34th (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade

The 34th (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Anti-Aircraft Command in the British Territorial Army formed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. It defended the West Midlands of England during The Blitz.

Origin
34th (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft (AA) Brigade was formed on 1 April 1938 at Coventry, and was assigned to 4th AA Division when that formation was created in Western Command on 1 September that year. They were transferred to the new AA Command in 1939, with 34 AA Bde responsible for the air defence of Coventry and Birmingham. On the outbreak of war the brigade controlled the following units of the Royal Artillery:


 * 69th (Royal Warwickshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) regiment formed in 1936 by conversion of 6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment
 * HQ, 190 and 191 AA Batteries at Birmingham
 * 192 and 199 AA Batteries at Kings Norton


 * 73rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – raised in 1937 from batteries drawn from 62nd Field Brigade and 51st (Midland) Medium Brigade, RA
 * HQ and 209 (Wolverhampton) AA Battery at Wolverhampton
 * 222 (West Bromwich) AA Battery at West Bromwich
 * 311 AA Battery at Brierley Hill


 * 95th (Birmingham) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA – newly raised in April 1939, with 204 Bty from 73 AA Regiment
 * HQ and 293 AA Battery at Washwood Heath
 * 204 (Warwickshire) AA Battery at Saltley


 * 34th AA Brigade Company Royal Army Service Corps

World War II
73rd AA Regiment left the brigade in November 1939 to join the Advanced Air Striking Force in France. After the Dunkirk evacuation in May–June 1940, some AA units that had served in France with the British Expeditionary Force were sent to the West Midlands to refit and joined the brigade. In the summer of 1940 the AA regiments of the RA were redesignated Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) to distinguish them from the new Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) units being formed.

34 AA Brigade defended the industrial West Midlands during The Blitz of 1940–41, when Coventry was badly hit. In November 1940 it was transferred to the newly-formed 11th AA Division, at which time the brigade's order of battle was as follows:
 * 6 HAA Regt – Regular Army unit returned from Dunkirk evacuation
 * 60 (City of London) HAA Regt– TA unit returned from Dunkirk
 * 95 HAA Regt– see above
 * 110 HAA Regt– new unit formed October 1940
 * 112 HAA Regt– new unit formed October 1940
 * 22 LAA Regt– raised in December 1938
 * 70 LAA Battery at Dudley Port
 * 72 LAA Battery at Hams Hall power stations

Disbandment
The reduction in activity by the German Luftwaffe towards the end of the war saw a drastic reduction in AA defences, and there was widespread disbandment at the end of the war in Europe. When the TA was reformed in 1947, the AA Bdes were renumbered: the number 60 was reserved for a reconstituted 34 AA Bde, but was never used, and the brigade was never reformed.

Online sources

 * British Army units from 1945 on


 * British Military History


 * Orders of Battle at Patriot Files


 * The Royal Artillery 1939–45


 * Graham Watson, The Territorial Army 1947