53rd (City of London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was a volunteer air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army from 1922 until 1961. During World War II it fought in the Battle of France and The Blitz, and later served in India, where it was converted to Medium Artillery. Postwar it reverted to the AA artillery role.
Origin
German air raids by Zeppelin airships and Gotha bombers on London and other British cities during World War I had shown the need for strong anti-aircraft (AA) defences in any future war. When the Territorial Army (TA) was reformed in 1922 it included a number of dedicated AA units. The third of these was 53rd (City of London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, recruited largely from men working in the finance industry in the City of London. It was formed in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), but on 8 February 1923 it was transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), which had provided the AA batteries in World War I. However, on 1 June 1924 the RGA and RFA merged to become simply the Royal Artillery (RA). The regiment comprised 157th, 158th and 159th (London) AA Batteries. 159th Battery was recruited from the Lloyd's of London insurance market and in August 1924 it added the subtitle 'Lloyd's' in front of 'London'; in February 1925 all the batteries' subtitles changed from 'London' to 'City of London'.
One of the first officers appointed to the regiment was Robert Whittaker, a City banker who had seen service with the RGA during World War I. He was commissioned as a major and commanded 158th (CoL) Battery, and later the whole regiment, The Regimental Headquarters was at the War Office Department in White City, London. The unit formed part of 27th (London) Air Defence Brigade. These original TA AA units were formed on a low peacetime establishment with a few old 3-inch guns on static mounts.
As Britain's AA defences expanded during the 1930s, higher formations became necessary. 1st AA Division was formed in 1935 to cover London and the Home Counties, and the 53rd AA Brigade was reassigned to 26th (London) AA Group within the division. Lieutenant-Colonel Whittaker was promoted to command this brigade in early 1939. On 1 January 1939 the RA replaced its traditional unit designation 'Brigade' by the modern 'Regiment'. Anti-Aircraft Command was formed in April 1939 to command all TA air defences in the UK. As part of the doubling of the strength of the TA after the Munich Crisis, 53 AA Regiment formed a duplicate regiment in 1939 at White City, which was designated 88 AA Regiment.
World War II
Mobilisation
The regiment was embodied on 5 August 1939 and occupied gun positions in parks and open ground around London: 157 Bty at Southwark Park and Brockley in south-east London and at Gunnersbury Park and Hurlingham Park in west London; 158 Bty at Hyde Park and Wormwood Scrubs, with its HQ at Fairlop and also occupying various sites in Essex east of London; 159 Bty with HQ at Finsbury Park and sites at Friern Barnet in north London. In early September, elements of 88 AA Regiment took over 157 Bty's positions and the battery moved to Bramley, Surrey where it came under 5 AA Division. Thus the regiment was fully deployed when war was declared on 3 September.
The regiment manned static gun sites designated as Heavy AA (HAA) containing both the older 3-inch and newer 3.7-inch AA guns. They were moved frequently: by the end of September 1939, 157 Bty was stationed around Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, 158 at Enfield and Edmonton in Middlesex, and 159 at Cuffley, Hertfordshire, with Regimental HQ at Bush Hill Park.
France
On 7 October 1939 the regiment received orders to proceed overseas. The regiment had to be brought up to war establishment and equipped with mobile equipment, albeit on a reduced scale because of shortages and the semi-static role envisaged for HAA units. It landed at Cherbourg on 16 October equipped with 3-inch guns and joined the Royal Air Force's Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) at Reims in France. It formed part of 12 AA Bde, tasked with defending the AASF's airfields. 53 HAA was responsible for the northern group of airfields; 157 Battery manned sites codenamed PIP I and PIP II around Villers-Marmery, 158 manned SQUEAK I and SQUEAK II around Guignecourt, and 159 manned WILFRED I and WILFRED II around Cernay-lès-Reims; RHQ was codenamed PIXO. (Pip, Squeak and Wilfred were characters in a popular newspaper strip cartoon.)
