304th (East Africa) Regiment, E.A.A.

The story of the 304th (East Africa) Regiment, E.A.A. is long and convoluted.  Here is a summary:

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

15th February 1943       formed at Gilgil
1st April 1943 (wef)        re-designated as the 305th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.

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

9th May 1943                by re-designation of the 5th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, wef 1st April 1943
4th October 1943           re-designated to become the 304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.

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

4th October 1943           by re-designation of the 305th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment
1st February 1944         formed the 304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A.

304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A.

1st February 1944         by re-designation of the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment
26th August 1944          re-organised as an anti-tank/mortar regiment
3rd September 1944      re-designated as the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A.

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

3rd September 1944      formed from the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A.
2nd February 1945        reverted to the war establishment of an anti-tank regiment

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

2nd February 1945        reverted to anti-tank regiment from 304th (E.A.) Atk/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A.
March 1946?                 disbanded in East Africa.

 

5th (East Africa) 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 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 by 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]

By now, the 101st (E.A.) Anti-Tank Battery consisted of the Battery Commander, Captain K. Garland, four Officers, two British Warrant Officers and seventeen British N.C.O.s and 156 African gunners.  The remaining personnel were attached for training.[2]

The 102nd (E.A.) Anti-Tank Battery began forming from 15th October 1942.  A draft of British Officers and N.C.O.s arrived from the United Kingdom on 23rd December.  Major K.E. Barron assumed command of the 101st Battery; Major F.W. Ward that of the 102nd Battery.  Recruits for the 103rd Battery arrived on 1st January 1943 and the Battery formed on 29th January.  A plan to form anti-tank platoons for infantry battalions was abandoned.[3]

The 5th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A. formed at Gilgil on 15th February 1943, with Major Dunbar in command.  The Regiment was equipped with 2-pounder anti-tank guns.  On 13th March, the 102nd Battery went to the Naivasha artillery ranges for practice firing.  The fourth battery, the 104th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Battery, E.A.A. appears to have formed on 15th March and was brought up to war establishment with the posting of 160 African gunners and four African N.C.O.s on 16th April.[4]

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.[5]   

 

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

On 9th May 1943, the 5th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A. 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 was located at Gilgil and commanded by Lt. Colonel G.R. Dunbar.  The Regiment retained the four original batteries: 101st-104th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Batteries.[6]  

The Regiment was formally designated as Divisional Artillery, 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division when the Divisional H.Q. opened at Moshi on 17th May 1943.[7]

The 103rd Battery moved to Naivasha on 22nd May 1943, followed by the Regimental H.Q. on 12th June and the 104th Battery on 18th June.  The Regiment returned to Gilgil on 21st July after completing exercises.  Lt. Colonel T.U. Wilson assumed command of the Regiment on 11th August.  At Mombasa, 6-pounder anti-tank guns had arrived with which to begin re-equipping the Regiment, but it was decided to ship these directly overseas in anticipation of a transfer of at least part of the Regiment.  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.  On 27th September, the 101st and 102nd Batteries left Gilgil Station for Mariakani, from where they subsequently embarked at Mombasa for Ceylon, arriving at Colombo on 12th October and disembarking the next day.  Regimental H.Q. and the 103rd and 104th Batteries remained at Gilgil.[8]

On 4th October 1943, the Regiment was re-designated to become the 304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.[9]

 

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

October 1943 - January 1944

On 4th October 1943, the 305th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A. at Gilgil was re-designated to become the 304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A., with the 103rd and 104th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Batteries.[10]  

The 101st and 102nd Batteries moved to Ceylon as part of the third flight of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division, arriving at Colombo on 12th October and disembarking the next day.  Regimental H.Q. and the 103rd and 104th Batteries remained at Gilgil.[11]

