9th (Londonderry) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA
initially: 9th Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA
Commanding Officer
| Lt.Col. G.L.S. Smith | 01.01.1939 - 10.04.1941 |
| Lt.Col. L.C. Aitken | 21.04.1941 - 05.1944 |
| Lt.Col. R.C. Mayhew | 30.06.1944 - 10.1945 |
| Lt.Col. J.O. Horne | 10.1945 - 10.1945 |
| Lt.Col. R.J. Longfield | 10.1945 - 1947 |
Consisted of
| 24th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 01.01.1939 - 04.1947 |
| 25th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 01.01.1939 - 04.1947 |
| 26th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 01.01.1939 - 04.1947 |
| 6th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 01.01.1939 - 11.1939 |
| 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 11.1939 - 15.10.1940 |
| 20th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 11.1939 - 1941 |
| 5th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery RA | 09.05.1940 - ? |
Served under
| GHQ Middle East Forces | 11.1939 - 18.05.1940 |
| Brigadier, Anti-Aircraft (BAA), Middle East | 18.05.1940 - ? |
| 2nd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, British Troops Egypt | under this command in 01.1941 * |
| 9th Army, Palestine / Syria | 06.08.1942 - early 12.1942 |
| 8th Army, North Africa | 12.1942 - ? (for a time it came under command of the CRA 51st (Highland) Division) |
| 2nd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Tripoli | 23.01.1943 - 01.08.1943 |
| 12th Anti-Aircraft Brigade, X Corps | 01.08.1943 - ? |
| 66th Anti-Aircraft Brigade, AFHQ Troops, Italy & the Balkans | (06.1944) - 29.08.1944 |
| 32nd Anti-Aircraft Brigade, 5th AA Group, AA Command | 11.1944 - 01.1945 |
| 65th Anti-Aircraft Brigade, 5th AA Group, AA Command | 01.1945 - 05.1945 |
* Note that two sections (E & F) 25 HAA Bty had been detached to 7th Armd Div on 7 May 1940. These were then transferred to Port Sudan in June and were followed in August by the remainder of the Battery. On return to Egypt 25 Battery was sent to Mersa Matruh and then to Sidi Barrani under command XIII Corps. The Battery did not return to Alexandria until October 1941 having been, briefly, part of the newly-created Eighth Army.
Theatres of operations
| Northern Ireland (Londonderry) | 1939 |
| Alexandria Sub-Area, Delta, Egypt | (01.1940) - (06.1940) |
| No. 1 Lines of Communications District, Delta, Egypt | (01.1941) - (07.1943) |
| Italy & the Balkans | (09.1943) - (04.1944) |
Literature
| Doherty, Richard | Wall of Steel. The History of the 9th (Londonderry) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery (SR). (North-West Books, Limavady, 1988) |
| Farndale, General Sir Martin, KCB | History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat, 1939–1941 (Brassey’s, London, 1996) |
| Gamble, Ronnie | The Coleraine Battery. The History of 6 Light Anti-Aircraft Battery RA (SR) 1939–1945 (Causeway Museum Service, Coleraine, 2006) |
| Routledge, Brigadier N W, OBE TD | History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery, 1914–1955 (Brassey’s, London, 1994) |
| Sherrard, William | The War Diary of William Sherrard, 9th (Londonderry) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery (SR) (North-West Archaeological and Historical Society, 2006) |
Thanks to Mr Richard Doherty for providing the information.