After initial training, the regiment joined
Anti-Aircraft Command but left in February 1942 before it had been allocated to a brigade. It then came under the command of V Corps once more as the Corps AA regiment. It trained with V Corps during the spring and summer in preparation for mobile warfare overseas, for which it was joined by a
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) workshop sub-section for each battery and a regimental transport platoon of the
Royal Army Service Corps (RASC).
Operation Torch Allied forces began landing in North Africa on 8 November 1942 in
Operation Torch. A series of convoys then brought in the follow-up troops. V Corps' HQ and troops began arriving on 22 November and took over their sector on 6 December; 105th LAA Rgt had landed by 18 December.
Axis air attacks against formations at the front by
divebombers and
fighter-bombers were increasing and were sometimes heavy and damaging, so the need for LAA cover was acute. Moving and deploying AA guns in the rough country with underpowered gun tractors was difficult. Ammunition expenditure by the LAA batteries was high, often wasted by the inexperienced gunners engaging unsuitable targets at long range, and supply was sometimes erratic. With greater experience of 'snap' actions against fast, low-flying aircraft, Bofors gun units increasingly abandoned using the
Kerrison Predictor in favour of the simple 'Stiffkey Stick' deflection sight. Axis air attacks continued through January, but the
First Army's AA resources had been built up by then. The whole of the
22nd AA Brigade (including a battery of 105th LAA Rgt at
Philippeville) was assigned to forward airfield defence for
No. 242 Group RAF, and in addition to divisional and corps LAA units the heavy AA (HAA) batteries of 52nd AA Bde were allocated to frontline defence of V Corps' units. Here, the main tasks were defence of armour and artillery deployment areas and the critical supply and operational routes Spring 1943 brought an improvement for the Allies. The troop build-up allowed a resumption of the offensive. Attacks by V Corps were backed by 11 AA batteries, with 24 HAA and 96 LAA guns. The corps was tasked with securing the ground necessary to open the Oued Zarga–
Medjez el Bab road and then moving on to capture
Longstop Hill, which had defied the
Allies since December. Two weeks of hard slogging followed for V Corps, during which
Junkers Ju 87s and
Messerschmitt Bf 109s were active in low-level
Strafing and tank-busting missions. During the Oued Zarga battle (7–15 April), 15 were shot down in V Corps' deployment area. After V Corps had broken the back of the defence, the First Army began its final offensive on
Tunis (
Operation Vulcan) on 22 April, which involved five days of hard fighting across the
Medjez Plain before the armour could break through. Axis air attacks were maintained until 25 April, doing considerable damage, but tailed off thereafter. By early May, the Axis forces were crumbling, and a final thrust (
Operation Strike) took the First Army into Tunis on 7 May; the Axis forces surrendered on 13 May. During the campaign, all the LAA regiments in the forward areas had been heavily engaged.
Italy 105th LAA Regiment was assigned to
66th AA Bde for the
Italian Campaign. The brigade arrived in late 1943, and its first assignments were to protect the area around
Salerno, where some of the initial landings had been made, and the airfields supporting the operations of the
US Fifth Army up the west side of Italy. As well as 105th LAA Rgt and two HAA regiments, the brigade included three US battalions equipped with Bofors guns. Further additions to its strength were made by January 1944. Once the
Battle of Monte Cassino was finally over in May 1944, the Allied advance was resumed, and the troops in the
Anzio beachhead broke out in June. 66th AA Brigade (including 105th LAA Rgt) handed over its responsibilities at Salerno to 22nd AA Bde, moved up to
Anzio and followed the Fifth Army as far as
Rome. ==Notes==