Mobilisation In June 1939, as the international situation deteriorated, a partial mobilisation of
Anti-Aircraft Command was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each TA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA positions. 99th (LW) AA Regiment was embodied under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel J.M. Davies,
MC, at Iverna Gardens on 19 August and went to the AA Practice Camp at
Aberporth in Wales. On 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war, AA Command was fully mobilised at its war stations. The regiment returned by train and established RHQ at 31 Mitcham Lane,
Streatham, with 302 AA Bty taking over gunsite ZS17 at
Mitcham, and 303 AA Bty at ZS15 (
Norbury) and ZS13 (
Shirley). The regiment formed part of
48 AA Brigade in
1 AA Division tasked with defending London.
Phoney War During the
Phoney War period there were numerous changes of battery locations around south and south-east London, with RHQ moving to the Wickham Court Hotel,
West Wickham, in September. There was a shortage of heavy AA (HAA) guns, and 302 AA Bty spent periods manning AA
Light machine guns (AALMGs) at
Tolworth and
Kingston Vale (October 1939) and
Cricklewood (April 1940) before returning to man HAA gunsites. One of the HAA sites taken over was at
Hayes Common, equipped with
3-inch guns. In May 1940 an official photographer pictured 303 AA Battery manning guns at this site. On 15 February 1940, the regiment sent a
cadre of officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to 218 AA Training Rgt at
Oswestry, where it became the basis of 318 AA By, formed on 22 February and regimented on 1 April as the third battery of 99th (LW) AA Rgt. The new battery first went to
Towyn AA practice camp on 15 April and then to
54th (City of London) AA Rgt's area for training on
4.5-inch guns at site ZS4 (
Bostall Heath). On 15 May, 318 AA Bty took over sites ZS14 (
Dulwich) and ZS16 (
Clapham) from 54th AA Rgt and established Battery HQ at College Road, Dulwich. In April, Lt-Col R.B. Rowett, MC, a Regular Army officer, took over as Commanding Officer (CO) of the regiment. In July 1940 there were almost daily attacks on shipping off the East Coast. In August, while the
Battle of Britain was progressing by day over
Kent and
Essex,
Luftwaffe seaplanes regularly dropped
parachute mines in the harbours and estuaries by night, which 29 AA Bde's guns and S/Ls attempted to counter. The HAA sites'
GL Mk I gunlaying radar proved useful in spotting these raiders. On 15 August
Erprobungsgruppe 210 slipped through to attack
RAF Martlesham Heath and got away without loss, despite being engaged by the Harwich AA guns while withdrawing. The number of HAA guns at Harwich dwindled from 15 on 21 August to 8 on 11 September as 6 AA Division redeployed them to guard the RAF's vital fighter airfields.
Blitz As the
Luftwaffe shifted from attacking airfields to raiding London in September (the beginning of the
London Blitz), 303 HAA Bty was sent to reinforce the city's defences, first taking over two gunsites in East London under the command of
8th (Belfast) HAA Rgt, where it fired large numbers of rounds, mostly at night. The rest of the regiment sent reinforcements to this hard-pressed battery. It also sent another cadre to 211th AA Training Rgt at Oswestry to form 380 HAA Bty (this later joined
109th HAA Rgt). On 27 October another daylight raid was made on Martlesham by about 40
Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter-bombers, which were engaged by the HAA guns on their way in and out. The regiment claimed that the raiders were disrupted by the fire, and the bomb damage was slight. Later that day three
Dornier Do 17s came in low to machine-gun site H12. Gunner Stanley Martin, manning the site's close defence AALMG, held his fire until one was close, and then fired a full drum into it, causing it to crash in the
River Stour. Gunner Martin was later awarded the
Military Medal. This was the first of a number of low-level attacks on coastal AA sites during the winter. On 29 October 303 Bty (now at Mitcham) suffered casualties when site ZS17 was bombed. During November the battery moved around London, relieving gunners on different sites as the
Luftwaffe continued to pound the city by night. 303 HAA Battery rejoined the regiment during December, being sent to man 3-inch gunsites at
RAF North Weald (under 29 AA Bde) and
RAF Wattisham (under
6 AA Bde). In January 1941 the regiment established a Regimental Training Depot at site H4 (
Shotley) and took in its first intake of new recruits. The regiment was credited with a number of 'kills' during February. RHQ was established at
St Margaret's Hope,
South Ronaldshay, with 302 HAA Bty at sites R1 and R2 on South Ronaldshay, 303 HAA Bty at R3 on South Ronaldshay and at B1 on
Burray, 318 HAA Bty at F1 and F2 on
Flotta. The gunsites practised firing a 'Fleet Barrage', but the only
Luftwaffe aircraft generally seen were single reconnaissance flights that were fired at with occasional claims of damage inflicted. The regiment sent another cadre to 211th HAA Training Regiment at
Oswestry for a new 519 (Mixed) HAA Bty ('Mixed' units were those into which women from the
Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated). This was formed on 13 January 1942 and later joined
152nd (Mixed) HAA Rgt. The regiment's tour of duty in Orkney came to an end in August 1942, when RHQ, 302 and 303 HAA Btys were relieved by
119th HAA Rgt and embarked on
SS Amsterdam for
Invergordon. It then went to take over four gunsites at St Botolphs near
Milford Haven by 14 August, where it came under
67 AA Bde in
3 AA Group. 318 HAA Battery remained in OSDEF under the command of 119th HAA Rgt, while 99th (LW) Rgt was joined by 399 HAA Bty from
138th HAA Rgt. At the end of the month Lt-Col P. Hodder-Williams,
MBE, replaced Lt-Col Rowett as CO.
