The 14th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was an

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

regiment of the

New Zealand Military Forces , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

raised during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It saw service as part of the

2nd New Zealand Division The 2nd New Zealand Division, initially the New Zealand Division, was an infantry Division (military), division of the New Zealand Army, New Zealand Military Forces (New Zealand's army) during the World War II, Second World War. The division was ...

during the

North African North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, Tunisian and Italian campaigns, before being disbanded in October 1944.

History

Formation

14th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was formed at Papakura Camp on 7 January 1940. No anti-aircraft guns were available in New Zealand at that time and the regiment was forced to train without any anit-aircraft equipment. In May 1941 the regiment arrived in Egypt and joined the New Zealand Division which had just been evacuated from

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

. Only in June did the regiment receive its first 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. The regiment was organised into a headquarters battery and three gun batteries: 41, 42 and 43 batteries. Each battery had 12 Bofors guns, for a total of 36 guns, and was further subdivided into three troops.

Disbandment

Owing to the allied air superiority in Italy, and a shortage of infantry in the New Zealand Division, 14th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was disbanded on 24 October 1944. Some of the men were transferred to other artillery units, while 157 others went to the Divisional Cavalry Regiment (which was being restructured as an infantry battalion). The final score for 14th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was 67.5 aircraft shot down, as well as one naval craft, one tank and an unknown number of vehicles destroyed. The regiment had lost a total of 66 men killed in action or died of wounds.

Notes

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References

* * Artillery regiments of New Zealand Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 {{NewZealand-stub