January-February - Air Defense Artillery

Britain's AA Defenses
By Major General P. J. Mackesy
Although in peacetime England had a few small
Regular antiaircraft gun and searchlight units, designed
to accompany a tiny expeditionary force, antiaircraft
defense has always been based upon the Territorial
Army. From 1919 to 1923 there was in effect no antiaircraft
defense in this country at all. Then, in 1923, a
modest start was made and a f~w Territorial Army units
were raised .•
At the time of the l\'lunich crisis in the autumn of
1938 our position \\'3S d3ngerous to a degree. Until
1939 equipment was on 3n 3bsurdly meagre scale, and
it should be far more widely known than it is that battery
commanders at that time repeatedly dipped into
their own pockets to buy training apparatus.
Even despite these difficulties keenness and enthusiasm
were excellent and the standard of training reached
a high level. Great credit is clue to all those who helped
then to lay the foundations upon which was built the
great subsequent expansion of the Antiaircr3ft Comm3nd.
In 1939 many new units were fonned and the outbreak
of war fo~nd the position improved enormously,
though much remained to be done and much was required.
Divisions had constantly to subdivide to form
the basis of new divisions; units, barely trained, had to
*Reprinted from the London Dail)' Tele/!,raph, July 22, 1942, by
permission of the editors.
Suez
part with men to form the nucleus of new units; in
many cases raw recruits came up for training in battle
positions. All the time new equipment and devices
were coming into use.
Units, moreover, had to be preparecl for service
abroad and despatched. It is all too little realized that
the great majority of the antiaircraft units who have
played so valiant and vital a part in the great defense
campaigns of this war-including the defense of Malta
and besieged Tobruk-have been detached from the
Antiaircraft Command at home. It is a gallant and
proud record.
The Battle of Britain came as the first test of our
home defenses. How they withstood the enemy may
be illustrated by one example. Our light batteries at
Dover took such toll of the low-Bying German aircraft
that the enemy resorted to heavy, direct attacks on their
gun emplacements to try to clear the field.
In what may be called the Battle of London, which
followed the Battle of Brit3in, it would be fair to say
that both London and Liverpool were sayed by antiaircraft
troops.
1\ Iillions of Londoners will gratefully remember all
their lives the roar of guns which met the German attack
on the evening of September 10. The weight and
intensitv of the fire must have astonished the Germans
as much as it heartened London's population. Morale