British Royal Artillery Reinforcements and Cadres to West Africa
Britain did not have the manpower to meet in full the requirement for anti-aircraft defence in West Africa. Instead, the solution was to build new anti-aircraft units in situ, formed around cadres of British officers, N.C.O.s and Other Ranks despatched from the United Kingdom and brought up to war establishment by the inclusion of African gunners. From late 1940, throughout 1941 and into 1942, both fully formed Royal Artillery anti-aircraft units, specially formed cadres and separate reinforcement drafts were despatched, together with all the necessary guns and equipment.
These British personnel travelled to West Africa aboard troopships carrying reinforcements for the Middle East, India and the Far East. These ships formed part of the famous 'Winston Special' series of convoys. Personnel destined for West Africa disembarked when theconvoys stopped off Freetown.
British personnel were despatched as:
- formed Royal Artillery units, such as the 197th H.A.A. Battery, R.A.
- specially formed cadres, such as H.Q. 'B' H.A.A. Regiment and 'U' L.A.A. Battery
- as part of a reinforcement draft, identified by a system of letters such as RFZXH and RFZFH.
An anti-aircraft training centre was formed to train African gunners and when their training was complete, these men were posted to join both the Royal Artillery batteries and the new West African units. Referred to as ‘Africanisation’, when complete a unit would be brought up to strength based on a mixed War establishment of British Officers, British N.C.O.s and African gunners.
The Royal Artillery batteries sent out from the United Kingdom retained their identity upon arrival in West Africa but were soon ‘Africanised’. In general, these batteries retained their numbered title, for example the 308th H.A.A. Battery, and continued to be referenced as R.A. units for some considerable time, even though now indistinguishable from locally formed West African Artillery batteries. In at least some instances, these former R.A. units later came to be designated as W.A.A., but no policy document has been found to define how and when this may have been done.
Cadres for West Africa were formed in the United Kingdom and designated with a temporary title, such as: H.Q. ‘T’ L.A.A. Battery or H.Q. ‘D’ H.A.A. Regiment. These consisted only of a few Officers, Warrant Officers and senior N.C.O.s. Immediately upon arrival in West Africa, these cadres were formed into new, West African Artillery regiments and batteries. In this way, for instance, upon arrival at Takoradi on 23rd October 1941, the H.Q. ‘T’ L.A.A. Battery formed the 2nd L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. Similarly, the H.Q. ‘D’ H.A.A. Regiment was re-titled to become the 4th H.A.A. Regiment, W.A.A. when it arrived at Bathurst on 24th October 1941. Smaller detachments were absorbed into the new units, such as ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ L.A.A. Detachments which were taken into the 3rd L.A.A. Battery, W.A.A. at Freetown. Individual reinforcement drafts were posted to new units upon arrival.
14 September 2025