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18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery    18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was part of Scottish Command when War broke out in 1939 until 1942, it initially consisted of 54th, 56th, 99th and 139th Batteries. They saw action overseas in the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and North Western Europe as part of 5th Division.   1st November 1941 Location of units 20th November 1941 Received Movement Instructions 21st November 1941 Vehicles issued and embarked 1st December 1941 Move to Liverpool 1st December 1941 Baggage shipped 3rd December 1941 Embarkation in ship Z.18 27th January 1942 Transshipped in Bombay 3rd February 1942 All units disembarked 21st February 1942 Guns received 23rd February 1942 Balance of guns received 25th February 1942 Vehicles disembarked 9th March 1942 Vehicles received 11th March 1942 Tactical excersises 15th March 1942 Tactical excersises 30th March 1942 Anti-tank practise 1st April 1942 Locations 10th April 1942 Training 18th April 1942 Advance posting 20th April 1942 Main body departs 1st May 1942 Locations 7th May 1942 Skeleton party to represent RHQ 9th May 1942 Instructions and operational commitments 9th May 1942 Reconnaissance 15th May 1942 Skeleton party returns 29th May 1942 Move 31st May 1942 Move completed 1st September 1942 Locations 3rd September 1942 Light reconnaissance 12th September 1942 Posting 15th September 1942 Visit 25th September 1942 Practice firing 30th September 1942 Practice firing 1st October 1942 Locations 5th October 1942 Move 8th October 1942 Rail party arrived 18th October 1942 Road party arrived 31st October 1942 Training 1st November 1942 Locations 20th November 1942 CO in Hospital 20th November 1942 Adv Party left 21st November 1942 Major Oliver assumes command 21st November 1942 Adv Party arrived 23rd November 1942 Move 25th November 1942 On the Move 25th November 1942 Reorganisation 1st December 1942 Locations of Units 2nd December 1942 Recce 4th December 1942 Reconnaissance party returned 14th December 1942 Visit 19th December 1942 Visit 21st December 1942 C.O. returned 22nd December 1942 Exercise 29th December 1942 Studyweek 29th December 1942 Command during absence 30th December 1942 Stores 1st January 1943 Locations of units 9th January 1943 Anti-tank practice firing 10th January 1943 Move 11th January 1943 Battery Rejoined 14th January 1943 Quartermaster returned 16th January 1943 CO returns from study week 20th January 1943 Visitors 29th January 1943 Anti-tank practice 1st February 1943 Location of units 1st February 1943 Instruction for training 2nd February 1943 Visit 3rd February 1943 Major Cleaver arrived 5th February 1943 Major Williams departed 7th February 1943 order for reorganisation 8th February 1943 C.O. departed to discuss with AA PAIC 8th February 1943 PAIC Signal SD/41932 9th February 1943 Action Date postponed 10th February 1943 Movement Order from 3 Corps 11th February 1943 Move 12th February 1943 Order 12th February 1943 Equipment handover 17th February 1943 Move 18th February 1943 On the Move 19th February 1943 New trucks 20th February 1943 Change of command 21st February 1943 Move commences 22nd February 1943 On the Move 23rd February 1943 Across dessert 24th February 1943 Unable to proceed 25th February 1943 Column to proceed 26th February 1943 Snowstorm 27th February 1943 Change of command 1st March 1943 Locations of units 1st March 1943 Visit 5th March 1943 Greek officers arrived 9th March 1943 Depart for Ninth Army Exercise 11th March 1943 Return from Ninth Army exercise 13th March 1943 Depart for CTC course 14th March 1943 Greek officers departed 15th March 1943 Operator course started 21th March 1943 American guns 26th March 1943 C.O. returned 27th March 1943 Posting 28th March 1943 Practise Camp 29th March 1943 Practise Camp 30th March 1943 American guns 31th March 1943 C.O. returned 1st April 1943 Location of units 4th April 1943 Battery Moves 16th April 1943 Battery Arrives 26th April 1943 Reorganised 1st May 1943 Location of units 3rd May 1943 C.O. admitted to