308th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, R.A.

The 308th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, R.A., was formed at Rochester on 1st April 1939, and regimented with the 55th (London) A.A. Regiment, R.A.  The Battery left the United Kingdom at the end of August 1941, sailing with Convoy WS 11.  It arrived at Freetown on 15th September 1941 and disembarked later that day.  Upon disembarkation, the Battery was regimented with the 4th A.A. Regiment, W.A.A.  The Battery took over the Kissi West site on 3rd October 1941 and Clinetown the following day.[1]

The 4th A.A. Regiment, W.A.A., was re-designated to become the 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A. on 8th October 1941.[2]

Major H.J. Lyons took command of the Battery on 31st October.  The Battery H.Q. moved from Beehive House, Wilberforce to Murray Town Barracks on 1st November.  The Clinetown site (H.15) was declared ready for action on 20th December 1941.  By this date, the Battery was manning the H.9, H.14, H.15 and H.19 sites.[3]

On 25th February 1942, the Battery formed two, four-gun sections in preparation for Africanisation, due to take place following a move of personnel to the H.15 and H.19 sites.  The H.9 and H.14. sites were handed over to the 1st H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.  Around sixty B.O.R.s were posted to the 1st H.A.A. Battery.  The designation of these sites changed in March to become C.1 and C.2 respectively.  Major Lyons left the Battery to join the 5th H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. on 5th April and was succeeded as Battery Commander by Major J.S. Dettmer.  The Battery was fully ‘Africanised’ by 19th May with the arrival of the second detachment of A.O.R.s from the A.A.T.C.  On 24th June, seventy-five B.O.R.s were posted to other batteries of the 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A., leaving the 308th Battery only forty-six men over war establishment, with a strength of 166 compared with 372 when the Battery arrived in September 1941.  Major Dettmer left on leave in the United Kingdom on 14th September 1942 and was succeeded by Captain P.H.J. Berthon the following day.[4]

On 12th February 1943, ‘A’ Troop went to Murraytown to the A.A. T.C. for training.  The Troop then took over the site D.2 from the 6th H.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. on 19th February.  During April, the four static 3.7-inch guns at C.2 were removed by the R.E.M.E. as the Battery made preparations for mobilisation for service in India.  All mobile 3.7-inch guns and equipment were handed in to the ordnance depot from 16th April.  Mobilisation began officially on 20th April.[5]

The Battery sailed from Lagos for India on 2nd June 1943, via Takoradi, Capetown and Durban.  The Battery disembarked at Bombay on 12th July 1943 and entrained for Kedgaon Camp, where it arrived the next morning.  On 8th August, a leave party of British Other Ranks rejoined the unit from the United Kingdom.  On 25th November 1943, the Battery left Kedgaon for Misamari, Assam.  Arriving during 11th and 12th December, gun positions were taken over operationally on 16th December.  In this location, the Battery was effectively detached from the 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A., coming under local operational command of the Anti-Aircraft Defence Commander (A.A.D.C.) Tezpur/Misamari, Lt. Colonel T. Haighton, C.O. 118th L.A.A. Regiment, R.A.[6]

During October 1943, the Battery became known officially as the 308th (W.A.) H.A.A. Battery, R.A. [It was official policy within Indian Command and the 14th Army to designate the ‘nationality’ of units in their title, to remove the risk of any opportunity for confusion where units of the same type also had the same unit number: for example, the 8th H.A.A. Battery, R.A. and the 8th (Indian) H.A.A. Battery, I.A.)].  What is also of interest, is that despite having been ‘Africanised’ by 19th May 1942, the Battery remained a Royal Artillery unit, not being designated as West African Artillery (W.A.A.).[7]

The 308th Battery remained at Misamari and Tezpur into 1944.  In October of that year, the 3.7-inch ammunition began to be removed from the gun positions and returned to the Ordnance Depot. By the end of the month, all positions previously occupied by the Battery had become non-operational.  On 4th November, eight 3.7-inch guns from the HB position at Misamari and the W position at Tezpur were despatched by rail to Amingaon en route for Ferozepore.  The radar installations were dismounted and loaded onto river flats and sent to Silghat.  On 20th November ‘F’ Troop from the ‘HA’ position at Misamari and ‘E’ Troop from the ‘U’ position at Tezpur entrained and the Battery left for Jorhat, which was reached on 22nd November.[8]

At Jorhat, the Battery took over the ‘H’ and ‘DA’ positions from the 1st Battery, 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, I.A., coming under the command of the 3rd Indian A.A. Brigade, and being detached from the 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A.[9]

The Battery became non-operational on 8th January 1945 and between this date and March, the guns were withdrawn and eventually despatched to the Ordnance Depot at Manipur Road.  Twenty-six African Other Ranks left on 23rd February for repatriation to West Africa.  On 11th March, the Battery moved to Manipur Road and on 17th March, twelve British N.C.O.s left on repatriation to the United Kingdom.  The Battery remained at Manipur Road until August 1945 when it began preparations for the return to West Africa.  Unfortunately, news was received at the end of the month that embarkation was temporarily postponed.  The H.Q. 2nd H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A., with the 197th, 308th and 2nd Batteries, left for Kalyan en route to Bombay for embarkation on 16th/17th September.  It is thought that the 308th Battery embarked on the Highland Princess  and left Bombay on 28th September and arrived at Freetown on 20th/21st October.  The Battery was likely disbanded in Sierra Leone during November 1945.[10]

04 August 2025