61st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was an air defence unit of Britain's Royal Artillery formed during the Second World War. Its component Territorial Army batteries, both from London, had already seen action in the Battle of France before the regiment was formed in 1940. It went on to serve with armoured formations in the Western Desert Campaign, including the Battle of Gazala. It was broken up in the Middle East in 1944 to provide infantry reinforcements for the Italian Campaign.
Precursor unit
101st Light Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, had been formed in February 1940 based on the regimental headquarters (RHQ) and two batteries from 60th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, together with two light anti-aircraft (LAA) batteries: 43 Bty from 11th (City of London Yeomanry) and 44 Bty from 12th (Finsbury Rifles) LAA Regiments. (The two LAA batteries were permitted to retain their original subtitles.) This composite unit, the first of its kind, was part of 1st Support Group (1st Sp Gp) in 1st Armoured Division, which was preparing to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. The LAA units had been formed with old Lewis guns as AA Light machine guns, but were being re-equipped with Bofors 40 mm guns.
Battle of France
1st Armoured Division was ordered to France on 11 May when the Phoney War ended with the German invasion of the Low Countries. It began landing at Cherbourg and Le Havre on 15 May and was immediately ordered to advance and hold the crossings over the River Somme. It soon discovered that the Germans were already on the Somme and were rapidly closing on the Seine. 101st LAA/AT Regiment (with 20 2-pounder A/T guns and 96 Lewis guns, its Bofors guns not having arrived) was then ordered to seize the crossings over the Seine and hold them until the armour arrived (the infantry of 1st Sp Gp had been diverted to the defence of Calais and were not available).
Unsuccessful attempts by 1st Armoured and 51st (Highland) Division under French command to break through to the encircled BEF at Dunkirk led to fighting round Abbeville on 27–28 May. By early June the BEF had been evacuated, but fighting continued. On 4 June 1 Sp Gp provided flank protection for another attempt by 51st (H) Division to destroy the German bridgeheads at Abbeville, but the Germans had had two weeks to dig in, and the attack failed. Next day the Germans renewed their offensive, surrounding and capturing 51st (H) Division at St Valery-en-Caux, while 1st Sp Gp was 'out on a limb' facing German Panzer divisions and was driven back across the Seine. An operation began to evacuate the considerable numbers of British forces left in France from the western ports (Operation Aerial). The survivors of 1st Sp Gp were shipped out of Cherbourg on 16 June.
61st LAA Regiment
After returning to the UK, the remnants of 1st Armoured Division were stationed in Surrey in VII Corps, as part of the mobile reserve to defend against the feared German invasion (Operation Sealion). The division was one of the first in line for re-equipping.
While it refitted in the UK, 1st Sp Gp was reorganised, with 101st LAA/AT Rgt broken up at Godalming on 1 November to form 76th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) A/T Rgt and 61st LAA Regiment. The new LAA unit formed an extra battery, giving it the following organisation RHQ 43 (City of London Yeomanry) LAA Bty 44 (Finsbury Rifles) LAA Bty 197 LAA Bty
Operation Crusader
After completing its refitting and training in the UK, 1st Armoured Division sailed for the Middle East, 1st Sp Gp leaving on 27 September 1941, arriving in Egypt on 5 December and moving up into Libya for Eighth Army's Operation Crusader.
1st Armoured Division was committed to the offensive piecemeal before it had time to prepare for desert warfare. The first phase of Crusader ended in January 1942 and during the pause 1st Sp Gp relieved 7th Sp Gp. Eighth Army's policy was to use mobile Jock columns to patrol aggressively and harass the enemy; these were largely supplied by the support groups and included a detachment of towed Bofors guns, travelling with the auto-loaders filled and the gun-layers in their seats, ready for a 'snap' action. The inexperienced 1st Sp Gp found itself operating in appalling hummocky country, and many of its vehicles were not desert-worthy. General Erwin Rommel's counter-attack in late January broke through 1st Armoured Division's screen, the support group finding itself in difficulties in the bad country and under attack by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka divebombers. Only by withdrawal did it escape destruction.