Home defence As AA Command continued to expand, a new
8th AA Division took over command of the units in the West Country from November 1940. Now the
Luftwaffe stepped up night attacks against British cities, with Bristol receiving frequent raids, particularly heavy in March 1941 (the
Bristol Blitz). At the beginning of 1941 104th HAA Rgt sent a
cadre of experienced officers and men to 207th HAA Training Regiment at
Devizes to provide the basis for a new 411 HAA Bty; this was formed on 16 January and joined the regiment on 10 April. However, 411 HAA Bty was attached to 46 AA Bde (covering Bristol) until July. The regiment sent another cadre to 207th HAA Training Rgt at Devizes, as the basis for 452nd HAA Bty formed on 10 July 1941 to replace 411 HAA Bty. 452 Bty arrived from training on 30 September when 411 Bty joined 127th HAA Rgt. The regiment left for
6th AA Division in South-East England in April 1942, joining
37 AA Bde north of the
Thames Estuary. It was without 452 HAA Bty, which was detached to a new 71 AA Bde and then joined the newly-formed 164th HAA Rgt in July. During October 104th HAA Rgt left 37th AA Bde and was listed as 'unbrigaded' until 21 December when it joined the recently formed 76 AA Bde at
Blandford Camp. 76 AA Brigade did not form part of
Anti-Aircraft Command but came directly under
General Headquarters, Home Forces. Its units were under training for service overseas, attending various practice camps and exercises. 336 HAA Bty was sent on 22 January to be depot battery at
Larkhill Camp, and then on 16 February 329 HAA Bty went to practice at
Poole. On 22 February 76 AA Bde HQ and its units including 104th HAA Rgt were sent a warning order to prepare to mobilise under
War Office (WO) Control, the precursor to being sent overseas. Meanwhile, the training continued during March and April: 104th HAA Rgt sending a demonstration detachment to Larkhill and 336 HAA Bty going to the practice camp at
Aberporth. 329 HAA Bty returned from Larkhill and also went to Aberporth. As other units arrived to train with 76 AA Bde, 104th HAA Rgt mobilised under WO control with the following organisation: • RHQ 104th HAA Rgt • 328, 329, 336 HAA Btys • 104 HAA Signal Detachment,
Royal Corps of Signals • 104 HAA Workshop,
Royal Army Ordnance Corps • 1577 HAA Rgt Platoon,
Royal Army Service Corps At this time the regiment was under the command of
1st Canadian Division.
Sicily and Italy Operation Husky began in July 1943, and 73 AA Bde began landing AA regiments and individual batteries in August. However, errors in embarkation and convoy arrangements meant that some arrived without their vehicles, including one battery of 104th HAA Rgt. By the end of August 73 AA Bde had six regiments in action including 104th HAA, but it only had transport for one and a half. Batteries in the rear were stripped of their transport to supply the mobile units moving up, leaving those left behind barely able to draw ammunition and rations. The Germans carried out a fighting withdrawal to
Messina and then evacuated the island.
Eighth Army then regrouped for
Operation Baytown, to land on the Italian mainland. By now 104th HAA Rgt, still awaiting the arrival of one of its batteries, was stationed defending airfields around
Lentini. It remained on Sicily during the autumn, with all three batteries on airfield defence under 73 AA Bde. In December 1943 104th HAA Rgt moved to mainland Italy under 25 AA Bde. This brigade took over the defences of
Bari which had been greatly strengthened after a disastrous
Air raid on Bari on 2 December. Under 25 AA Bde the port was defended by all three batteries of 104th HAA Rgt and two more from
64th (Northumbrian) HAA Rgt (a total of 40 x 3.7-inch guns), together with 72nd LAA Rgt (54 x
Bofors guns) and 184 '
Z Battery' (12 x 9-barrel rocket launchers), as well as US and Italian searchlights. Bari continued to be raided by the
Luftwaffe, mainly at night, dropping '
Window' to confuse the Allied radar. The HAA batteries'
GL Mk II gunlaying radar was least affected, and their sets were used to direct searchlights as well as HAA guns. 25 AA Brigade also set up a decoy site outside Bari and stationed some of its guns there to attract bombers away from the vital port. By late 1944, the
Luftwaffe was suffering from such shortages of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious air attacks were rare. At the same time the British Army was suffering a severe manpower shortage. The result was that a number of AA units were deemed surplus and were disbanded to provide reinforcements to other arms of service.104th HAA Regiment, with 328 and 329 Btys, was disbanded on 8 September 1944; 336 Bty was disbanded on 18 December that year. Postwar, a new 104 (Mixed) HAA Regiment was formed from the wartime 144th (Mixed) HAA Rgt. This had no connection with the original 104th. ==Footnotes==