The 51st (Highland) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery was a

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unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) formed for air defence just before World War II. It later served as an anti-aircraft (AA) artillery unit in the North West Europe Campaign 1944–45, and continued in the postwar TA into the 1950s.

Origin

The unit's origin lay in two independent AA Companies of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

(RE) formed in Aberdeen and

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in 1935 and equipped with searchlights. During the expansion of TA air defence units after the Munich Crisis, the two were combined on 1 November 1938 into a new 51st (Highland) AA Battalion, RE and a third company raised, giving the battalion the following organisation:Frederick, pp. 858–62, 868.Watson & Rinaldi, pp. 103–4, 111–4.''Army List''. * HQ Company at Drill Hall, Bell St, Dundee * 319 (City of Aberdeen) AA Company, Fonthill Barracks, Aberdeen * 320 (City of Dundee) AA Company, Drill Hall, Bell St, Dundee * 404 AA Company, Cowdenbeath Major W.C.G. Black, MC, TD, officer commanding 20th ( Fife & Forfar Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel to command the new battalion on 12 October 1938. In February 1939 the TA's AA units came under the control of a new Anti-Aircraft Command.

World War II

Mobilisation

In June 1939 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. Shortly after mobilisation, 51st AA Bn was assigned of 52nd Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade, a new formation being organised at Stirling with responsibility for searchlight provision within 3rd AA Division covering Scotland. In February 1940, the battalion provided a

cadre Cadre may refer to: *Cadre (military), a group of officers or NCOs around whom a unit is formed, or a training staff *Cadre (politics), a politically controlled appointment to an institution in order to circumvent the state and bring control to th ...

of experienced officers and men to help form a new 474 S/L Bty in 5th AA Division.

51st S/L Regiment

On 1 August 1940 the RE searchlight battalions were transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA), and the unit was redesignated 51st (Highland) Searchlight Regiment, RA (TA).Litchfield, pp. 274–5.Farndale, Annex M, pp. 338–9. It remained with 52 AA Bde in 3 AA Division throughout the Battle of Britain and The Blitz (when

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was badly hit).Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, TNA file WO 212/79.Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, TNA file WO 212/80. 547 Searchlight Bty joined on 23 January 1941, having been formed at 232nd S/L Training Rgt at Devizes on 16 January (with a cadre provided by 40th (Sherwood Foresters) S/L Rgt) and spent just a few days under command of 54th (Durham Light Infantry) S/L Rgt. 51st (Highland) S/L Rgt in turn sent a cadre to 234th S/L Training Rgt at

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, where they were to form a new 564 S/L Bty on 17 April 1941, but this was cancelled.

124th LAA Regiment

Home Defence

On 14 February 1942, the regiment was converted to the Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) artillery role as 124 (Highland) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA (TA); 319, 320, 404 and 547 S/L Btys became 411, 412, 404 and 413 LAA Btys respectively.Frederick, pp. 806, 839.124 LAA Rgt at RA 39–45
/ref> The inexperienced 413 LAA Bty (ex-547 S/L Bty) was sent to 237th LAA Training Rgt at Holywood in Northern Ireland.413 LAA Bty War Diary 1942, TNA file WO 166/7761. During May 1942, 124th LAA Rgt completed its re-equipment and training, and joined 30th (Northumbrian) AA Bde, covering Tyneside and

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in 7th AA Division. 413 LAA Battery, for example, was sent to Seaham Holiday Camp, from where it took over operational sites in the Sunderland area and established its Battery HQ at Whitburn Hall, Whitburn. However, in September 1942, 413 LAA Bty left 124th LAA Rgt to join 143rd LAA Rgt in Essex (formally transferring on 3 October), while the rest of the regiment moved to 47th AA Bde at Southampton. By March 1943, the regiment had moved again, to 5 AA Bde in the Gloucester area, but had left AA Command by August 1943 and joined Second Army forming in England for

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

North West Europe

LAA regiments at this time comprised three batteries of three troops, each equipped with six towed

Bofors 40 mm gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

s using 'Stiffkey Stick' sights. As a mobile unit, 124th LAA would also have had a

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(REME) workshop and a detachment of the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

. 124 LAA Regiment went to Normandy in late August 1944 as part of 75th Anti-Aircraft Brigade, which immediately took over AA defence for the

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Caen Canal and River Orne bridges. Two weeks later, Canadian troops captured Ostend, and 124 LAA Rgt with the rest of 75 AA Bde moved up the coast to defend it. In November it moved again, to guard the Scheldt estuary, and when the war ended the bulk of 124 LAA Rgt was on the south bank of the Scheldt under 75 AA Bde, with 411 Bty detached to the north bank under 76th AA Bde. On 9 January 1945, four Bofors of 411 LAA Bty hit and sank a German '' Biber'' midget submarine operating off

South Beveland Zuid-Beveland (; "South Beveland") is part of the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands north of the Western Scheldt and south of the Eastern Scheldt. Topography It is a former island, now peninsula, crossed by the Canal through Zuid-Beveland ...

. The regiment also manned the Bofors guns on two

Landing Craft Flak Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown ...

operating in the estuary under with searchlights provided by 1st S/L Rgt. The battery remained with 76 AA Bde in the final weeks of the war.76 AA Bde War Diary, January–July 1945, TNA file WO 171/4889. After VE Day, the whole of 124 LAA Rgt came under command of 76 AA Bde as it moved into Germany to garrison the

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

–

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

area under

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Arm ...

. After 76 AA Bde completed its disbandment in the first two weeks of April 1946, 124 LAA Rgt stayed on as part of British Army of the Rhine, but was placed in suspended animation on 8 June.

Postwar

When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, the regiment was reformed as 586 (Highland) LAA Regiment, RA, with HQ at Dundee and forming part of 78th AA Bde (the former 52 AA Bde) based in Perth.Frederick, p. 1024.564–591 Rgts at British Army 1945 on.
/ref> In March 1949, the regiment was redesignated again, as 586 (Highland) LAA/Searchlight Regiment, RA. When Anti-Aircraft Command was disbanded in March 1955, 586 Rgt was absorbed into 276th (Highland) Field Regiment, RA.266–288 Rgts at British Army 1945 on
/ref>

Honorary Colonel

Honorary Capt C.A. Carlow, a retired Volunteer officer, was appointed Honorary Colonel of the battalion on 12 October 1938.

Insignia

124 LAA Regiment wore a regimental shoulder flash consisting of a Scottish saltire in the RE colours of blue on red.

Notes

References

* Maj L. F. Ellis, ''History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: Victory in the West'', Vol I: ''The Battle of Normandy'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1962/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2004, . * Major L.F. Ellis, ''History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: Victory in the West'', Vol II: ''The Defeat of Germany'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1968/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2004, . * 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, . * J.B.M. Frederick, ''Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978'', Vol II, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, . * * Norman E.H. Litchfield, ''The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges)'', Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, . * Brig N.W. Routledge, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55'', London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, . * Graham E. Watson & Richard A. Rinaldi, ''The Corps of Royal Engineers: Organization and Units 1889–2018'', Tiger Lily Books, 2018, . {{refend

Online sources

British Army units from 1945 on

British Military History

Orders of Battle at Patriot Files

The Royal Artillery 1939–45

Military units and formations established in 1938 Military units and formations in Dundee Searchlight regiments of the Royal Artillery Scottish regiments