The 115th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (115th LAA Rgt) was an air defence unit of the British Army during World War II.

The unit was originally formed in May 1940 as the 50th (Holding) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, as part of the rapid expansion of the Army with wartime conscripts.

[8] Anti-Aircraft Command was responsible for AA defence of the UK, and the 115th LAA Regiment was initially included in its order of battle, but it was deleted on 23 February 1942, and joined the 46th Division the following day.

Lessons from that campaign and the early fighting in the Western Desert had been learned, and now every infantry division was to have its own air defence unit, equipped with 48 (later 54) towed Bofors 40 mm guns to protect against ground-attack aircraft such as the Luftwaffe 's feared Stuka.

When the Axis launched Operation Ochsenkopf on 26 February, the main weight fell on 139th Bde on the coast, which was forced back from a number of positions over the next month.

With greater experience of 'snap' actions against fast, low-flying aircraft, Bofors gun units increasingly abandoned using the Kerrison Predictor in favour of the simple 'Stiffkey Stick' deflection sight.

As a preliminary to the main attack on the Fondouk Pass, it was tasked with capturing and holding crossings over Wadi Marguellil and then the high ground beyond, which it successfully achieved on 7/8 April.

46th Division attacked with strong artillery and tank support towards some hills near Sebkret el Kourzia in an effort to crack open the position for the armour to pass through.

In the 46th Division's sector, this worked reasonably well: although the invasion convoy was bombed during the preceding night and the leading infantry and Beach Brick troops landed under shellfire and into immediate firefights, the AA guns got ashore and long-range P-38 Lightning fighters kept off most Luftwaffe air attacks by day.

However, this was partly because the Germans had chosen to defend the wide marshy area across the river, and meanwhile their aircraft were very active in attempting to deny the other crossings and disrupt the bridging operations, with frequent attacks using Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Fighter-bombers.

[10][29][30] After the Volturno, the Luftwaffe was rarely seen, and AA engagements became uncommon as the 46th Division worked its way up the coastal plain past Monte Camino to the German Winter Line.

[34] In early 1944, Allied Armies in Italy (AAI) instituted the procedure of shipping exhausted British formations (without their equipment) to Middle East Command for rest and retraining.

They were incorporated into ground defence fireplans and were also used to harass known enemy machine guns or mortar posts or to engage buildings and bunkers.

[38] On its return, the 46th Division joined the Eighth Army on the east side of Italy to take part in breaching the Gothic Line (Operation Olive).

It then moved to clear the Croce–Gemmano high ground to protect the Eighth Army's flank as it advanced on Coriano, but here the division ran into stiff opposition in the Battle of Gemmano.