356th Moonlight Battery, Royal Artillery
military unit
The 356th Moonlight Battery, Royal Artillery was a searchlight unit of the British Army that provided artificial illumination, or 'Monty's Moonlight', for night operations by 21st Army Group during the campaign in North West Europe in 1944–45. Previously, it had served on anti-aircraft (AA) duties during The Blitz.
Origin
In the 1930s the increasing need for anti-aircraft (AA) defence for Britain's cities was addressed by converting a number of Territorial Army (TA) infantry battalions into searchlight battalions of the Royal Engineers (RE). The 7th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers was one unit selected for this role, becoming 39th (The Lancashire Fusiliers) AA Battalion, RE on 10 December 1936, consisting of HQ and four AA companies (354–357) at the Drill Hall, Cross Lane, Salford.
World War II
Mobilisation
The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis, with units manning their emergency positions within 24 hours, even though many did not yet have their full complement of men or equipment. The emergency lasted three weeks, and they were stood down on 13 October. In February 1939 the existing AA defences came under the control of a new Anti-Aircraft Command. In June, as the international situation worsened, a partial mobilisation of the TA was begun in a process known as 'couverture', whereby each AA unit did a month's tour of duty in rotation to man selected AA gun and searchlight positions. 356th AA Company was at Snaith in East Yorkshire when orders for full mobilisation were issued, and the company returned to Salford. It immediately manned two sections of four lights around Widnes and Knutsford, while the rest of the company manned Lewis gun positions at Latchford, Barton and Irwell Locks on the Manchester Ship Canal and at Barton Power Station.
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