8th KOYLI left 218th Bde on 6 November 1941 and transferred to the
Royal Artillery (RA) to begin retraining in the light anti-aircraft (LAA) role: on 15 November it became
94th LAA Regiment, consisting of Regimental Headwquarters (RHQ) and 323–325 LAA Batteries, equipped with
Bofors 40 mm guns. Surplus men were drafted on 26 November to 211th Heavy AA Training Regiment at
Oswestry where they joined a new 494 (Mixed) Heavy AA Bty that was being formed for
143rd (Mixed) HAA Rgt ('Mixed' indicating that women from the
Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated into the unit's personnel). After initial training the regiment joined
Anti-Aircraft Command, but left before it had been allocated to a brigade. It was assigned to
Guards Armoured Division on 27 January 1942, initially to the
Guards Support Group, which became HQ Royal Artillery of the division on 1 June. The divisional history comments that the regiment 'had the difficult task of training for a completely new and unfamiliar role'.
Overlord training At the time, Guards Armoured Division was stationed in
Southern Command, For example, early in 1943 94th LAA Rgt manned operational gunsites in the
Southampton area, until it was relieved on 9 February by another divisional LAA unit,
89th LAA Rgt of
49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. 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. On 14 March 1944 the regiment's three batteries were augmented to a strength of four troops each when 262 LAA Bty (formerly of
62nd LAA Rgt) joined and was broken up to form 54–56 Trps. This brought the establishment of Bofors guns up to 72, but before D-Day some LAA regiments. began exchanging Bofors for multiple-barrelled 20 mm guns (usually
Oerlikons or
Polstens).
Normandy Guards Armoured Division landed in Normandy between 25 and 30 June. It was during that afternoon (19 July) that the regiment scored its first 'kill' when a formation attempted to attack
32nd Guards Brigade HQ: 324 LAA Bty 'sent one crashing down in flames and the rest made off hurriedly, two of them smoking and losing height. During the next two days two more aircraft definitely fell to the regiment and three more were damaged'. 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; the 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. LAA units also provided 'refuge strips' for
air observation post aircraft spotting for the field guns: a Bofors troop deployed with Local Warning radar and ground observers could alert the pilot to the presence of enemy aircraft and provide protection for him. The German front began to break up at the end of July. Guards Armoured was deployed to support
II Canadian Corps's
Operation Spring on 25 July but did not get into action. It was then shifted west as British
Second Army began its move south (
Operation Bluecoat) on 30 July. On the afternoon of 31 July Guards Armoured was ordered out of its assembly points north of
Caumont to advance on
11th Armoured Division's flank. By evening it was in contact with the enemy south-east of
St Martin and next day, despite traffic jams, it secured its objectives after some hard fighting. Its reconnaissance elements pushed further forward through 'mortar gulch' on 2 August. The advance lost impetus, with hard fighting round Arclais and
Estry, but by 11 August the division was pushing its way south from
Vire. After Bluecoat, the Canadians'
Operation Totalize completed the breakout and much of the German army was trapped in the
Falaise Pocket.
21st Army Group then began a rapid advance across northern France, with Guards Armoured driving over in under 24 hours to seize a bridge over the
River Somme at
Corbie on 31 August. It carried on into Belgium,
liberating Brussels by the end of 3 September. Opposition hardened at the
Albert Canal, but the Guards seized a bridgehead over it.
Market Garden Guards Armoured Division was chosen to spearhead
XXX Corps in the ground part of
Operation Market Garden (beginning on 17 September) to link up a series of bridgeheads captured by airborne troops as far as
Arnhem on the
Nederrijn. British AA units only played a small role in the ensuing battle, except insofar as a large number of captured bridges and bridging sites along the route had to be given AA protection, as did the strung-out road columns, which also came under ground attack. On the afternoon of 19 September there was a short sharp battle with 15 aircraft near
Malden, when A Trp shot down two in full view of the guardsmen on the road. Early the following morning B and D Trps fought six
Focke-Wulf Fw 190s that attacked the 32nd Guards Bde column while it was halted on the
Grave bridge. The Bofors were in the road column, which was blocked by three lines of traffic, but 'they provided an exemplary display of snap-action', shooting down one aircraft immediately, while another crashed further off.
