In January 1938 Scottish newspapers reported measures to increase the anti-aircraft (AA) defences of Scotland's East Coast by the creation of new units of the part-time Territorial Army.

These included 228th (Edinburgh) AA Battery, Royal Artillery (RA), which was raised on 1 February 1938 under the command of Major Sir Eric Hutchison, 2nd Baronet of Hardiston, who had served in World War I and was a TA officer in the 62nd (Scottish) Medium Brigade, RA.

The regiment was part of 36th (Scottish) Anti-Aircraft Brigade, which was responsible for the AA defence of the city of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth.

It was deployed to defend Aberdeen, and at 13.50 on 7 March 1940 a Heinkel He 111 of the Luftwaffe was spotted by the Royal Air Force (RAF).

While the fighters flew out to sea to gain height, the battery fired three salvoes of rounds at fuze settings of 22, 28 and 30 seconds to direct them to the target.

[18][19] In January 1941 94th HAA Rgt left AA Command and became part of the War Office Reserve to mobilise for overseas service.

Additional AA guns had been installed, manned by the RA, Royal Navy and Gibraltar Defence Force (GDF).

A total of nine 'kills' were claimed with one 'probable', though the Vichy and Italian HQs announced higher losses than these, so some aircraft probably crashed in Spain or elsewhere.

Throughout 1942, raiding was spasmodic and in small strength, most enemy sorties being confined to high level reconnaissance overflights, including German Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 and Heinkel He 111 aircraft from March 1942.

There were occasional Italian raids on moonlit mights, generally of three Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers flying at medium height.

By the end of 1942, the AA defences of Gibraltar reached a peak of scale and efficiency, but the threat had dwindled: there were only two or three more reconnaissance overflights in the whole of 1943.

This was a headquarters that had been moved from Scotland to the South Coast to command the AA defences in the Solent–Portsmouth area covering embarkation ports for the Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord).

Shipping at Portsmouth was bombed on four successive nights (25–28 April) during the 'Baby Blitz' of early 1944, and there were sporadic attacks in May, but these failed to disrupt the 'Overlord' preparations.

[37][39][40] As 21st Army Group overran the main launch sites in the Pas-de-Calais, the Luftwaffe shifted its focus to air-launching V-1s over the North Sea during the autumn.