Mobile training artillery tractor towing a 3.7-inch HAA gun during training in 1944. 318 HAA Battery returned to the regiment in place of 399 HAA Bty in mid-September, though it was posted at
Port Talbot under
45 AA Bde. RHQ and 302 HAA Bty moved to
Margam Castle on 29 September, leaving 303 HAA Bty at Milford Haven under a
Royal Marines brigade HQ. While at Milford Haven the regiment had been joined by a Workshop Section of the
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), a precursor to becoming a mobile unit, and on 3 October it was informed that it was on the mobile roster. The regiment moved to Bentham House at
Shurdington, near
Cheltenham, to begin the first phase of mobilisation, while the batteries remained operational under AA Command (303 HAA Bty in the
Swansea GDA and 318 HAA Bty in the
Gloucester GDA). Additional drivers were posted to the regiment, and the Gun Tractor Vehicles (GTVs) collected mobile
3.7-inch guns for training, while parties were sent to a Battle Training School at
Leighton Buzzard. On 24 December the whole regiment concentrated at
Wotton Underwood for a month's battle training, followed by a month's mobile training with
11 AA Bde at
Leigh-on-Sea. Afterwards it went to Norton Court near
Bristol, and then to
Headingley,
Leeds, where the order for full mobilisation was received on 13 March 1943 and it came under
War Office control. By July it was part of
21st Army Group training for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe (
Operation Overlord), in which it was designated a semi-mobile unit. It was usual for AA units to be lent back to AA Command for operational use when not engaged in training. From the end of April to 1 June 302 and 318 HAA Btys deployed to positions defending
Lincoln under
50 AA Bde, and 303 HAA Bty to
York under
31 AA Bde. Then after a month at the AA Practice Camp at Aberporth, the regiment deployed around
Canterbury under
104 AA Bde covering large-scale exercises in Kent until the end of September when it carried out sea firing at
Ramsgate. There were long-distance moves to Yorkshire and to
Redesdale Practice Camp (where the gunners trained in anti-tank and ground shooting) before the regiment returned to Ramsgate and then moved to
Eastbourne by the end of the year.
Normandy The command and reconnaissance groups of the regiment embarked with their vehicles on Motor Transport (MT) ships 77 and 102 at
Tilbury Docks on 5–6 June and landed at
Arromanches-les-Bains in Normandy on 9 June (D + 3) followed the next day by all but six of the regiment's guns. Eight of the regiment's guns were deployed to Port-en-Bessin on 11 June, and B Troop fired the regiment's first rounds on ground targets in the village of
Hottot-les-Bagues. The remainder of the regiment's guns arrived the same day, and the REME workshop landed on 14 June amid shellfire and high waves that 'drowned' most of their vehicles, which had to be recovered. During July the regiment submitted a number of claims of bombers and fighter-bombers shot down, as well as one
V-1 flying bomb. The rear echelon of the regiment arrived from Tilbury on 18 July aboard MT 41 (the
Empire Canyon).
