Anti-Aircraft Command (AA Command, or "Ack-Ack Command") was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

of 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 opposi ...

that controlled the Territorial Army anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight formations and units defending the United Kingdom.

Origin

General_Sir_Frederick_Pile,_Kcb,_Dso,_Mc_Art

The formation of a Command-level body of anti-aircraft defences had been announced in 1938, but Anti-Aircraft Command was not formed until 1 April 1939 under General Sir

Alan Brooke Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Sec ...

, who had been commander of Anti-Aircraft Corps. He then passed control to Sir

Frederick Pile General (United Kingdom), General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, 2nd Baronet, (14 September 1884 – 14 November 1976) was a senior British Army officer who served in both World Wars. In the Second World War he was General Officer Commanding An ...

, who would remain in command until the end of the war.Routledge, Chapter 26.Robert Palmer, 'A Concise History of Anti-Aircraft Command (History & Personnel)' at British Military History.
/ref> AA Command was under the operational direction of

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Brita ...

as part of

Air Defence of Great Britain The Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) was a RAF command comprising substantial army and RAF elements responsible for the air defence of the British Isles. It lasted from 1925, following recommendations that the RAF take control of homeland air ...

, and occupied a headquarters known as ''Glenthorn'' in the grounds of

Bentley Priory Bentley Priory is an eighteenth to nineteenth century stately home and deer park in Stanmore on the northern edge of the Greater London area in the London Borough of Harrow. It was originally a medieval priory or cell of Augustinian Canons in ...

, home of Fighter Command.Wykeham
/ref> The majority of AA Command's guns and searchlights were operated by Territorial Army units. Some

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

units joined after they returned from the Dunkirk evacuation. Later, as the war progressed, Regulars and TA were freed up for overseas service by the use of men of the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

(loading and firing the guns) and women of the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

(handling ammunition and operating gun directors).Sir Frederick Pile's despatch.
/ref>

Organisation

Divisional

Major-general_R_F_E_Whittaker,_Cb,_Obe,_Td,_Aa_Command,_1942_Art

Divisions under the command were: * 1st Anti-Aircraft Division – Existing division at start of the war, headquartered in

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

. *

2nd Anti-Aircraft Division The 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division (2nd AA Division) was an Air Defence formation of the British Army from 1935 to 1942. It controlled anti-aircraft gun and searchlight units of the Territorial Army (TA) defending the East Midlands and East Anglia ...

– Existing division at the start of the war, headquartered at RAF Hucknall,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

. *

3rd Anti-Aircraft Division The 3rd Anti-Aircraft Division was an air defence formation of the Territorial Army, part of the British Army, created in the period of tension before the outbreak of the Second World War. It defended Scotland and Northern Ireland during the ear ...

– Existing division at the start of the war, headquartered in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. *

4th Anti-Aircraft Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

– Existing division at the start of the war, headquartered in Chester. *

5th Anti-Aircraft Division The 5th Anti-Aircraft Division (5th AA Division) 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 defended Southern England during the Battle of Britain a ...

– Existing division at the start of the war, headquartered in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. * 6th Anti-Aircraft Division – Existing division at the start of the war, headquartered in Uxbridge. * 7th Anti-Aircraft Division – Existing division at the start of the war, headquartered in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. * 8th Anti-Aircraft Division – Formed November 1940 covering South West England, headquartered in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. * 9th Anti-Aircraft Division – Formed November 1940 covering South Wales, headquartered in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. * 10th Anti-Aircraft Division – Formed November 1940 covering

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and the Humber Estuary. * 11th Anti-Aircraft Division – Formed November 1940 covering the West and Central Midlands. * 12th Anti-Aircraft Division – Formed November 1940 covering southwestern Scotland. AA Command was also responsible for the Orkney and Shetland Defences (OSDEF).

Corps

At the end of 1940, the Command created three

Corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

to supervise this expanding organisation: * I Anti-Aircraft Corps covering the South (1, 5, 6, 8 and 9 AA Divisions) corresponding with 10 and 11 Groups RAF * II Anti-Aircraft Corps covering the Midlands (2, 4, 10 and 11 AA Divisions) corresponding with 9 and 12 Groups RAF * III Anti-Aircraft Corps covering the North (3, 7 and 12 AA Divisions, and OSDEF) corresponding with 13 and 14 Groups RAF

Groups

In October 1942, the corps and divisions were abolished and replaced by seven flexible AA Groups more closely aligned with the operational structure of Fighter Command: * 1st Anti-Aircraft Group covering London * 2nd Anti-Aircraft Group covering the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

, South-East England and southern East Anglia (1st and 2nd AA Groups coincided with

No. 11 Group RAF No. 11 Group is a group in the Royal Air Force first formed in 1918. It had been formed and disbanded for various periods during the 20th century before disbanding in 1996 and reforming again in 2018. Its most famous service was in 1940 in the Ba ...

) *

3rd Anti-Aircraft Group Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

covering South-West England and South Wales (coinciding with

No. 10 Group RAF No. 10 Group RAF was a former operations group of the Royal Air Force which participated in the Second World War. History It was formed on 1 April 1918 in No. 2 Area. On 8 May of the next year it was transferred to South-Western Area. In 1 ...