100th AA Brigade took over most of these commitments once its units forced their way forward through the traffic and roadblocks. This was particularly the case at the
Nijmegen bridges, which were the lifeline to Guards Armoured Division and other formations that had been brought to a halt on 'The Island' short of the Nederrijn. The bridge area came under heavy air attack in the following days. When the Germans began their Ardennes Offensive (the
Battle of the Bulge) in December, Guards Armoured Division was moved to block their possible advance over the
River Meuse The
Luftwaffe was more active than for many weeks, mainly attacking bridges and US Army positions. On 1 January 1945 it launched
Operation Bodenplatte, with hundreds of single-engined fighter-bombers attacking at low level. The main targets were Allied airfields, but there were engagements by Allied fighters and LAA units all over 21st Army Group's area, with dozens of aircraft shot down. The only serious attack in Guards Armoured's area was on a US airfield at
St Trond. 94th LAA Regiment's Q Troop, attached to
153rd (Leicestershire Yeomanry) Field Rgt, broke up this attack, destroying one aircraft that came down in the gun area and hitting two others. This brought the regiment's score to 40 destroyed and 12 confirmed damaged in the campaign so far, a creditable record given the generally low level of enemy air activity. GHQ AA Troops for 21st Army Group reported that '40 mm LAA had the time of its life'.
Germany During the winter Guards Armoured's artillery trained on the newly opened ranges at
Lommel. 94th LAA regiment concentrated on ground shooting with their Bofors guns, which was becoming more important. Guards Armoured Division was part of XXX Corps' reserve for the offensive into the
Reichswald (
Operation Veritable) beginning on 7 February 1945. Conditions in the forest were so bad that only the division's infantry went in, on 14 February. On 22 February the rest of the division was still waiting to be called forward. Finally on 5 March it passed through and captured Bonninghardt and its commanding ground, then next day it broke through the German lateral line after stiff fighting. By the end of Veritable the Allies had closed up to the
Rhine. By this stage of the war divisional LAA regiments had started to receive quadruple
0.5-inch Browning machine guns on SP mountings (the
M51 Quadmount) in place of a proportion of their Bofors guns, to improve their capability against 'snap' attacks by the new German jet fighter-bombers. Under this arrangement a troop comprised four SP or towed Bofors and two quadruple SP Brownings. Although Guards Armoured was not scheduled to take part in the assault crossing of the Rhine (
Operation Plunder) – it would have to wait for bridges to be built before it could get its armour across – 94th LAA Rgt played a full part with the other follow-up divisions' LAA units in the 'Pepperpot'. This was a bombardment by massed LAA and A/T guns, machine guns and mortars of all calibres to saturate the enemy positions in front of the assaulting infantry, while the field and medium artillery concentrated on specific targets. Four troops of 94th LAA Rgt took part, moving up close to the river the night before under cover of darkness. The LAA units also fired lines of tracer to guide the
Buffaloes across the wide river in the dark. Once the bridgeheads were established, Guards Armoured Division passed through
15th (Scottish) Infantry Division on 30 March and began driving across Germany with XXX Corps heading for
Bremen. After dealing with rearguards one brigade had to fight hard for
Bad Bentheim while the other brigade made a quick night dash for
Lingen. The bridge over the
River Ems had been blown, but another was found. By 6 April the division was driving onwards again towards
Cloppenburg. During these advances the
Luftwaffe attacked bridging sites, artillery positions and road movements. For the divisional LAA guns most of these involved 'snap' actions, against low-flying attackers using cloud cover, and often using jet aircraft. Guards Armoured Division was transferred to
XII Corps to fight its way through
Visselhövede to cut Bremen off, and then drove on to capture
Zeven. The numbers of
Luftwaffe attacks on the advancing divisions peaked in the last week of the war before the
German surrender at Lüneburg Heath came on 4 May. Guards Armoured's gunners celebrated the surrender by choosing a deserted area and firing into it a
Feu de joie codenamed 'Fire Plan Grand Finale'. This consisted of shells from every gun of every calibre within range, followed by smoke shells of every available colour. The units of 21st Army Group were then engaged in occupation duties. This required infantry rather than firepower, so on 12 June Guards Armoured Division gave up its tanks and other armoured vehicles and became simply 'Guards Division', in which 94th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment continued to serve without its Bofors guns. It was still serving in
British Army of the Rhine when it was disbanded on 16 January 1946. ==Commanding Officers==