101st (East Africa) Anti-Tank Battery, E.A.A.

5th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.

An anti-tank training cadre was formed at the E.A.A. Depot in August 1942.  Major G.R. Dunbar was the senior instructor.  On 19th September, the cadre (identified as the 101st (E.A.) Anti-Tank Battery in the war diary of the 1st (E.A.) Field Regiment) moved to the R.A. camp at Gilgil where it joined up with 156 African recruits at the 1st Holding Battalion.  Ten British N.C.O.s arrived from the United Kingdom on 13th September to join the anti-tank batteries, followed be eleven more on 14th October.  One hundred and twelve Askaris arrived from the 1st Holding Battalion to join the 101st Anti-Tank Battery, E.A.A. on 15th October.  Forty-four were selected for driver training.[1]

The Battery was equipped with 2-pounder anti-tank guns.  The Battery Commander was Captain K. Garland.  On 23rd December 1942, Major K.E. Barron assumed command of the Battery.

The Battery held a practice camp at Gilgil between 17th and 23rd January 1943.[2]

The Battery was regimented with the 5th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A. which began forming at Gilgil on 15th February 1943.[3] 

305th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.

On 9th May 1943, the Regiment received notification that it had been re-designated as the 305th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A., with effect from 1st April 1943.  The Regiment and batteries remained at Gilgil.[4]  

The 101st and 102nd Batteries were earmarked to move to Ceylon as part of the third flight of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division.  These two batteries undertook additional training at Naivasha during September 1943.  On 27th September, the 101st and 102nd Batteries left Gilgil Station for Mariakani, then to Mombasa where between 2nd and 3rd October they embarked for Ceylon.[5]

304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.

On 4th October 1943, the 305th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A. was re-designated to become the 304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.[6]

The 101st and 102nd Batteries arrived at Colombo on 12th October 1943 and disembarked the next day.  The two Batteries went to Richard’s Rest, Kelaniya but moved to Peradeniya at the end of the month.  During November, the 101st Battery was attached to the 26th (E.A.) Infantry Brigade and upon completion of Exercise ‘Brandy’ remained under command of the Brigade.  Upon completion of a further exercise in December, the Battery was located with the Brigade at MS121 on the Vavuniya-Jaffna Road.  The Battery left the Brigade to move to Hambantota for training on 28th January 1944.[7]

304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, E.A.A.

On 1st February 1944, the 304th Regiment combined with the 305th (E.A.) L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A. to form the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A.  The 101st and the 102nd Anti-Tank Batteries, then serving in Ceylon, were also regimented.[8] 

The R.H.Q. with the 203rd and 204th L.A.A. Batteries disembarked at Colombo on 5th March 1944 and moved to Illimbe Camp, Horana, coming under the command of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division.  The 101st and 102nd Anti-Tank Batteries, meanwhile, were at Hambantota.  They were joined there by the R.H.Q. and the two L.A.A. batteries on 5th April.  On arrival, the Regiment left by march route to reach the Divisional concentration area at Dambulla on 9th April.  Between 16th and 25th April, the Regiment participated in Exercise ‘Tayari’.  The two L.A.A. batteries left on 9th May for Trincomalee for training, returning to Dambulla on 31st May.  Meanwhile, the anti-tank troops had been practicing at Mannar with the 6-pounder anti-tank gun and 3-inch mortar, before returning to rejoin the Regiment on 1st June.[9]

Between 14th and 18th June 1944, the Regiment moved by march route and rail to Colombo where on 18th June it embarked on board the S.S. Rajula for India.  The ship left on 20th June and the Regiment disembarked at Chittagong on 26th June, before moving to Dohazari the next day.[10]

The Regiment left Dohazari by train on 10th August, arriving at Katching village, near Palel, Imphal on 20th August.[11]

 

101st (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Mortar Battery, 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A.

At Katching, on 26th August 1944, the Regiment re-organised as an anti-tank/mortar regiment and was re-designated as the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A. on 3rd September.[12]

The 101st Anti-Tank Battery was now reorganised and retitled as the 101st (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Mortar Battery, equipped with the 6‑pounder anti-tank gun and the 3-inch mortar.[13]

The Regiment received a movement order dated 17th September 1944, to move to the Divisional concentration area in the area Sunle-Khampat.  On 8th October 1944, the 101st Battery left Katching for Khampat, which it reached with its mortars on 14th October.  The guns of the 101st Battery, left en route as the battery moved forward, we’re collected and moved with the R.H.Q. and the 102nd Battery column.  The column reached Khampat on the morning of 18th October, having covered 42 miles in six days over a very bad road. The 101st Battery moved forward and a troop fired a mortar concentration in support of an attack by the 5th Battalion, King’s African Rifles on Point 3069, Letsegan, on 22nd October.  Later that day, the R.H.Q. and 102nd Battery, with the anti-tank guns of the 101st Battery, left Khampat for Yazagyo which was reached on 24th October.  The next day, the B.H.Q. and ‘A' Troop, 101st Battery reverted to the command of the Regiment at Yazagyo; ‘B’ Troop remained under the 5th Battalion, Kings African Rifles; ‘C’ Troop was in support of the 22nd Battalion, King’s African Rifles.  By now, it seems that the 101st Battery was allocated to the mortar role and the 102nd to the anti-tank role (from late October, the war diary refers to the batteries as the 101st Mortar and the 102nd Anti-Tank).  The 101st Mortar Battery, less one troop, moved from the Yazagyo area to Thaigon.[14]

The 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division resumed its offensive down the Kabaw Valley.  The infantry reached Kalewa on 2nd December.  Elements of the Regiment began arriving at Kalewa from 2nd December and ‘A’ and ‘C’ Troops, 101st Mortar Battery crossed the Chindwin River on 4th December.  The mortars fired in support of the bridgehead across the Chindwin and on 10th December.  On 16th December, both the 101st and the 102nd Batteries joined the R.H.Q. on the East bank of the Chindwin.  On 18th December, the Regiment began leaving the front for the Divisional Rest Area near Bokajan, to the north of Dimapur, arriving on 22nd December.[15]

The Regiment reverted to the war establishment of an anti-tank regiment on 2nd February 1945, becoming known once again as the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.[16]

 

101st (E.A.) Anti-Tank Battery, 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.

The 101st Battery reverted to being an anti-tank battery.  It remained at Bokajan before going to Dhansirmukh between 12th and 18th March for anti-tank firing.[17]

The Regiment left Bokajan for Chas on 17th April 1945, arriving on 21st April.  Between 21st-29th May, the Regiment moved to Ranchi.  Training and practice firing at the nearby Piska ranges continued throughout the month.[18]

During January and February 1946 preparations began for demobilisation.  In February, the 6-pounder anti-tank guns were handed in to the Ordnance Depot at Jubbulpore.  The 3-inch mortars were transferred to the 306th (E.A.) Field Regiment, E.A.A.[19]  Personnel of the 304th Regiment may have returned to East Africa during March 1946 and been disbanded shortly thereafter.[20]

01 April 2025