25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) formed in Liverpool just before the outbreak of World War II. It saw active service in the Western Desert Campaign, losing a battery at the Battle of Gazala, and then joined 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division for the assault landings in Sicily (Operation Husky) and Normandy (Operation Overlord). It ended the war with 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division in Germany, and was reformed in the postwar TA, eventually merging with other Liverpool units.
Origin
The regiment had its origin in the 12th Lancashire Battery of the 3rd West Lancashire Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, headquartered at 65 Admiral Street, Toxteth, Liverpool. The '3rd West Lancs' had fought on the Western Front in World War I as part of 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division and then as an independent 'Army' field brigade. After the old Territorial Force was reconstituted as the Territorial Army (TA) in 1921, the units were redesignated, the battery becoming 353 (12th West Lancashire) Field Battery in 89th (3rd West Lancashire) Field Brigade of the Royal Artillery (RA).Frederick, p. 523.Monthly Army List, various dates.Litchfield, p. 125.Liverpool and Merseyside Remembered.3rd West Lancashire Artillery at Regiments.org.
In the late 1930s the need for improved anti-aircraft (AA) defences for Britain's cities became apparent, and a programme of converting some existing TA units was pushed forward. In October 1937 89th Field Brigade (now based at Tramway Road, Aigburth, Liverpool) became 70th (3rd West Lancashire) Anti-Aircraft Brigade. Three of the batteries were equipped with 3-inch guns, later defined as Heavy AA (HAA), while 353 Field Battery became 225 (12th West Lancashire) Light Anti-Aircraft Battery. At this stage Light AA (LAA) units were armed with Light machine guns (AALMGs), but the new Bofors 40 mm gun was on order.Frederick, p. 773.Routledge, pp. 52–5.
The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis, with units manning their emergency positions within 24 hours, even though many did not yet have their full complement of men or equipment. The emergency lasted three weeks, and they were stood down on 13 October.Routledge, pp. 62–3. The TA was doubled in size after the Munich Crisis, and on 23 June 1939, 225 LAA Bty was expanded to form 25th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment consisting of 81 and 82 LAA Btys in addition to 225.Frederick, pp. 801, 803, 824.Litchfield, p. 131.
World War II Mobilisation and Phoney War In June 1939, as the international situation worsened, a partial mobilisation of the TA was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA sites. On 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war, Anti-Aircraft Command was fully mobilised at its war stations, with LAA units distributed to defend Vulnerable Points (VPs) such as factories and airfields.Routledge, pp. 65–6, 371. 25th LAA Regiment was part of a new 53rd Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade that was forming in 4th Anti-Aircraft Division, responsible for defending the industrial areas of North West England.AA Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.Routledge, Table LX, p. 378. During the period of the Phoney War the AA defences of NW England were not tested in action, and the time was spent in equipping and training the TA units.
Egypt After the entry of Italy into the war in June 1940 there was an urgent need to reinforce British forces in the Middle East, and a series of convoys began shipping troops (including AA units) on the six-week journey via the Cape of Good Hope and the Red Sea to Egypt.Farndale, pp. 117–9.Playfair, Vol I, pp. 190–2.Playfair, Vol I, pp. 244–5.Routledge, pp. 127–30. 25th LAA Regiment was one of the first units selected and arrived early in 1941. By then the Italian invasion of Egypt had been defeated, but the commitments of Middle East Forces were widening, including campaigns in East Africa and Greece, and the Siege of Malta. On 4 March 1941 225 LAA Bty was put on 12 hours' notice to move to Malta. On 16 March it left El Tahag Camp and moved by rail to the Alexandria area. On 17 March the first party boarded a transport that sailed to Haifa and then in a convoy to Malta. On 20 March the rest of the battery embarked in Royal Navy warships which met the transports from Haifa. The convoy was divebombed on 21 March without serious damage, and docked in Malta on 23 March. The battery proceeded to St Andrews Barracks where it became part of 74th LAA Rgt, which had been formed on the island the previous month.Rollo, p. 215; Annex A, p. 325. It served throughout the Siege of Malta and later took part in the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.Routledge, Table XLII, p. 267; Table XLIV, p. 293.
Meanwhile, 25th LAA Rgt was brought back to strength on 14 March by the addition of A Bty from 102nd (Northumberland Hussars) LAA/Anti-Tank Rgt, which formed 274 (Northumberland Hussars) LAA Bty. (102 (NH) Regiment continued as a pure anti-tank (A/T) unit thereafter).Frederick, pp. 804, 846.Northumberland Hussars at Regiments.org.
Towards the end of January the Luftwaffe had begun attacking the Suez Canal from Italian bases on Rhodes, dropping magnetic and acoustic mines at night to disrupt shipping in the canal. Most of the vital supplies and reinforcements therefore had to be landed at Suez rather than passing through the canal.Playfair, Vol I, pp. 326–8.Playfair, Vol II, pp. 226–7. Defending against these attacks was an obvious role for searchlights (S/Ls) and LAA guns, but the numbers required for complete coverage were excessive. The compromise plan involved siting single S/Ls on either side of the canal at intervals, with additional rows on the flanks spaced at 5-6000-yard intervals. Thus illumination was restricted to a belt along the length of the canal. Fighter aircraft were to provide the main defence, but the need to defend against low-level raids led to the deployment of single Bofors guns spaced at intervals of about yards on the banks of the narrow stretches of the canal. 25th LAA Regiment was given responsibility under 2 AA Bde for the 'Canal North' sector with its commanding officer (CO), Lieutenant-Colonel F.L. Orme, appointed as AA Defence Commander (AADC).Farndale, Annex F.Routledge, pp. 134–5.
