50th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) during the Second World War.

S/L detachments were routinely provided with Lewis guns for self-defence against air attack, which would be useful in a ground defence role, and they were ordered to prepare Molotov cocktails.

[15][16][17] The Midlands were barely affected during the Battle of Britain, though the Derby Barrage fired for the first time on 19 August 1940,[15] and a series of night raids on Liverpool late in the month passed overhead.

85 Group RAF was to be responsible for Night-fighter cover of the beachhead and bases in Normandy after D-Day, and was keen to have searchlight assistance in the same way as Fighter Command had in the UK.

These would be allocated by fighter controllers, and the S/Ls would assist by illuminating targets and indicating raid approaches, while area boundaries would be marked by vertical S/Ls.

Six S/L regiments were specially trained for this work, with 50th S/L Bde's share to be as follows:[52] In practice, most of this plan was never implemented, liaison with the US Army units around Cherbourg having proved problematical once they were on the ground.

[53] In the event, 43 and 49 S/L Rgts did not deploy to North West Europe in the AA role, but were instead converted to garrison regiments for line of communication duties in October 1944.

The Mixed units arrived from England with static Mark IIC 3.7-inch guns equipped for powered gunlaying, loading and fuze-setting, all operated remotely from the No 10 predictor.

This fire-control system provided complete automation of the process of engagement, apart from ammunition supply, and had proved very successful against V-1s in Air Defence of Great Britain's Operation Diver.

In April the brigade closed up to the Scheldt defences, where torpedo boats, midget submarines and aircraft dropping Parachute mines in the approaches to Antwerp Docks and the Ghent canal were still a problem.