III Anti-Aircraft Corps (United Kingdom)

III Anti-Aircraft 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.

III Anti-Aircraft Corps
Formation sign of III Anti-Aircraft Corps. Sign is in Corps colours (red and white) and has crescents from the coat of arms of the GOC Lieutenant-General H. G. Martin.[1]
Active11 November 1940 – 30 September 1942
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeAnti-Aircraft corps
RoleAir Defence
Part ofAnti-Aircraft Command
Garrison/HQEdinburgh
EngagementsThe Blitz
Baedeker Blitz

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.[2][3][4][5] 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. III 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 No. 13 Group and No. 14 Group of RAF Fighter Command.[2][5][6][7]

Order of battle

III AA Corps had the following organisation from February 1941:[8][9][10][11][12][13]

Corps HQ: Edinburgh

General Officer Commanding:[5][14]

3rd AA Division

7th AA Division

12th AA Division

Orkney & Shetland Defence Force (OSDEF)
  • 58th Anti-Aircraft Brigade
  • 59th Anti-Aircraft Brigade

Intermediate Ammunition Depots

Equipment Ammunition Magazines

Operations

During its short existence, III 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.[16] In August 1942, the 3rd AA Division HQ was sent south to assist in defending the South Coast of England against 'hit and run' attacks by the Luftwaffe.[13][17]

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 III 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.[2][5][7][18]

Notes
  1. Cole p.54
  2. Pile's despatch.
  3. Routledge, p. 65.
  4. Farndale, p. 5.
  5. Robert Palmer, A Concise History of Anti-Aircraft Command (History and Personnel) at British Military History.
  6. Routledge, p. 394.
  7. Frederick, p. 1047.
  8. Routledge, p. 394; Table LXV, p. 396.
  9. Farndale, Annex D, pp. 257–9.
  10. AA Command structure at British Military History.
  11. 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.
  12. Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 2 December 1941, TNA file WO 212/80.
  13. Order of Battle of Non-Field Force Units in the United Kingdom, Part 27: AA Command, 14 May 1942, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/81.
  14. Farndale, Annex J.
  15. Martin at Generals of World War II
  16. Routledge, pp. 387–404 & Map 35.
  17. Routledge, pp. 402–3.
  18. Routledge, p. 401 & Map 36.

References
  • Cole, Howard (1973). Formation Badges of World War 2. Britain, Commonwealth and Empire. London: Arms and Armour Press.
  • 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, ISBN 1-85753-080-2.
  • J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol II, Wakefield, Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN 1-85117-009-X.
  • Brig N.W. Routledge, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55, London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994, ISBN 1-85753-099-3
  • 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

External sources
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