hospital 6th May 1943 Move to new camp 7th May 1943 139LAA Bty returned to new camp 10th May 1943 3 tonners to be exchanged 20th May 1943 Lt. Col. Moss assumes command 22nd May 1943 Reinforcement with new vehicles 1st June 1943 Locations of units 4th June 1943 Move 14th June 1943 Move to Transit Camp 15th June 1943 Exercise BROMYARD 16th June 1943 Move 26st June 1943 General Montgomery visited 27th June 1943 Advance Party 30th June 1943 Embarkation 1st July 1943 Embarkation at Suez 3rd July 1943 On the Move 4th July 1943 Disembarked 8th July 1943 At Rest 9th July 1943 On the Move 12th July 1943 On the Move 13th July 1943 Arrival 14th July 1943 Vehicles 15th July 1943 On the Move 16th July 1943 Verbal orders 21st July 1943 No changes in situation 22nd July 1943 Posting 24th July 1943 No Air Activity 25th July 1943 Postings 27th July 1943 Quiet 28th July 1943 Reorganisation 29th July 1943 Reorganisation 31st July 1943 No Chamge 4th August 1943 1-4 August: No appreciate change 5th August 1943 Move of 99 and 252 Btys 6th August 1943  7th August 1943 C.O. visits Btys 8th August 1943 RHQ moves to new location 9th August 1943 Guns stay put 10th August 1943 252LAA Bty under new command 11th August 1943 No appreciate changes 12th August 1943 Operation Order No. 7 13th August 1943 REME new location 13th September 1943 Warning order to move   15th August 1943 14-15 August: No appreciate change 16th August 1943 Verbal orders 20th August 1943 17-20 August: Situation unchanged and refits for new task 21st August 1943 New instructions from 5 Div 22nd August 1943 Position planning instructions 24th August 1943 23-24 August: Situation unchanged 25th August 1943 Position planning 26th August 1943 Visit army commander 27th August 1943 QM arrived 28th August 1943 No change 29th August 1943 Operation orders for Baytown 30th August 1943 More operation orders Baytown 31st August 1943 Awaiting orders for new invasion 1st September 1943 Operation Order Baytown received 2nd September 1943 Mov. Instr. No. 3 3rd September 1943 C.O. disembarked in Italy 4th September 1943 Serial 169 shipped to Italy 5th September 1943 139LAA Bty to relieve 252LAA Bty 6th September 1943 Verbal order confirmed 7th September 1943 Operation Order No 2 Issued 8th September 1943 Orders issued and 352LAA Bty under command 18LAA Regt. 9th September 1943 Instructions and move 10th September 1943 Instruction 072 11th September 1943 Instructions issued 12th September 1943 Op. Instr. No 3 issued 14th September 1943 Operation Instruction No. 4 15th September 1943 RHQ to move 16th September 1943 Operation Instruction No 5 issued 17th September 1943 RHQ move to Maratea 18th September 1943 Operation Instruction No 6 issued 19th September 1943 Moving forward 20th September 1943 RHQ move to Sala Consilina 21st September 1943 Operation Instruction No 7 issued 24th September 1943 Operation Instruction No 8 issued 29th September 1943 25-29 September: resting and regrouping 30th September 1943 Operation Instruction No 9 issued 1st October 1943 RHQ to move 2nd October 1943 Move to Potenza 3rd October 1943 C.O. and Adjt leave for Foggia 4th October 1943 C.O. attends conference Div HQ 5th October 1943 Instructions for protection of Div given 6th October 1943 99 Bty to report to RHQ 7th October 1943 Protection of road 8th October 1943 Recce for 139 Bty 9th October 1943 99 Bty partly under new command 10th October 1943 139 Bty in harbour area 15th October 1943 11-15 Oct.: Concentrated training 16th October 1943 New Commanding Officer 17th October 1943 Relief complete 18th October 1943 Lt. Col. G.L. Moss leaves RHQ for U.K 19th October 1943 I.O. visits 8 Army 20th October 1943 20-22 Oct.: Nothing to report 23rd October 1943 Operation orders and instructions from Regt and Div issued 24th October 1943 Concentration area Vinchiaturo 25th October 1943 Conference with C.O. 99LAA Regt 26th October 1943 26th October 1943 New cmd 139 Bty 27th October 1943 Orders to protect 91 Fd Regt 28th October 1943 Operation order No. 20 from RA 5 Div 29th October 1943 Operation Instruction No. 21 30th October 1943 RHQ established in bombed palace 31st October 1943 