The 119th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, (119th LAA Rgt) was an air defence unit of the British Army during World War II. Initially raised as an infantry battalion of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (QORWK) in 1940, it transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1942. It served with 79th Armoured Division and then 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, with which it fought in Normandy (Operation Overlord) and through the campaign in North West Europe until VE Day.

10th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

The unit was originally formed in January 1940 as a company of 14th (Holding) Battalion at Tonbridge in Kent, as part of the rapid expansion of the Army with wartime conscripts. When 14th (H) Battalion was disbanded in May 1940, the company was expanded into 50th Holding Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (QORWK), and converted to a normal infantry battalion on 9 October that year as 11th Battalion, QORWK.Frederick, p. 208. On 8 November it joined 221st Independent Infantry Brigade (Home) when that static defence formation was organised at Chatham, Kent. On 26 February 1941 the brigade was temporarily attached to 2nd Division, at that time serving in the East Riding of Yorkshire as part of I Corps. On 19 March the brigade came under the new Yorkshire County Division formed for coast defence in that area.Joslen, p. 384.Joslen, pp. 40, 117, 223.Collier, Map 20.

221st Brigade was broken up at the end of the year and on 1 February 1942 10th QORWK was transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) to begin retraining as a light anti-aircraft (LAA) regiment equipped with Bofors 40 mm guns.Farndale, Years of Defeat, Annex M.Frederick, pp. 806, 838.

119th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment

The unit was designated 119th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment with 390, 391 and 392 LAA Batteries.Frederick, pp. 806, 838. After initial training it joined Anti-Aircraft Command in February, but left in May before it had been assigned to a brigade.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, with amendments, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 212/80.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/81.

The regiment joined the newly formed 79th Armoured Division in Yorkshire on 10 September 1942.Joslen, p. 30. However, the British Army had already begun to suffer manpower shortages and had more divisions than it could support. 79th Armoured was therefore converted into a holding formation for specialised armour units and gave up its artillery component.Doherty, pp. 35–6. On 18 May 1943, 119th LAA Rgt was transferred to 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division. This was a second-line Territorial Army formation that was being brought up to full establishment as part of Second Army in 21st Army Group preparing for the Allied landings in Normandy (Operation Overlord).Joslen, pp. 58–9.Martin, p. 16.Order of Battle of the Forces in the United Kingdom, Part 2: 21 Army Group, 24 July 1943, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/238.

Overlord training In September 1943, 15th (S) Division moved from Northumberland to a training area in the West Riding of Yorkshire and began a series of training exercises through the winter. In mid-February the whole division participated in a 12-day training exercise (Exercise Eagle) in the Yorkshire Wolds along with the other divisions assigned to VIII Corps.Martin, pp. 17–23. On 14 March 1944 the regiment's three batteries were augmented to a strength of four troops each when 69–71 Trps joined from 340 LAA Bty of 103rd LAA Rgt, which had been broken up. This brought the establishment of Bofors guns up to 72, but before D-Day some LAA regiments began exchanging some of their Bofors for multiple-barrelled 20 mm guns (usually Oerlikons or Polstens).Frederick, p. 836.Routledge, pp. 78, 306. In the case of 119th LAA Rgt, the additional troop to each battery (X, Y and Z) was equipped with 20 mms.119th LAA Rgt War Diary, August 1944. In April 1944 the division moved to its concentration area in Sussex to prepare for embarkation.Martin, pp. 23–8.

Normandy The assault formations of 21st Army Group landed on D Day (6 June). The advanced parties of the regiment (under Lieutenant-Colonel John 'Sailor' Young, who remained in command until the end of the warMartin, p. 61; Appendix B.British Army Officers 1939–1945.) began moving off from Lancing, West Sussex, to their marshalling area. On 16 June they embarked at London Docks: RHQ and 391 Battery HQ (BHQ) with A, B, and C Trps aboard Motor Transport 76 (S81), 392 BHQ, I Trp and few others aboard S59; G and F Trps followed in a later convoy. The transports sailed to Southend-on-Sea and joined a convoy that arrived off Courseulles-sur-Mer (Juno Beach) on the evening of 17 June. Although parts of 15th (S) Division had begun landing on 13 June, the weather deteriorated and the parties of 119th LAA Rgt had to wait aboard ship, subjected to some night bombing, until 23 June when they transferred to a Landing Ship, Tank, and disembarked, losing a few vehicles drowned in the process. RHQ was initially at Esquay-sur-Seulles, then established at Cully next day. A mixed party under the second-in-command was still carrying out reconnaissance and clearing battery positions on 26 June when the division was committed to its first action in the Battle of the Odon (Operation Epsom).119th LAA Rgt War Diary, June 1944.