In anticipation of the receipt of 6-pounder anti-tank guns, the 2-pounders were either returned to Ordnance or handed to the 105th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Battery (which while attached to the Regiment for training, was not to form part of it permanently).   British personnel of the Regiment attended instruction in the use of the 2-inch mortar on 25th October 1943, as these were now being issued to anti-tank regiments on a scale of one mortar per section.  On 28th October, the Regiment was fully equipped with twenty-four 6-pounder anti-tank guns.[12]

The Commanding Officer and others attended a conference on 1st November 1943 regarding the transfer of the Regiment to Ceylon as part of the fourth flight of the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division.  A further conference was held on 3rd November.  The 104th Battery went to practice camp at Naivasha on 23rd November, returning to Gilgil on 30th November, on which date the 103rd Battery took its turn at Naivasha until around 5th December.  Lt. Colonel Wilson was taken ill on 19th December, his post being taken by Major D.E. Winter.[13]

On 1st February 1944, the 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.  Regimented were the 101st and the 102nd Anti‑Tank Batteries, then serving in Ceylon, and the 203rd and 204th L.A.A. Batteries.[14] 

The 103rd and 104th Anti-Tank Batteries were regimented with the short-lived 305th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A, which was authorised to be formed from 1st February 1944.  The 305th Regiment appears to have converted on 1st March 1944 to become a field regiment: the 308th (E.A.) Field Regiment, E.A.A. with the 70th and 71st Field Batteries converted from the 103rd and 104th Batteries.[15]

 

304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A.

On 1st February 1944, the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A. was formed at Athi River by the merger of the 305th (E.A.) L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A. and the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.  It was formed as Divisional Troops, 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division.  The Commanding Officer was Lt. Colonel E.R. Mayer.[16]

The personnel of the 203rd and 204th L.A.A. Batteries were posted from the 305th (E.A.) L.A.A. Regiment to the new regiment whilst the 205th L.A.A. Battery became an independent battery attached to the 304th (E.A.) Atk/L.A.A. Regiment.  The two anti-tank batteries of the 304th Regiment, the 101st and the 102nd, at the time serving in Ceylon, were also regimented.[17]

The Regiment left Athi River for Kilindini, Mombasa on 20th February 1944.  The 205th Battery stopped being attached to the Regiment as a result.  The following day, the R.H.Q., 304th Regiment embarked on H.M.T. W.53; the 203rd and 204th Batteries embarked on H.M.T. W.52.[18]

The R.H.Q. with the 203rd and 204th 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’.  On 3rd May, during a visit to the Divisional Artillery,  the Regiment was inspected by the Supreme Allied commander, Lord Louis Mountbatten.  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.[19]

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.[20]

Anticipating taking on the 3-inch mortar role, a training course for Officers was begun on 13th July 1944.  By 28th July, the Regiment had received twenty-eight mortars.  The Regiment left Dohazari by train on 10th August, arriving at Kakching village, near Palel, Imphal on 20th August.  Here, the men made camp.[21]

At Kakching, 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.  Regimented were the 101st, 102nd and 103rd Atk/Mortar Batteries (the 103rd being reorganised from personnel of the 204th L.A.A. Battery).  Surplus personnel were posted to the 203rd L.A.A. Battery which was not disbanded until its return to East Africa.[22]

 

304th (East Africa) Anti-Tank/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A.

The 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A. was formed on 3rd September 1944 at Kakching, near Palel, Imphal, by the redesignation and reorganisation of the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank/L.A.A. Regiment, E.A.A.[23]

Regimented were the 101st, 102nd and 103rd Anti-Tank/Mortar Batteries.  The 103rd Battery was organised from the 204th L.A.A. Battery whose surplus personnel were posted to the 203rd L.A.A. Battery, which on 11th October, was transferred to the 11th (E.A.) Division Transit Camp for return to East Africa for disbandment.  [A previous 103rd Anti-Tank Battery is thought to have converted to become a field battery with the 308th (E.A.) Field Regiment, E.A.A. in Kenya on 1st March 1944.]  The anti-tank/mortar batteries were equipped with the 6‑pounder anti-tank gun and the 3-inch mortar.[24]

