2nd Anti-Aircraft Brigade (2 AA Bde) was an air defence formation of the British Army during the Second World War, seeing active service in the Battle of France and the North African and Italian campaigns.

By the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, 2 AA Bde at Lichfield came under Western Command, but its wartime role was to support the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that was to be sent to France.

[2][6] The prewar planning for the BEF had envisaged two AA brigades, one for forward defence and one guarding the bases and lines of communication, but this was quickly expanded, new headquarters (HQs) were created and the Regular Army AA units were supplemented by part-time units of the Territorial Army (TA) that had been mobilised for war service under Anti-Aircraft Command.

2 AA Bde HQ remained at Nantes throughout September organising disembarkation of searchlight units and awaiting the arrival of its signals, workshop and transport companies.

Guns of 2 AA Bde were in action from the beginning: 151 LAA Bty at Abbeville airfield claimed a number of hits and suffered a few casualties as the first air raids began on 10 May.

Afterwards, three GL Mk I gun-laying radar stations were moved to 2 AA Rgt there and the S/L allocation was increased to introduce a S/L Illuminated Zone round the town and airfield.

On 17 May, as the situation worsened, 2 AA Bde's forward units were ordered to withdraw, while others prepared for ground defence of their airfields and established roadblocks on the main roads.

[7][18][19] On 22 May the brigade reorganised into ad hoc groups under regimental commanders:[7] On the evening of 22 May, 2 AA Bde HQ was divebombed and three drivers and signalmen were killed.

53rd (King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) LAA Rgt reached the beachhead on 28 May with 16 Bofors guns still serviceable: 157 and 159 Btys were placed under 2 AA Bde on the beach and 158 Bty went to La Panne, where all three were in action against low-flying attacks on 30 and 31 May, claiming 9 'kills'.

54th (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) LAA Rgt had also made its way back from Belgium, and its guns were in action on Dunkirk Mole itself, protecting the embarkation of many of the troops.

Brigade HQ was established at Pembury outside Tunbridge Wells and began reconnoitring possible AA positions in Kent and Sussex in a scheme codenamed 'Bovril'.

[29] At the end of August the brigade's composition was as follows:[27] As the Luftwaffe switched to bombing London in September (the start of The Blitz) 6th HAA Rgt was sent to man AA positions around the city.

Brigade HQ accompanied by its RAOC Workshop moved to Paignton and Brigadier Edward Wilson, MC, from 37 AA Bde took over command on 11 November.

[33] The brigade HQ took control of all AA and coast defence artillery units in No 1 Line of Communication District in the Nile Delta under British Troops in Egypt (BTE), but a number of sub-units were detached elsewhere.

Improved GL Mk II radar arrived for HAA batteries, but this had technical difficulties, so 2 AA Bde retained barrage fire as the prime method of defending the harbour at Alexandria.

The batteries of 2 AA Bde were supplemented by a Royal Marines Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation (MNBDO), bringing the armament state at Alexandria up to 40 x 3.7-inch, 24 x Bofors, and 9 x 150 cm S/Ls.

The mixture of predicted shoots and barrages proved effective in keeping the harbour in action, though there was damage in the town and a mass exodus of inhabitants.

[36] In June 1941 the brigade attained the following strength:[32] Brigadier Wilson left on 23 August to join HQ BTE as AA Defence Commander (AADC) Egypt and was replaced by Col J.S.

[39] For this new mobile role, 2 AA Bde had the following organisation:[40][41][42] The Second Battle of El Alamein opened on 23 October 1942 and went on for 11 days before the final breakthrough (Operation Supercharge).

[39] At Tripoli in January 1943, supporting XXX Corps 2 AA Bde had the following composition:[44] In February 1943, as Eighth Army fought its way westwards towards Tunisia to join up with the Allied forces that had landed in Algeria (Operation Torch), Tripoli became an important supply point and a target for Luftwaffe attacks, They found the AA defence too intense for low-level attack and switched to medium-level bombing.

Together with the lightly-equipped assault batteries, the brigade took up defence of Syracuse harbour and the captured airfields at Pachino and Cassibile, which suffered numerous dive-bombing and strafing attacks, and high level bombing by night and day.

By early August, 2 AA Bde had moved up with Eighth Army to Catania with 51st (London) HAA Rgt and 40th and 74th LAA Rgts under command.

Brigade HQ began reconnoitring sites to cover the operation on 18 August, the day after Messina fell, and sent forward two batteries of 51st HAA and two of 74th LAA Rgts for the first deployment.

XIII Corps worked cautiously and methodically through Calabria, 2 AA Bde following up to cover the small harbours and airfields, and being rejoined by 298/97 HAA Bty from Messina.

[53][54] After a short period of refitting and re-training at Anzio in August, 2 AA Bde's units returned to the line between Arezzo and Florence in September, a 270 miles (430 km) journey across mountains that was unusually carried out as a single road convoy.

84th HAA Regiment was the unit selected from 2 AA Bde, and it was broken up in October and formally placed in 'suspended animation' in November 1944, with its drivers converted into 84th General Transport Company.

Some units such as 51st HAA Rgt had already been 'diluted' (as it was termed at the time) by soldiers of the African Pioneer Corps to be trained as gunners to release British other ranks for other duties.

[53][54][55][56] Having spent December 1944 to March 1945 facing the German Winter Line, dispersed from XIII Corps to the Adriatic coast, with occasional AA engagements, the brigade came back fully under Eighth Army command as it broke through into the Po Plain.

The brigade now had a medium artillery regiment and a composite heavy battery of 7.2-inch howitzers and 155 mm guns under its command, and was expanded with units from 10th Indian Division to form 'Macforce' (named after Brig McIntyre).

[a] In April Macforce drove down Route 9 in pursuit of the retreating Axis forces, firing in support of the Friuli and Folgore Combat Groups of the Italian Co-belligerent Army.