Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

ANTIAIRCRAFT DEFENSE THROUGH WORLD WAR II
weather, the most frequent situation, AAA gunners had complete
freedom up to 8,000 feet. On 10 July, the British modified
a 26 June order allowing fighters to enter the gun belt in hot
pursuit of V-1s. Consequently, fighter pilots entered active
antiaircraft gun areas at their own risk. 24
England’s third line of defense, after the offensive bombing
and the fighter patrols, was its AAA. When the campaign began,
the defenders rapidly got 192 heavy guns into position with
the support of 200 light guns; and by the end of June 1944,
they increased this number to 376 heavy guns, 594 light guns,
and 362 rocket launchers. 25 Despite these numbers, V-ls were
getting through, as British defenses were not working at optimum
efficiency. The V-1’s operating altitude of 2,000 to 3,000
feet was the worst possible for the defense: too high for the
light guns and too low for the heavy guns. Heavy mobile pieces
proved unsatisfactory because they could not traverse smoothly
and rapidly. Radar, positioned in hollows and folds in the terrain
for protection against German countermeasures that did
not materialize, operated at a disadvantage. The proximity of
the gun belt to London created another problem. The British
hit a number of V-1s that later crashed into London, even
though the defenders had done their job. 26 Finally, there was
considerable interference between the gunners and the fighters,
as pilots chasing the missiles sometimes strayed into the
gun belt, inhibiting the gunners who on occasion fired on the
fighters as well as the missiles. The defenders made a fast, effective,
and flexible adjustment to the situation, which was
much to their credit and to a large degree responsible for their
ultimate success. 27
The defenders easily came to grips with some of the problems.
On 18 June 1944, the British ordered guns within London
silenced and, by the end of June, resited their radar onto
higher ground. The defenders built permanent structures for
their portable guns (fig. 10). Constructed of 28 railway sleepers
and 12 ties, these structures were first called Pile portable
platforms; but, they quickly became known as Pile mattresses,
named for AAA commander Gen Frederick Pile. In late June,
the British began to replace their static guns with mobile guns;
and, in early July, they put better gun predictors into action.
15