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 Kaching for Khampat, which it reached with its mortars on 14th October.  The Battery was followed by the R.H.Q. and the 102nd Battery which left Kaching on 12th October.  The following day, owing to the state of the roads, the anti-tank guns of the 102nd Battery were returned to Imphal for forward transportation by air.  However, the guns of the 101st Battery, left en route as the battery moved forward, were 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 forty-two miles in six days over a very bad road. One anti-tank gun of the 102nd Battery landed at Khampat by glider on 21st October.  Meanwhile, the 101st Battery had 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).  Three anti-tank guns delivered to Khampat by glider reached the 102nd Anti-Tank Battery at Yazagyo on 29th October.  This Battery moved forward with fifteen guns on 30th October and the next day came under the command of the 25th (E.A.) Infantry Brigade.  The 101st Mortar Battery, less one troop, moved from the Yazagyo area to Thaigon.[25]

On 18th December, the Regiment, less the 103rd Battery, left the front for the Divisional Rest Area near Bokajan, to the north of Dimapur, arriving on 22nd December.  The 103rd Battery set off on 23rd December, rejoining the Regiment in the rest camp on 29th December; ‘H’ Troop being the last to arrive on 2nd January 1945.[27]

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.[28]

 

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

February 1945 - March 1946

While at the 11th (E.A.) Infantry Division rest camp at Bokajan, north of Dimapur, on 2nd February 1945, the 304th (E.A.) Atk/Mortar Regiment, E.A.A. reverted to the war establishment of an anti-tank regiment, becoming known once again as the 304th (E.A.) Anti-Tank Regiment, E.A.A.  Regimented were the 101st, 102nd and 103rd Anti-Tank Batteries (the latter being a ‘new’ 103rd Battery, formed in September 1944 from personnel of the 203rd (E.A.) L.A.A. Battery).  The Commanding Officer was Lt. Colonel E.R. Mayer.  Although now officially an anti-tank regiment, the unit retained the 3-inch mortar with which it practiced during March.  The 101st Battery went to Dhansirmukh between 12th and 18th March for anti-tank firing.  It was followed by the 102nd Battery between 23rd and 26th March and the 103rd Battery from 29th March-1st April.[29]

The Regiment left Bokajan for Chas on 17th April 1945, arriving on 21st April.  Lt. Colonel Mayer left on repatriation to the United Kingdom on 6th May, Major D.E. Winder assuming temporary command until the arrival of Lt. Colonel G.C. Grimshaw on 20th May.  Between 21st-29th May, the Regiment moved to Ranchi.  At Ranchi, on 3rd June, the Regiment transferred from the administrative control of the 21st (E.A.) Infantry Brigade to that of the 25th (E.A.) Infantry Brigade but soon reverted to the command of the Divisional H.Q. R.A. on 10th June.  Training and practice firing at the nearby Piska ranges continued throughout the month.  The Regiment remained at Ranchi, celebrated V.J. Day and said goodbye to British Officers and men being repatriated under the ‘Python’ Scheme.  Several African gunners went to the 303rd (E.A.) Field Regiment, E.A.A. on 29th November for onward transportation to East Africa.  There were further postings of African personnel to the 303rd Regiment in December – 148 African gunners moving to that Regiment, with 178 transferring from the 303rd to the 304th Regiment.[30]

During January and February 1946, African gunners were able to take a number of vocational courses, as preparation for demobilisation.  The Officers held several conferences to plan the return to Africa.  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.  On 16th February, Major F.G. Thompson assumed command.[31]

A farewell parade was held for the Regiment at Ranchi on 26th February 1946 and it may be assumed that the personnel of the 304th Regiment left for East Africa shortly afterwards, arriving home during March and being disbanded shortly thereafter.[32]

31 March 2025