4th Light Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank Battery, W.A.A.

The 4th L.A.A./Anti-Tank Battery W.A.A. was originally formed as the 4th L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. at Lagos on 1st April 1942.  The Battery was then reorganised and redesignated to become the 4th L.A.A./Anti-Tank Battery W.A.A. by 1st March 1943.  In November 1943, the Battery moved to India with the 1st L.A.A./Atk Regiment, W.A.A.  At Chittagong on 2nd May 1944, the batteries of the 1st L.A.A./Atk Regiment, W.A.A. were reorganised and redesignated – the 4th L.A.A./Atk Battery becoming the 82nd L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.  The Battery was reorganised as a mortar regiment on 23rd August 1944.  Here is a summary:

4th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, W.A.A.

1st April 1942                formed at Lagos, Nigeria
1st March 1943             reorganised as the 4th L.A.A./Anti-Tank Battery, W.A.A.

4th L.A.A./Anti-Tank Battery, W.A.A.

1st March 1943            by reorganisation of the 4th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, W.A.A.
2nd May1944               reorganised and re-designated as the 82nd L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.

82nd L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.

2nd May 1944              by redesignation of the 2nd L.A.A./Anti-Tank Battery, W.A.A.
23rd August 1944        reorganised as the 103rd Mortar Regiment, W.A.A.

 

4th Light Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank Battery, W.A.A.

The 4th L.A.A. Battery was reorganised at Kano, Nigeria as a L.A.A./anti-tank battery in 1943, being advised that it was to prepare for such re-organisation by the H.Q. 3rd (W.A.) Infantry Brigade on 12th February 1943.  The reorganisation appears to have been complete by 1st March 1943.  The Battery was commanded by Major G.R. Bell, although command appears to have soon passed to Captain D.C. Bain.  The Battery appears to have been equipped with the 40mm Bofors gun on both the L.A.A. and anti-tank roles.[1]

The Battery was regimented with the 1st L.A.A./Anti-Tank Regiment, W.A.A. on 1st May 1943.  Major M.J. Boenisch assumed command of the Battery on 16th June.  On 15th September 1943, the Battery left Kano for Lagos where it embarked on H.M.T. Thysville on 16th September.  The ship sailed for Freetown on 19th September.[2]

Arriving on 24th September 1943, the Regiment disembarked the next day and was billeted in the Freetown area. The ship carrying the Regiment to India, the S.S. Volendam, left Freetown at the end of October 1943 and arrived at Bombay on 17th November. The personnel disembarked and entrained in two groups on 19th and 20th November, the 4th Battery being amongst the first group.  Having arrived at Calcutta on 23rd November, the complete Regiment embarked the next day on the S.S. Santhia for Chittagong.  However, the ship caught fire the following day, forcing the Regiment to disembark followed by a move to Deula, arriving on 26th November.[3]

The Regiment moved to Chittagong, arriving on 8th January 1944.  Here the personnel of the Regiment were reorganised on the basis of two L.A.A. (1st and 4th L.A.A./Atk Batteries) and two anti-tank batteries (the 2nd and an improvised ‘X’ L.A.A./Atk Batteries).  The 4th Battery collected eight 40mm Bofors guns from Chittagong wharf on 22nd January; these being the Mk I pattern and American made.  Lieutenant H.S. Bell, four British N.C.O.s and sixty A.O.R.s from ‘C’ Troop were detached to ‘X’ Anti-Tank Battery, W.A.A. on 25th January.[4] 

Between 5th and 7th February, the Regiment had seventeen guns in action in the L.A.A. role at Chittagong, manned by the 1st and 4th L.A.A./Atk Batteries, under the command of the 13th A.A. Brigade.  On 9th February, ‘B’ Troop, 4th Battery began moving to Paletwa with the ‘bush’ party leaving that day, followed by the ‘gun’ party, with six Bofors guns and a skeleton detachment, flown into ‘Wizard’ airstrip at Medaung on 22nd February in support of the 81st (W.A.) Infantry Division at Kaladan.  This troop was to defend the airstrip and cover any attempted attacks by Japanese river craft.  During the month, ‘A’ Troop began exchanging its American Bofors for British models.  ‘A’ Troop went to Dohazari on 17th/18th March to protect the camp of the 5th Indian Infantry Division and by 25th March all six guns were defending the landing strip at Fazilpur.  The guns of ‘B’ Troop, 4th Battery were evacuated by air from Kaladan on 27th March, but the personnel made their way back on foot, the trip expected to take three weeks.[5]

In April 1944, ‘A’ Troop was deployed to Hathazari airfield, coming into action the day after arrival, on 12th April (according to a later entry in the 13th A.A. Brigade war diary, this was ‘B’ Troop, 4th Battery).  With the agreement of the R.A.F., the defences at Fenny (Feni) and Fazilpur were reduced from 14th April and four guns of ‘A’ Troop, 4th Battery, W.A.A. left Fazilpur to come into action at Chittagong on 16th April.  ‘B’ Troop arrived at Chittagong from the Kaladan Valley on 28th April, after a march of 140 miles through the jungle.[6]

On  25th April 1944, orders were received for the batteries of the 1st L.A.A./Atk Regiment, W.A.A. to be reorganised to form the 61st and 62nd Anti-Tank Batteries and the 81st and 82nd L.A.A. Batteries.  The Advance Battery H.Q., 4th Battery returned from Dohazari to the Chittagong area on 1st May and the Battery was reorganised the next day to become the 82nd L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A.[7]

28 July 2025