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Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiments Royal Artillery, 1939-1945
9 HAA | 27 HAA
 

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.