252 Bty in Bojano 1st November 1943 Move tomorrow 2nd November 1943 Together with 91 Fd Rgt 3rd November 1943 RHQ moves to Cantalupo 4th November 1943 Impossible to get to Carpinone 5th November 1943 Contact with shot down British officers 6th November 1943 Me 109’s spotted 7th November 1943 Defend X-roads 8th November 1943 Batteries move 9th November 1943 99 BHQ moves 11th November 1943 B/99 move with 92 Id Rgt 13th November 1943 Operation Order No. 14 issued 14th November 1943 Special security precautions 15th November 1943 Tac HQ at Isernia 16th November 1943 Plan to move to Rionero 17th November 1943 CO returns to RHQ 18th November 1943 Permission to fire 4 rounds 19th November 1943 4 rounds fired for practice 20th November 1943 RA Operation Order No. 23 21th November 1943 Order for relief 99 Bty 24th November 1943 CO and 2 i/c return from and leave for Tac RHQ 25th November 1943 Delegation Canadian LAA Regt arrives 26th November 1943 Shelled in Rionero, 5 wounded 27th November 1943 Shelling during visit 99 Bty 28th November 1943 CO returned to Tac RHQ 29th November 1943 CO visits gun sites 30th November 1943 RHQ established at new location 1st December 1943 RHQ moved to Isernia 2nd December 1943 CO visits B/99 section and 5 Div. 3rd December 1943 Admin. Arrangement no A26 5th December 1943 Capt. B. Williams killed by mine 7th December 1943 Order for relief 9th December 1943 Orders to for move 10th December 1943 280LAA Rgt to take over commitments 11th December 1943 RHQ moves to Agnone 12th December 1943 Recces 13th December 1943 Conference at RHQ 14th December 1943 Operation Order No. 16 15th December 1943 Recce for new Tac RHQ 16th December 1943 First of several air attacks 17th December 1943 CO visits gun sites 18th December 1943 Visit from Brigadier Martin 19th December 1943 Visit gun sites and lunch with CO 99LAA Rgt 20th December 1943 Take over duties and new appointments 21th December 1943 Visits to RHQ 22nd December 1943 99 Bty moving 23rd December 1943 Polish visit and heavy artillery barrage 24th December 1943 Visits, liaison and conference 25th December 1943 Christmas visits, Splice the Mainbrace 26th December 1943 CO visits HQRA and 252 BHQ 27th December 1943 Fw190 and other aircraft engaged by guns 28th December 1943 New postings for officers 29th December 1943 Obtain information of relief 30th December 1943 Move postponed and troops stopped 31st December 1943 More visits 1st August 1944 Morning course and Pay Duties lecture 2nd August 1944 Morning course and Ensa Concert 3rd August 1944 Leave Party to Beirut 4th August 1944 Cocktail Party 5th August 1944 CO on leave in Beirut 6th August 1944 Inspection by dentist 7th August 1944 Instructional films and lectures 8th August 1944 Drill Cadre commenced and Leave Party to Beirut 9th August 1944 Major Mather left for Cairo 10th August 1944 Hygiene inspection 11th August 1944 Major Mather returned from Cairo 12th August 1944 Visit UMI Expert 13th August 1944 40 OR’s on leave for Beirut 14th August 1944 Arrangements for Regt visit to Nahariya 15th August 1944 Visit UMI Expert 16th August 1944 Visit of Brigadier Buffey and Adm. Order no. 2 17th August 1944 Capt. Pinder left Regt. 18th August 1944 Visits and 29ORs leave party for Beirut 19th August 1944 Advance party left for Nahariya 20th August 1944 Main body of Regt moved to Nahariya 21st August 1944 Guns and Vehicles left for Cairo 22nd August 1944 Nothing to Report 23rd August 1944 29 ORs leave for Beirut 24th August 1944 Rifle practice 25th August 1944 Rifle practice 26th August 1944 Lieut. admitted to hospital 27th August 1944 Nothing to report 28th August 1944 28 ORs on leave to Beirut 29th August 1944 C.O. to attend Div Study Period 30th August 1944 Instructions to post all surplus personnel 31st August 1944 Lieut. rejoined from hospital 1st September 1944 C.O. returned, officer admitted to hospital 2nd September 1944 Officer to attend course photograph interpretation 3rd September 1944 Nothing to report 3rd October 1944 Signal Exercise and Leave Party for Beirut   4th September 1944 Officer admitted to hospital 5th September 1944 Officer rejoined