) * 4th Anti-Aircraft Group covering North Wales and North-West England (coinciding with No. 9 Group RAF) * 5th Anti-Aircraft Group covering northern East Anglia and the East Coast as far as Scarborough, North Yorkshire (coinciding with

No. 12 Group RAF No. 12 Group of the Royal Air Force was a group, a military formation, that existed over two separate periods, namely the end of the First World War when it had a training function and from just prior to the Second World War until the early 1960s ...

) * 6th Anti-Aircraft Group covering North-East England and Scotland (coinciding with No. 13 Group RAF (except Northern Ireland) and No. 14 Group RAF) * 7th Anti-Aircraft Group covering Northern Ireland *the Orkney and Shetland Defences remained separate

Later events

Later, the 6th AA Group took over the Solent area to cover the preparations for Operation Overlord and was replaced in NE England by a new 8th Anti-Aircraft Group. A new 9th Anti-Aircraft Group was formed to cover southern East Anglia during the flying bomb offensive (

Operation Diver Operation Diver was the British codename for countermeasures against the V-1 flying bomb campaign launched by the German in 1944 against London and other parts of Britain. Diver was the codename for the V-1, against which the defence consisted o ...

). On 1 April 1943, AA Command took over control of smoke screens from the

Ministry of Home Security The Ministry of Home Security was a British government department established in 1939 to direct national civil defence, primarily tasked with organising air raid precautions, during the Second World War. The Ministry for Home Security was headed ...

. These installations were manned by the Pioneer Corps. In November 1944, the 3rd, 4th and 7th Anti-Aircraft Groups were disbanded, with the areas covered by the 2nd and 5th Anti-Aircraft Groups extended.

Postwar

When the TA was reformed after the Second World War in 1947, AA Command was generously provided for, with a large number of units, some of them including members of the

Women's Royal Army Corps The Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC; sometimes pronounced acronymically as , a term unpopular with its members) was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged from 1949 to 1992, except medical, dental and veterinary officers and cha ...

(successors of the ATS). It was structured in five regional AA Groups, each commanding a number of TA and Regular AA Brigades: * 1st AA Group – London * 2nd AA Group –

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

* 3rd AA Group – Edinburgh * 4th AA Group –

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

* 5th AA Group –

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

On 1 December 1954, it was announced that AA Command would be disbanded with effect from 10 March 1955.

Senior staff

The following officers held senior posts in AA Command:

General Officers Commanding-in-Chief

* Lieutenant-General

(1 April–28 July 1939; GOC AA Corps 15 July 1938 – 31 March 1939) * Lieutenant-General

Sir Frederick Pile General (United Kingdom), General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, 2nd Baronet, (14 September 1884 – 14 November 1976) was a senior British Army officer who served in both World Wars. In the Second World War he was General Officer Commanding An ...

(12 October 1939 – 14 April 1945) * Lieutenant-General Sir William Green (15 April 1945 – 30 April 1946) * Lieutenant-General Otto Lund (1 May 1946 – May 1948) * Lieutenant-General Sir Ivor Thomas (May 1948 – 27 May 1950) * Lieutenant-General Charles Loewen (28 May 1950 – 16 April 1953) * Lieutenant-General Sir Maurice Chilton (17 April 1953 – 15 May 1955)

Major-General, General Staff

Senior_Controller_Christian_Helen_Fraser-tytler,_Cbe_-_Deputy_Director_of_Aa_Command,_Ats_Art

* Major-General Thomas Newton (8 May 1939 – 31 December 1941) * Major-General Robert Whittaker (1 January 1942 – 21 February 1944 * Major-General Frank Lejeune (22 February 1944 – 22 May 1944) * Major-General Stephen Lamplugh (19 June 1944 – 24 June 1945)

Brigadier, General Staff

* Brigadier B. P. Hughes (1 October 1942 – 1943) * Brigadier Stephen Lamplugh (25 June 1945 – 30 July 1946) * Brigadier Geoffrey Thompson (1 July 1946 – 31 December 1946)

Chief of Staff

* Brigadier Geoffrey Thompson (1 January 1947 – April 1948)Thompson at Generals of World War II
/ref>

Deputy Director, Auxiliary Territorial Service

* Controller V. P. Farrow (12 May 1942 – 14 October 1942) * Controller The Hon. Lady M. Lawrence (15 October 1942 – 27 June 1943) * Senior Controller Christian Fraser-Tytler (28 June 1943 – 1944/45)

Notes

References

* I. F. W. Beckett, ''Territorials: A Century of Service'', TA100, 2008. * 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, . * Norman E. H. Litchfield, ''The Territorial Artillery 1908–1988 (Their Lineage, Uniforms and Badges)'', Nottingham: Sherwood Press, 1992, .
Sir Frederick Pile's despatch: 'The Anti-Aircraft Defence of the United Kingdom from 28 July 1939, to 15 April 1945' ''London Gazette'' 18 December 1947.
* Brig N. W. Routledge, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55'', London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, . * Peter Wykeham
''Fighter Command: A Study of Air Defence, 1914–1960''
accessed 30 May 2008.

External links

British Military History

Generals of World War II

Orders of Battle at Patriot Files

Royal Artillery 1939–1945

Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth

{{Subject bar , portal1=World War II , portal2=United Kingdom , portal3=Aviation Anti-Aircraft Air defence units and formations of the British Army Air defence commands (military formations) Military units and formations established in 1939 Military history of Middlesex Military units and formations disestablished in 1955