Occasional bombing raids by Junkers Ju 88s flying from Greece against Suez began in July and became almost nightly in August and September. The targets were the Port Tewfik dock installations, the oil refinery, railway marshalling yards, Shallufa Airfield and shipping at the anchorage in the bay.Playfair, Vol II, pp. 298-301. During September and October the AA defences were strengthened further and by the end of October 81 LAA Bty with its 12 Bofors was operating in the Suez and Shallufa area under AADC Suez. By this time the Canal defences had absorbed 96 LAA guns and 66 S/Ls.Routledge, Table XXII, p. 143.
Gazala In October 1941 25th LAA Rgt transferred to 12 AA Bde which had been reorganised as a mobile formation to provide AA cover for Eighth Army and the landing grounds (LGs) of Desert Air Force during the new British offensive into Libya (Operation Crusader). 'Crusader' began on 18 November 1941, and 12 AA Bde's units moved up behind the advance, spread over many LGs and other VPs. Despite a counter-attack by Gen Erwin Rommel that created confusion among the leading LAA units, Eighth Army attacked again, relieving the Siege of Tobruk and capturing the LGs around Sidi Rezegh, where 12 AA Bde established itself.Routledge, pp. 135–9.
There was then a pause in the fighting as both sides regrouped. Eighth Army established defensive positions along the Gazala Line. By 22 May 1942, 25 LAA Rgt with 81, 82 and 274 (NH) LAA Btys was listed as 'Army Troops' attached to the recently arrived 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division occupying part of this line.Order of Battle of Eighth Army, May–August 1942, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 201/692.Joslen, pp. 81–2. The Gazala Line consisted of a series of occupied 'boxes' each of brigade strength set out across the desert with minefields and barbed wire watched by regular patrols between the boxes. 51st (N) Division was operating as three independent brigade groups, each with an attached LAA battery. 81 LAA Battery was with 150th Brigade at Sidi Muftah in the centre of the line, with a gap of to 1st Free French Brigade's box at Bir Hakeim in the south, and to 51st (N) Division's 69th Bde in the north, then 151st Bde was stationed just north west of 69th. The Gazala Line was not equally manned, a greater number of troops covering the coast route leaving the south less well guarded.Playfair, Vol III, pp. 215–7, 227; Map 25.
Rommel attacked on 26 May, launching the Battle of Gazala. The German advance was spotted at first light on 27 May. While the northern boxes were pinned by direct attacks, the bulk of the Axis armour swung round Bir Hakeim. The ensuing armoured fighting (the Battle of the Cauldron) therefore occurred to the east, behind 150th Bde's positions. By the evening of 28 May it was clear that 150th Bde was going to be attacked from this direction, and it prepared for all-round defence, reinforced by a few tanks. Early on 30 May elements of the Afrika Korps attempted to break through the position but drew off after taking losses. Next day the Italian Trieste Division and German 90th Light Division attacked, but made little progress against a defence that they described as 'skilful and stubborn'. On 1 June Rommel reinforced the attackers with the 21st Panzer Division and more artillery, and the assault was resumed after heavy dive-bombing. Early in the afternoon 150th Bde was overrun by a series of concentric attacks, the brigadier was killed, and the survivors including most of 81 LAA Bty became prisoners of war.Joslen, p. 334.Playfair, Vol III, pp. 223, 226–8; Map 26.
The battle raged around the remaining boxes for several days until the Axis broke through on 13 June. On the night of 14/15 June the rest of 50th (N) Division broke out of its boxes and escaped towards the Egyptian frontier. 25th LAA Regiment's Royal Army Service Corps transport section had been with 69th (Royal Warwickshire) Heavy AA Rgt in Tobruk. On 16 June, 69th HAA Rgt was ordered back to the Egyptian border with its attached units: the convoy drove through the night to Sollum and therefore escaped the surrender of Tobruk four days later.69 HAA Rgt War Diary 1942, TNA file WO 169/4799.Playfair, Vol III, pp. 251–275.
81 LAA Battery was not reformed after the battle; it was reduced to a cadre in September 1942 and was later placed in suspended animation. 25th LAA Regiment, with its two remaining batteries, was with XXX Corps in August, then returned to 12 AA Bde's command, while 34th LAA Rgt took over as 50th (N) Division's LAA component for the Battle of Alamein. Indeed, 25th LAA Rgt remained in the rear and was not up with 12 AA Bde when the battle began on 23 October.Order of Battle of Eighth Army, August 1942, TNA file WO 201/692.Order of Battle of Eighth Army, October 1942, TNA file WO 201/693.Joslen, p. 569.Routledge, Table XXIII, p. 161.
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