from hospital 6th September 1944 Lecture on LAA in an operational role 7th September 1944 Officer rejoined from hospital 8th September 1944 C.O. and Adjutant returned and officer rejoined from hospital 9th September 1944 RHQ returned to Camp 70 and officer rejoined from hospital 10th September 1944 Regiment returned to Camp 70 and officer admitted to hospital 11th September 1944 Officer rejoined from hospital and other postings 12th September 1944 Officer rejoined Regt from hospital 13th September 1944 Drill order 14th September 1944 Application to HQRA for Court Martial Berry and Balson 15th September 1944 Drill Orders 16th September 1944 C.O. visits Btys 17th September 1944 Nothing to report 18th September 1944 Drill orders 19th September 1944 Drill orders 20th September 1944 Visit Camp 505 and Drill order 21st September 1944 Drill order 22nd September 1944 Drill orders 23rd September 1944 Officer to attend Admin. Course 24th September 1944 Officer admitted to hospital 25th September 1944 Officer returned from Air Photo Interpretation Course and Drill orders 26th September 1944 Exercise Matthew commenced, Drill order and recce new area 27th September 1944 C.O. visits exercise 28th September 1944 Second leave commenced, exercise Matthew finished, Padre returned, Drill order 29th September 1944 Padre left, visit G.D.C.A. and Drill order 30th September 1944 2 i/c admitted to hospital 1st October 1944 Mess Committee meeting and Cricket Match 2nd October 1944 Drawing party left for Syria 3rd October 1944 Signal Exercise and Leave Party for Beirut 4th October 1944 Drill Order 5th October 1944 Brigadier Edge killed by shell, others wounded 6th October 1944 Exercise ‘Mark’, Funeral and Court of Inquiry 7th October 1944 Exercise ‘Mark’ finished 8th October 1944 Bty Commanders Conference and C.O. left for Regtl. Commanders Course 9th October 1944 Move & Adm. Instruction 2 issued 10th October 1944 Move to Camp 508 11th October 1944 Left for Exercise Ferret 12th October 1944 Recce in Gerdera 13th October 1944 Nothing to report 14th October 1944 Rear party to Camp 508 15th October 1944 CO returns from Haifa 16th October 1944 2 i/c to attend camouflage course 17th October 1944 CO attended conference at RA 5 Div 18th October 1944 74 ORs on leave and demonstration of rocket & canon firing in Tel Aviv 19th October 1944 Visit from Brigadier Buffey 20th October 1944 Skill at Arms competition 21th October 1944 Officer rejoined after attending course 22nd October 1944 IO attended conference at Div HQ and Skill at Arms competition 23rd October 1944 5 days leave and exercise ‘Luke’ 24th October 1944 2 i/c rejoined from camouflage course 25th October 1944 Gas Course 26th October 1944 Skill at Arms competition held 27th October 1944 Lecture 28th October 1944 5 days leave and umpire at Div HQ 29th October 1944 Nothing to report 30th October 1944 Hockey 31st October 1944 2nd in Div Skill at Arms competition 1st November 1944 Lecture and demonstration detachment to METC 2nd November 1944 Nothing to report 3rd November 1944 Shooting competition 4th November 1944 Operation Instruction No 1 issued. Football match lost 5th November 1944 Rainy season started 6th November 1944 New Adjutant, Op. Instr. No 2 issued 7th November 1944 5 days leave 8th November 1944 Commanding Officers Conference 9th November 1944 CO visits Practice Camp. Two officers rejoined from hospital 10th November 1944 Nothing to report 11th November 1944 Day at rifle range 12th November 1944 Leave for some, practice camp for others 13th November 1944 Lecture on ‘The War Situation’ 14th November 1944 2 i/c visits 99 Bty 15th November 1944 CO visits 99 Bty 16th November 1944 2 i/c returned from Nahariya 17th November 1944 4 days leave for 53 ORs 18th November 1944 Special leave for Runners Up Skill in Arms Competition 19th November 1944 Leave for and return from Practice Camp 20th November 1944 2 i/c left for Practice Camp and personnel posted at BDRA 21st November 1944 Exercise in Mountain Warfare School 22nd November 1944 Leave for 27 ORs, flame thrower demonstration for officers 23rd November 1944 2 i/c returned from Nahariya 24th