32nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
Scottish air defence unit
The 32nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, (32nd LAA Rgt) was a Scottish air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) during World War II. After serving with Anti-Aircraft Command in the defence of the UK, it went to Malta and served for two years in the defence of the besieged island. It then landed in Normandy in August 1944 and fought through the campaign in North West Europe, notably at the Siege of Dunkirk, where it was used in a siege gun role, and in the crossing of the Rhine, until VE Day. The regiment was reformed in the postwar TA but was amalgamated with other Scottish anti-aircraft units in 1950.
Origin
The regiment was formed as part of the rapid expansion of Britain's anti-aircraft (AA) defences at the beginning of World War II. Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) was formed at Falkirk, Stirlingshire, on 28 August 1939 as the Territorial Army (TA) was being mobilised for war. The regiment was assembled around 55 LAA Battery transferred from the Glasgow-based 18th LAA Rgt. 55 Battery had been formed on 30 June incorporating 144 Independent LAA Troop, which itself had been formed on 1 December 1938 from Territorial Army Reserve (TAR) personnel. The new regiment was also joined by the newly formed 98 and 103 LAA Btys, giving the following initial organisation:
Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) at Falkirk
55 LAA Bty at Rosyth Dockyard
144 Troop at Irvine, North Ayrshire
98 LAA Bty at Falkirk
265 Troop at Portobello, Edinburgh
266 Troop at Dreur
103 LAA Bty:
277 and 278 Troops at Bishopton Royal Ordnance Factory
278 and 280 Troops at Kilmarnock
The prewar LAA troops had been created in late 1938 to defend vulnerable points (VPs) such as factories, the guns being manned by shifts of workers from the sites. With the need to move gunsites and the unpopularity of the TAR amongst employers they had been replaced by normal TA members who were liable for fulltime service in the event of war. 32nd LAA Regiment relieved the TAR troops at the Ardeer explosives factory on 19 November 1939. AA units in Scotland were controlled by 3rd AA Division, which in August 1939 formed 51st Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade in Edinburgh, originally to command the division's LAA units but it later assumed full responsibility for the AA defences of North East Scotland.
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