Belgium 101 AA Brigade HQ handed over responsibility for Cherbourg on 4 September and immediately set out for
Brussels, which had been liberated the day before, but 99th (LW) HAA Rgt had to wait until 111th HAA Rgt and its equipment had all arrived before moving out on 10 September. It
bivouacked near
Rouen until 14 September, awaiting the fall of
Boulogne; the CO was appointed AADC-designate of Boulogne. However, the regiment was then ordered into Belgium, reaching Ostend on 18 September, where it took on a joint AA and coastal defence (CD) role under
75 AA Bde 99th (LW) HAA Regiment remained at Ostend, with 318 HAA Bty at
Middelkerke, throughout October and November. Apart from occasional AA engagements there was little action, but the regiment received the new Radar No 3 Mark V (the
SCR-584 radar set) and No 10 Predictor (the all-electric
Bell Labs AAA Computer), which had proved their value in AA Command's
Operation Diver against V-1 flying bombs (codenamed 'Divers'). Brussels was now under heavy attack by V-1s and on 1 December the regiment was rejoined by 1671 Pln RASC and prepared to rejoin 101 AA Bde in the Diver or 'X' defences of that city. The regiment began the move to
Louvain, near Brussels, on 5 December, and took over 'very poor' sites where 'the mud was indescribable'. When the Germans began their offensive in the
Ardennes in December 1944 (the
Battle of the Bulge) and briefly threatened to break through to
Antwerp,
80 AA Bde (which was operating the Diver early warning radar system) was warned to prepare to convert into an
Army Group Royal Artillery (AGRA) at short notice. AGRAs were groups of (usually) medium and heavy artillery held at
Corps level. If necessary, 99th (LW) HAA Rgt would come under that formation operating in the medium artillery and anti-tank (A/T) role supporting
11th Armoured Division and
3 AGRA. The brigade would also be responsible for the ground defence of the approaches to
Tirlemont, taking anti-paratroop measures. The regiment established the necessary observation posts (OPs) and A/T positions, but they were not required. Despite concerted attacks on nearby airfields by
Luftwaffe fighters on 1 January (
Operation Bodenplatte), the ground situation was well under control and the AGRA and local defence plans were cancelled on that day.
Netherlands The vital port of Antwerp was the main 'Diver' target, and the number of V-1s launched against Brussels declined sharply after December. In January the regiment was released from the 'X' defences and moved up to
Helmond in the
Netherlands. Despite bad weather and campsites, the regiment came into action on 9 January, with 303 HAA Bty firing in the ground role at
Overloon. Over the following weeks the battery was engaged as medium artillery firing percussion-fused and airburst high explosive (HE) rounds in support of
II Canadian Corps and
VIII British Corps, sometimes carrying out several shoots a day against targets of opportunity. The intensity of this work increased on 8 February with the opening of
First Canadian Army's offensive in the
Reichswald (
Operation Veritable) when the battery's 8 guns frequently fired over 1000 rounds per day. On 27 February the regiment (less 303 HAA Bty still operating the ground role) moved to
Roosendaal to join the Antwerp 'X' defences, with four 4-gun sites constantly in action against V-1s and occasional
Messerschmitt Me 262 reconnaissance jets during early March. By April the Diver offensive was virtually over, and on 17 April the regiment moved to
South Beveland to join the defences of the
Scheldt estuary under 76 AA Bde. F ('Fox') Troop of 318 HAA Bty was detached to
North Beveland where it operated as 'Tom Group' firing on ground targets in support of
4th Commando Brigade. On 21 April Tom Group was reinforced by a Troop of 352 HAA Bty,
112th HAA Rgt and a survey Troop, all under Major D.S. Harries, the second-in-command of 99th (LW) HAA Rgt. Although the South Scheldt defences were quiet, Tom Group was in daily action, suffering a few casualties from enemy
Counter-battery fire. On one occasion a gun was redeployed to engage a troublesome enemy OP in a tower; it fired 17 rounds, of which two hit the difficult target. On 25 April Tom Gp fired 600 shells into German positions without any retaliation, and two days later the battery commander flew over Schowen in an
air observation post (AOP) aircraft and saw no sign of life: the Germans had retreated. The brigade was ordered to cease fire on 3 May 1945 when a local truce came into effect to allow supplies to be sent to civilians in enemy-occupied Holland (
Operation Manna). This was followed on 4 May by the
German surrender at Lüneburg Heath. On 7 May Tom Gp covered Operation Paul, a Commando landing at Schowen to take the surrender of the garrison. The war in Europe ended the following day (
VE Day). On 14 May the regiment was ordered to reorganise for garrison duties, and it handed in its guns and many of its vehicles, moving at the end of the month to
Hamburg under 101 AA Bde where it took over responsibility for camps of
Displaced Persons awaiting evacuation, and guarded
Joachim von Ribbentrop, who had been arrested as a war criminal. The regiment was still with
British Army of the Rhine when it was placed in suspended animation on 1 April 1946. ==Postwar==