November 1944 Nothing to report 25th November 1944 CO returned from Nahariya 26th November 1944 252 Bty returned from Practice Camp 27th November 1944 5 days leave for 48 ORs 28th November 1944 Nothing to report 29th November 1944 Football match and visit of Major General Hull DSO 30th November 1944 CO visited Div HQ 1st December 1944 Nothing to report 2nd December 1944 Officers Mess Dance 3rd December 1944 Officer posted to regiment, LAA Course in Haifa 4th December 1944 Day on rifle range 5th December 1944 Lecture and demonstrations at METC 6th December 1944 Education course at Haifa 7th December 1944 Rifle shooting contest 8th December 1944 Football match 9th December 1944 Nothing to report 10th December 1944 CO to visit GHQ Cairo, officers to UK for compassionate leave 11th December 1944 Seven a side football match 12th December 1944 Seven a side football match 13th December 1944 Nothing to report 14th December 1944 CO rejoined from Cairo 15th December 1944 Football match 16th December 1944 Football match 17th December 1944 Nothing to report 18th December 1944 Nothing to report 19th December 1944 Conference at RHQ 20th December 1944 Nothing to report 21st December 1944 Film ‘Battle of Russia’ 22nd December 1944 Semi final soccer 23rd December 1944 CO admitted to hospital 24th December 1944 Festivities 25th December 1944 Christmas in traditional style 26th December 1944 Festivities 27th December 1944 Ensa Show 28th December 1944 Film ‘The Battle for Stalingrad’ 29th December 1944 Rugby match 30th December 1944 Instructors 31st December 1944 Nothing to report 1st February 1945 Nothing to report 2nd February 1945 Nothing to report 3rd February 1945 Rugby match 4th February 1945 Nothing to report 5th February 1945 Visit 6th February 1945 CO returned 7th February 1945 Posting   8th February 1945 Nothing to report   9th February 1945 Rocket target demonstration   10th February 1945 Rugby match   11th February 1945 Nothing to report   12th February 1945 Visit   13th February 1945 Nothing to report   14th February 1945 Nothing to report   15th February 1945 Visit   16th February 1945 Nothing to report   17th February 1945 CO visits Jerusalem   18th February 1945 Nothing to report   19th February 1945 Nothing to report   20th February 1945 Reorganisation   21st February 1945 60 ORs posted to BDRA   22nd February 1945 Nothing to report   23rd February 1945 On the Move   24th February 1945 On the Move   25th February 1945 On the Move   26th February 1945 Nothing to report   27th February 1945 Nothing to report   28th February 1945 Nothing to report   If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here. Those known to have served with 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery during the Second World War 1939-1945. Hayes Harold Sutherland. Sgt. Roberts Alfred George. Gnr. (d.7th Dec 1944) The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. Announcements The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web. 27th April 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264001 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible. Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates. If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. Want to know more about 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery ? There are:447 items tagged 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. Gnr. Alfred George Roberts 18th Light A.A. Regiment, 99th Bty. Royal Artillery (d.7th Dec 1944) My great Uncle died in WW2, Alfred Roberts served with 99th Battery, 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. Alfred died on the 7th of December 1944 aged 38 years and is buried Ramleh War Cemetery. Son of Thomas and Rebecca Roberts, husband of Sarah Jane Roberts of Culmington Manor, Craven Arms, Shropshire. Shirley Norman Add to this record. Sgt. Harold Sutherland Hayes 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery Harold Sutherland Hayes served with 268th and 498th Batteries and 252nd Battery, 18th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices. Links

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.