1st Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, W.A.A.

1st H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A.

The Sierra Leone Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, R.A. was re-titled on 1st May 1941 to become the 1st H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.  The Battery remained at Freetown and was regimented with the 1st H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A. (previously the Sierra Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A.) from the same date.[1]

1st A.A. Regiment, W.A.A.

On 1st July 1941, the 1st H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A. was redesignated to become the 1st Anti-Aircraft Regiment, W.A.A.  On or shortly after 1st October 1941, the title of the Regiment reverted to the 1st H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A.

The 1st H.A.A. Battery remained deployed at Freetown throughout this period.

1st H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A.

On 3rd October 1941, the Kissi West site (possibly identified as H.19) was handed over by the 1st H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. to the 308th H.A.A. Battery, R.A.[2]

In early 1942, the Battery was occupying sites in the Kissi East area.  On 11th February sixty-nine A.O.R.s were posted to the Battery from the Anti-Aircraft Training Centre.  British O.R.s were also posted to the Battery on 23rd February: thirty-four from the 308th H.A.A. Battery, R.A.; thirty-two from the 197th H.A.A. Battery, R.A.  The H.20 site was handed over to the 6th H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. on 25th February.  That same day, the Battery H.Q. moved from Kissi East to Brookfields.  One section of the Battery occupied Murray Town (H.9) and another Brookfields (H.14).[3]

On 5th March 1942, the code numbers given to gun sites in and around Freetown were changed:

- Murray Town           B.1
- King Tom                B.2
- Brookfields              B.3
- Gorahun                  B.4

[The war diary for the remainder of 1942 and early 1943 recorded little of interest.]

During May 1943, all gun sites were handed over and the Battery mobilised for service overseas.  On 26th May 1943, the Battery embarked at Freetown for India.[4]

The Battery disembarked at Bombay on 11th July 1943 and moved to Kedgaon Camp, Ahmednagar, with the Regiment, where it arrived the next day.  On 30th August, the Battery left with the Regiment for Manipur Road where it arrived on 8th/9th September.  By 16th September, the Battery had relieved the 8th Battery, 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, I.A. and was ready for action.  During October 1943, the Battery became known officially as the 1st (W.A.) H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.  It remained at Manipur Road until it was relieved on 25th July 1944 and moved to Imphal where it took over from a battery of XXXIII Indian Corps.[5]

The Battery left Imphal on 12th August 1945 for Manipur Road where it remained, awaiting orders for the return to West Africa.  The 1st Regiment did not leave Manipur Road until 21st September when it headed for the transit camp at Kalyan, near Bombay.  The 1st Battery arrived there on 5th October and embarked at Bombay the next day on the H.M.T. Bergensfjord.  Disembarking at Freetown on 31st October, the men went to the demobilisation camp.  With the A.O.R.s released early in November, the British Officers and men re-embarked for the United Kingdom on the Bergensfjord on 11th November.  The 1st H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. was officially disbanded on 15th November 1945.[6]

04 August 2025