3 Anti-Aircraft Corps (United Kingdom)

3 Anti-Aircraft Corps
Active 11 November 1940–30 September 1942
Country  United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Anti-Aircraft corps
Role Air Defence
Part of Anti-Aircraft Command
Garrison/HQ Edinburgh
Engagements The Blitz
Baedeker Blitz

3 Anti-Aircraft Corps (3 AA Corps) was a high-level formation of Britain's Anti-Aircraft Command from 1940 to 1942. It defended Scotland, Northern Ireland and North East England during the Blitz and the middle years of World War II.

Origin

AA Command had been created in 1938 to control the Territorial Army's rapidly-expanding anti-aircraft (AA) organisation within Air Defence of Great Britain. On the outbreak of war in September 1939, it commanded seven AA Divisions, each with several AA Brigades, disposed around the United Kingdom.[1][2][3][4] Continued expansion made this organisation unwieldy, so in November 1940 – during the Luftwaffe's nightly Blitz on London and other British cities – five further AA Divisions were organised, and all the divisions grouped under three corps headquarters directly subordinate to AA Command. 3 AA Corps covered North Eastern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and by February 1941 comprised four division-level headquarters and 11 brigades. Its boundaries roughly coincided with 13 Group and 14 Group of RAF Fighter Command. [1][4][5]

Order of Battle

3 AA Corps had the following organisation from February 1941:[6][7][8][9][10][11]

Corps HQ: Edinburgh

General Officer Commanding:[4][12]

3rd AA Division

7th AA Division

12th AA Division

Orkney & Shetland Defence Force (OSDEF)

Intermediate Ammunition Depots

Equipment Ammunition Magazines

Operations

During its short existence, 3 AA Corps had to deal with the 1940–41 Blitz on industrial towns and cities such as Belfast, Clydebank, Greenock and Newcastle upon Tyne, as well as later raids on Middlesbrough and Sunderland.[15]

Disbandment

The AA Corps and Divisional HQs were disbanded in October 1942 and a replaced by a more flexible system of AA Groups. The area covered by 3 AA Corps became the responsibility of two of the new groups: 6th AA Group (North East England and Scotland) and 7th AA Group (Northern Ireland); OSDEF remained directly subordinate to AA Command.[1][4][16]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Pile's despatch.
  2. ↑ Routledge, p. 65.
  3. ↑ Farndale, p. 5.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Robert Palmer, A Concise History of Anti-Aircraft Command (History and Personnel) at British Military History.
  5. ↑ Routledge, p. 394.
  6. ↑ Routledge, p. 394; Table LXV, p. 396.
  7. ↑ Farndale, Annex D, pp. 257–9.
  8. ↑ AA Command structure at British Military History.
  9. ↑ Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 12 May 1941, The National Archives (TNA), Kew file WO 212/79.
  10. ↑ Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, TNA file WO 212/80.
  11. ↑ Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, TNA file WO 212/81.
  12. ↑ Farndale, Annex J.
  13. ↑ Farndale, Annex J.
  14. ↑ Martin at Generals of World War II
  15. ↑ Routledge, pp. 387–404 & Map 35.
  16. ↑ Routledge, p. 401 & Map 36.

References

External sources


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.