36th (Scottish) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Britain's Territorial Army, created in the period of tension before the outbreak of the Second World War. It was responsible for defending eastern Scotland.
Origins
Large numbers of Territorial Army (TA) units were converted to anti-aircraft (AA) and searchlight roles in the Royal Artillery (RA) and Royal Engineers (RE) during the 1930s, and higher formations were required to control them. 36th (Scottish) Anti-Aircraft Brigade (36 AA Bde) was formed on 1 May 1938 at Edinburgh, to command the units responsible for the air defence of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. Its first commander was Brigadier G.C. Kemp (appointed 1 May 1938).[1][2][3] Initially the brigade was formed within Scottish Command, later being subordinated to 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division when that formation was raised at Edinburgh on 1 September 1938 to command all the AA defences of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Subsequently, Anti-Aircraft Command was created on 1 April 1939 and took control of AA Defence throughout the United Kingdom.[4][5]
Mobilisation
The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis, 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.[6] In February 1939 the existing AA defences came under the control of a new Anti-Aircraft Command. In June a partial mobilisation of TA units 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 and searchlight positions. On 24 August, ahead of the declaration of war, AA Command was fully mobilised at its war stations.[7]
3.7-inch HAA gun deployed in 1939.
Order of battle 1939
The composition of 36 AA Bde on the outbreak of war was as follows:[4][8]
In September 1939, the brigade had 28 heavy AA guns deployed round the Forth, with one more out of action.[16]
Battle of Britain and the Blitz
The AA regiments of the RA were designated 'Heavy AA' (HAA) from the summer of 1940 (at the time of the Battle of Britain) to distinguish them from the newer Light AA (LAA) units being formed.[17]
Order of Battle 1940–41
During the night bombing Blitz on industrial cities in the winter of 1940–41, 36 AA Bde had the following composition:[18][19][20][21][22]
The Blitz ended in May 1941, but there were occasional raids thereafter and AA Command continued to strengthen its defences. Newly formed units joining AA Command were increasingly 'mixed' ones into which women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated, while those armed with Z Battery rocket projectiles were partly manned by members of the Home Guard. At the same time, experienced units were posted away for service overseas. This led to a continual turnover of units, which accelerated in 1942 with the preparations for Operation Torch.[29][30][31]
Order of Battle 1941–42
From the summer of 1941 the brigade's order of battle was as follows:[32][33]
71st (Forth) HAA Rgt
227, 229, 325 HAA Btys
382 HAA Bty – attached to 108 HAA Rgt June 1941; left Summer 1941
317 HAA Bty – from 101st HAA Rgt Summer 1941
114th HAA Rgt – to 51 AA Bde May 1942
357, 360 HAA Btys
358 HAA Bty – to new 147th HAA Rgt February, returned March 1942[24]
317 HAA Bty (attached to 51 AA Bde) – from 147th HAA Rgt March 1942
3rd AA 'Z' Rgt – to 12 AA Division September 1941; returned May 1942; designated Mixed May 1943
107, 115, 118, 191 Z Btys
36 AA Bde Mixed Signal Office Section, part of 1 Company, 3 AA Division Mixed Signal Unit, Royal Corps of Signals (RCS)
Later war
In August 1942, 3rd AA Division HQ moved south to help AA Command control the reinforcements to countering the Luftwaffe 'hit-and-run' raids against the South Coast, and the brigade briefly came under the command of 7th AA Division. However, in October 1942 AA Command reorganised its structure, replacing the AA Divisions with AA Groups coinciding with RAF Fighter Command's Groups. 36 AA Bde came under 6 AA Group covering Scotland.[30][33][37][38][39]
Order of Battle 1942–44
During this period the brigade was constituted as follows (temporary attachments omitted):[40][41][42]
208, 217, 218 Z Btys – new batteries joined December 1942
36 AA Bde Mixed Signal Office Section. part of 1 Mixed Signal Company, 6 AA Group Signals, RCS
Disbandment
By early 1944, AA Command was being forced to release manpower to 21st Army Group for the planned Allied invasion of continental Europe (Operation Overlord), and a number of AA batteries, regiments and formations had to be disbanded. 36th (Scottish) AA Brigade was one of those to be disbanded, on 20 February 1944. 6 AA Group HQ went south to take over part of the responsibility for defending the Overlord embarkation ports, and a new 8 AA Group was formed to cover Scotland. 122nd HAA Regiment went to Southern England with 6 AA Group and joined 30 AA Bde while the rest of 36 AA Bde's units joined the new 8 AA Group.[1][30][42][44]
Postwar
When the TA was reformed in 1947, 36 AA Bde's Regular Army units reformed 12 AA Bde, while the TA portion was renumbered as 62 AA Bde,[a] both at South Queensferry and forming part of the Edinburgh-based 3 AA Group. 62 AA Brigade had the following composition:[1][45][46]
494 (City of Edinburgh) HAA Rgt (ex 94 HAA Rgt) – see above[47]
514 (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Rgt (ex 14 LAA Rgt from 51 Light AA Bde)[47][48]
^Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, with amendments, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 212/79.
Gen Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: The Years of Defeat: Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988/London: Brasseys, 1996, ISBN1-85753-080-2.
J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol II, Wakefield, Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN1-85117-009-X.
Norman E.H. Litchfield, The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges), Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, ISBN0-9508205-2-0.
Brig N.W. Routledge, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55, London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, ISBN1-85753-099-3.