After the weather delay, Second Army began the 'Epsom' offensive on 25 June, with VIII Corps (including 15th (S) Division) attacking at 07.30 next day to force crossings of the Rivers Orne and Odon. The infantry attacked through fields of crops with tank support behind a Creeping barrage and fought their way into the villages of Cheux and St Manvieu but the Odon bridges were still away at the end of the first day. The party of 119th LAA Rgt preparing positions had been caught by mortar fire, losing one man killed and one officer and three other ranks (ORs) wounded. RHQ moved up to Putot-en-Bessin. Further gains and a narrow bridgehead over the Odon were achieved by bitter fighting next day, by the end of which 15th (S) Division had created a deep salient into the German positions (known as 'Scottish Corridor') without reaching the Orne. Over following days the Germans made repeated attempts to overwhelm the corridor. On 28 June B Trp had to fight as infantry to deal with snipers, killing three and capturing another. On that day a self-propelled (SP) Bofors of G Trp received a direct hit from a mortar with three ORs killed and one wounded. During one attack at Cheux on 29 June, the regiment's forward subunit had to withdraw to the British anti-tank lines, returning to its previous position next day after the attack had been broken by British artillery.Buckley, pp. 77–82.Ellis, Vol I, pp. 275–86.Keegan, pp 166–80.Martin, pp. 30–54.Saunders, Epsom, pp. 23–31, 37–87, 93–100, 112–20.

On 30 June guns from the regiment hit a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (Me 109), which was believed to have crashed. One role for frontline LAA units was to provide 'refuge strips' for air observation post (AOP) aircraft spotting for the field guns: a Bofors troop deployed with Local Warning (LW) radar and ground observers could alert the pilot to the presence of enemy aircraft and provide protection for him. Two Trps of 392 Bty moved forward in this role on 30 June.Routledge, pp. 314, 317. Ultimately the Germans could not take the pounding from concentrated Allied firepower and had to stop their attacks. However, Operation Epsom caused a quarter of all the casualties suffered by 15th (S) Division in the North West Europe campaign.Buckley, p. 82.Keegan, pp 180–1.Martin, pp. 54–7.Saunders, Epsom, pp. 163–76. Casualties were understandably much lighter for the LAA regiment, which was only marginally involved. Nonetheless, between 27 June and 2 July 119th LAA suffered casualties of 1 officer and 4 other ranks (ORs) killed, 1 officer and 5 ORs wounded.Martin, Appendix A.

For the next two months the division fought its way slowly through the Bocage country, capturing Éterville, retaking Gavrus and advancing to Évrecy in Operations Jupiter and Greenline.Ellis, Vol I, p. 334.Martin, pp. 62–78. Since the Allies had achieved air superiority over the beachhead, there was little call for AA defence, and AA units became increasingly used to supplement the divisional artillery to support ground operations. LAA units fired tracer to guide night attacks onto their objectives, and the Bofors guns were much in demand for infantry support. They could give useful close-range fire to help infantry working from cover to cover in the bocage; their rapid fire was good for suppressing enemy heavy weapons, the 40 mm round's sensitive percussion fuze providing an airburst effect among trees. It was also used for 'bunker-busting', though the lack of protection made the gun detachment vulnerable to return fire.

German mortar fire was a particular hazard in the bocage, and 119th LAA Rgt's CO, Lt-Col 'Sailor' Young, was instrumental in setting up a divisional counter-mortar (CM) organisation based initially on the guns of 119th LAA and the communications and 4.2-inch mortars of the divisional machine-gun battalion, 1st Bn Middlesex Regiment, later widened to include other artillery. When incoming fire was received the CM group brought down immediate heavy retaliation against suspected German mortar positions.119th LAA Rgt War Diary, July 1944.Martin, p. 61.

119th LAA Regiment spent mid-July with the divisional artillery in the St Manvieu area, occasionally under shellfire, while it practised the CM scheme and the last parts of the regiment arrived from England. On 11 July A Trp shot down two Me 109s near Verson. On 23 July 15th (S) Division was moved westwards to take part in Operation Bluecoat, aiming to strike southwards from Caumont towards Vire. The attack was launched on 30 July and made good progress, getting onto the Estry and Perrier Ridges to support the advancing armour. 119th LAA Regiment suffered three killed and nine wounded in a clash with an enemy patrol on 1 August. Later, on 6 August, the division supported 43rd (Wessex) Division's seizure of Mont Pinçon.Buckley, pp. 153, 160–5.Daglish, pp. 25–6, 29–54, 170–1.Ellis, Vol I, pp. 388–91, 402, 409.Martin, pp. 78–103.

21st Army Group's manpower shortage and the lack of German aircraft activity led to the divisional LAA regiments being reduced. On 5 August 119th LAA Rgt had to send 54 ORs to a reinforcement holding unit, then it was ordered to send the 20 mm troops (X, Y and Z) and one Bofors troop from each battery (B, D and H) back to England. This left each battery with just two troops of Bofors guns, one towed, one SP.

North West Europe