!) so it's hard to pick out faces. I'd have thought they were at Portbury as you'd imagine the novelty of posing for photos in front of the gun would wear off.

 

Fabulous!

 

Just in case you are wondering, the Sgt Major was not John Kemp, as he had not joined the Regt at this time.

 

I've had a very quick look at the 76th war diary, and it would seem that 237 was only briefly at Portbury at the outset of the war before being sent to firing camp. After training it appears that the battery then moved to Gordano, and wonder whether this was where the photos were taken as they look quite confident?

 

237 were certainly at Portbury in December 1939 as that's how the photos are labelled. Yes, I knew it couldn't be John Kemp! Looks like it could have been W/RSM Cooper who was sent to Shoreham in December 39.

 

My grandfather says he was inspired to join the TA because of posters proclaiming 'Join the Ack Ack and Defend Bristol'. I've not been able to find such a poster but I've been searching pre-war newspapers for mentions of Anti-Aircraft and have found a few interesting articles. Both are from the Weston Daily Press: the first is an advert for more recruits; the second gives details of their departure to a training camp (which my grandfather talks about) which would end up being cut short by the invasion of Poland.

 

And a couple from 1938.