33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft Brigade

The 33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Anti-Aircraft Command in the British Territorial Army (TA) formed shortly before the outbreak of World War II. It defended Merseyside and West Lancashire during The Blitz.

Origin
33rd (Western) Anti-Aircraft (AA) Group (later Brigade) was formed on 1 November 1936 at the Drill Hall, Chester, as part of 2nd AA Division, with the following AA units of the Royal Artillery (RA) and Royal Engineers (RE) under command:


 * 65th (The Manchester Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (TA) – Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) unit formed at Hulme in 1936 by conversion of 6th/7th Battalion Manchester Regiment
 * 181, 182, 183, 196 AA Batteries


 * 38th (The King's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – Searchlight unit formed at Liverpool in 1936 by conversion of 6th (Rifles) Bn King's Regiment (Liverpool)
 * 350, 351, 352, 353 AA Companies


 * 39th (The Lancashire Fusiliers) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – Searchlight unit formed at Salford in 1936 by conversion of 7th Bn Lancashire Fusiliers
 * 354, 355, 356, 357 AA Companies


 * 41st (The North Staffordshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, RE (TA) – Searchlight unit formed at Stoke-on-Trent in 1936 by conversion of 5th Bn North Staffordshire Regiment
 * 362, 363, 363, 365 AA Companies

33rd AA Brigade was re-assigned to 4th AA Division when that formation was created in Western Command on 1 September 1938. AA Command took over all TA air defences in 1939.

World War II
On the outbreak of World War II the brigade was responsible for the air defence of Liverpool and West Lancashire, controlling the following units:
 * 70th (3rd West Lancashire) AA Regiment, RA – HAA unit formed in 1937 by conversion of 89th (3rd West Lancashire) Field Brigade, RA
 * HQ at Tramway Road, Aigburth, Liverpool
 * 211 (13th West Lancashire) AA Battery at Aigburth
 * 212 (27th West Lancashire) AA Battery at Aigburth
 * 216 (14th West Lancashire) AA Battery at Widnes
 * 309 AA Battery at Bootle, Liverpool


 * 81st AA Regiment, RA – HAA unit formed in 1938 by conversion of 60th (6th Cheshire & Shropshire) Medium Brigade, RA
 * HQ, 253, 254 (Cheshire) AA Batteries at Stockport
 * 255 (Cheshire) AA Battery at Stalybridge


 * 93rd AA Regiment, RA – New HAA unit raised in 1939
 * HQ, 288, 289 AA Batteries at Oxton, Birkenhead
 * 267 (Wirral) AA Battery at West Birkenhead
 * 290 AA Battery at Chester


 * 38th (The King's Regiment) AA Battalion, RE – As above
 * HQ, 350, 351, 352, 353 AA Companies at Liverpool


 * 4th Battalion, The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (62nd Searchlight Regiment, RA) – Converted 1938
 * HQ, 435, 436, 437 S/L Batteries at Preston


 * 33rd AA Brigade Company, Royal Army Service Corps

During the early part of the war the brigade's searchlight regiments were transferred to other formations and were replaced by new HAA and Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) regiments. By the time of the Liverpool Blitz of 1940–41, 33 AA Bde had its headquarters at Liverpool in 4 AA Division, with the following units under command:


 * 103 HAA Regiment – formed May 1940


 * 106 HAA Regiment – formed August 1940


 * 33 LAA Regiment (132 LAA Battery) – from Western Command at Liverpool


 * 42 LAA fRegiment – formed September 1939 from batteries of 17 and 36 LAA Regts


 * Part of 65 LAA Regiment – formed November 1940

Postwar
On 1 January 1947, 33 AA Bde was redesignated 59th Anti-Aircraft Brigade' in the reformed TA, constituting part of 4 AA Group based at Warrington:
 * Brigade HQ at Woolton, Liverpool
 * 360 HAA Regt – formerly 81 HAA Regt; see above
 * 493 HAA Regt, Birkenhead – formerly 93 HAA Regt; see above
 * 515 (Isle of Man) LAA Regt, Douglas –formerly 15 (Isle of Man) LAA Regt
 * 521 LAA Regt, Chester – formerly 21 LAA Regt; merged into 349 Regt 30 September 1950
 * 596 (South Lancashire) LAA Regt, St Helens – from 612 (South Lancashire) Infantry Regt RA, formerly 61 Searchlight Regt and originally 5th Bn South Lancashire Regiment

AA Command was disbanded on 10 March 1955 and there was a series of reductions and mergers in the TA's AA units. 59 AA Brigade was itself placed in suspended animation on 31 October 1955 and formally disbanded on 31 December 1957.

A new brigade
A new 33rd AA Bde was formed on 1 November 1955 at Shepherd's Bush, London, by redesignation of X AA Bde (formerly 63 AA Bde). It had no links with Western Command or Merseyside. This brigade was reorganised on 1 May 1961, becoming 33 Artillery Brigade in 56th (London) Division.

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