8th Anti-Aircraft Division (United Kingdom)


The 8th Anti-Aircraft Division was an air defence formation of the British Army during the early years of the Second World War. It defended South West England during The Blitz and the Luftwaffe 'hit and run' raids, but only had a short career.

Mobilisation

The 8th Anti-Aircraft Division was one of five new divisions created on 1 November 1940 by Anti-Aircraft Command to control the growing anti-aircraft defences of the United Kingdom. The division was formed by splitting the 5th AA Division, with the new formation taking responsibility for the City of Bristol and the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Potential targets in this area included the Bristol Aeroplane Company factory and airfield at Filton, and the Royal Navy dockyards at Devonport and Portland.
The Divisional headquarters was at Bristol and the first General Officer Commanding was Major-General Robert Allen, who was transferred from commanding the 5th AA Division. The division formed part of I AA Corps, which was created at the same time to cover Southern England and Wales. The fighting units, organised in four AA Brigades, consisted of Heavy and Light gun units and Searchlight units of the Royal Artillery, with major concentrations of HAA guns in the Bristol and Plymouth Gun Defence Areas

The Blitz

When the 8th AA Division was formed the Luftwaffe 's night Blitz on British cities was already under way. There had previously been daylight raids during the Battle of Britain, notably on Bristol and Portland on 25 September 1940, now the night attacks were stepped up both against London and smaller cities, with the ports of Bristol and Plymouth receiving frequent raids, particularly heavy in March 1941.
In 1939 the scale of HAA guns allocated to the Bristol GDA had been 56, and this was increased to 80 in 1940, but by the end of February 1941 only 36 were in place. This increased to 68 a month later, though further additions to the establishment were already being called for. The position on LAA gunsites was worse: only small numbers of Bofors 40 mm guns were available at the start of the Blitz, and most LAA detachments had to make do with Light machine guns.

Order of Battle

The division's composition during the Blitz was as follows:
overlooking Portland Harbour
By October 1941 the availability of S/L control radar was sufficient to allow AA Command's S/L sites to be 'declustered' into single-light sites spaced at 10,400-yard intervals in 'Indicator Belts' along the coast and approaches to the GDAs, and 'Killer Belts' at spacing to cooperate with the RAF's Night-fighters.
Early in 1942 the Luftwaffe began a new wave of attacks on British cities : Exeter and undefended Bath were hit in March, April and May, and Weston-super-Mare in June. New GDAs were established at Exeter, Taunton, Bath and Salisbury.
Newly formed AA units joined the division, the HAA and support units increasingly becoming 'Mixed' units, indicating that women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were fully integrated into them. At the same time, experienced units were posted away to train for service overseas. This led to a continual turnover of units, which accelerated in 1942 with the preparations for the invasion of North Africa and the need to transfer AA units to counter the Baedeker raids and the Luftwaffe 's hit-and-run attacks against South Coast towns.
Those AA units in the War Office Reserve rostered for overseas deployment were lent back to AA Command when not required for training. One of these, 103rd HAA Rgt, was moved down from Merseyside, which was rarely attacked by this stage of the war, to reinforce the 8th AA Division in Cornwall in April 1942, establishing its batteries at St Ives, Truro and Penzance under the 55th AA Brigade.
In July, the 103rd HAA Rgt was sent for a short attachment to the 11th AA Brigade and was relieved by 79th HAA Rgt which had just completed training with the 11th AA Brigade. The 79th HAA Regiment occupied sites at Hayle, Truro and Penzance on 14 July and the Penzance and Truro guns were in action against raiders early the next morning. The deployment lasted three weeks before the regiment left for further training and the 103rd HAA Rgt returned.
In West Cornwall the main threat was from low level daylight 'hit and run' raids by single engined Luftwaffe aircraft, which were difficult for HAA guns to engage. Night raids on Truro on 24 September and on Penzance two nights later were engaged by the regiment with both HAA and light machine guns.
In August 1942, the 64th AA Brigade was transferred from the 8th AA Division to the 3rd AA Division, a HQ brought down from Scotland to handle the increased workload along the South Coast.

Order of Battle

During this period the division was composed as follows :
The increased sophistication of Operations Rooms and communications was reflected in the growth in support units, which attained the following organisation by May 1942:
The RAOC companies became part of the new Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during 1942.

Disbandment

A reorganisation of AA Command in October 1942 saw the AA divisions disbanded and replaced by a number of AA Groups more closely aligned with the groups of RAF Fighter Command. The 8th AA Division merged with the 5th AA Division into the 3rd AA Group based at Bristol and cooperating with No. 10 Group RAF. Major-General Allen retired. The 5th and 8th Divisional Signals re-amalgamated at Bristol as the 3rd AA Group Signals. Postwar the unit became The 57th Signals Squadron, today part of 39 Signal Regiment.

General Officer Commanding

The 8th AA Division only had one commander during its existence: