[3] In June 1939, as the regiment was forming, the international situation worsened and a partial mobilisation of the TA units in Anti-Aircraft Command was begun.

[7][8][9][10][11] Sickleforce embarked on the Royal Navy cruisers Arethusa and Galatea and a large transport ship at Rosyth on 14 April expecting to go to Namsos.

However, the transhipment was done hurriedly under blackout conditions and important stores were left behind, including the No 3 Predictors for 168 LAA Bty's Bofors guns.

168 LAA Battery got three of its Bofors into action, bringing down three enemy aircraft before one of the guns received a direct hit, killing or wounding all of its detachment.

As Sickleforce and the Norwegians were forced back, the Luftwaffe delivered strong harassing attacks, singling out the Bofors guns on the exposed mountain slopes.

However, 15 Bde managed to break contact and 168 LAA Bty extracted four Bofors to be sent back to Åndalsnes while the men began a long march through deep snow.

The War Office ordered the evacuation of Åndalsnes, which took place by night on 30 April, aboard the cruisers Arethusa, Galatea, Sheffield and Southampton.

The first Bofors troop (without predictors) did not arrive until 26 April, by which time the infantry who had moved towards Trondheim had been subjected to strong enemy attacks, which included artillery and aircraft, and had been pushed back.

[7][13][14] For the main attack on Narvik, AA guns were landed at Harstad, an island base just outside Narvikfjord with an anchorage, and at an airstrip at Skånland on the opposite coast (which never became fit for use).

Initial AA defence for Bardufoss was to be provided by 3 LAA Bty, who had to blast packed ice clear before the guns could be emplaced.

167 LAA Battery was assigned to defend Sorreisa, but defence of Tromsø was later added to the force's commitments, and four guns were sent there, the British Army's most northerly deployment at that time.

[7][10][15][16] The final Allied attack on Narvik began on 27 May, launched by French, Polish and Norwegian troops, supported by British artillery.

It arrived to find that the support group concept had been scrapped in Middle East Forces, and from 23 July 1942 56th (EL) LAA Rgt came directly under the divisional RA.

The divisional HQ RA was then designated 'Hammerforce' on 18 October, consisting once more of the field, A/T and LAA regiments, and assigned a role under 1st Armoured Division for the Second Battle of El Alamein.

With one troop also detached to protect X Corps' HQ, 56th (EL) LAA Rgt had few of its 48 Bofors guns under its direct command, being distributed as follows:[19][21][22][23][24][25] Careful consideration was given to AA defence during the build-up for Alamein.

Instead of being deployed in circles round vulnerable points (VPs), the LAA guns were sited on the attackers' likely lines of approach; opening fire would not give away the presence of a likely target, and numerous dummy and alternative positions were prepared.

When the initial artillery bombardment for Operation Lightfoot began on the night of 23 October, LAA batteries switched from defending the assembly areas to firing Tracer ammunition to mark the attacking units' boundaries in the dust and darkness.

[29] As Eighth Army and the DAF advanced rapidly across Cyrenaica, the AA units spread out behind, defending the captured ports and landing grounds (LGs), and the lengthening lines of communication.

The brigade developed an efficient system of providing rolling support for the DAF's tactical wings as they made long shifts forwards to maintain contact with the advancing army.

They selected new sites for landing strips or renovated old ones, maintaining radio contact through RAF or RA channels with the main body so that movement orders could be passed to the following AA batteries.

Movement was usually by leap-frogging from previously occupied LGs, though sometimes an AA battery was waiting in a hidden concentration area ready to move forward.

12 AA Brigade had 20–30 separate convoys moving on any given day, and it was providing cover for six RAF wings and one US Army Air Force (USAAF) Group, and also manning dummy airstrips, compete with flare-paths, aircraft, flash simulators and people.

[28][32] X Corps was not employed in the Allied invasion of Sicily, but trained for the subsequent assault landings at Salerno on the Italian mainland (Operation Avalanche).

X Corps' attempts to expand its bridgehead came under counter-attack but it had 12 AA Bde's LAA regiments to defend the Garigliano bridges against Luftwaffe fighter-bomber attacks, while 56th's responsibility was the HQs and gun areas.

The Germans quickly contained the beachhead and by 1 February were driving the Allied troops back towards the sea, and sending over waves of air attacks.

90th LAA Regiment's CO asked for help and got some mobile No 4 Mark III lightweight local warning radar sets sent from Salerno.

Raids continued all through March, in strengths varying from single aircraft to 20+, while the grim fighting along the front often drew in the LAA troops to give fire support to the infantry.

The LAA regiments were committed to bridges, defiles, assembly areas and artillery positions, and enemy aircraft were active in low-level strafing and bombing.

However, when the TA was reduced into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) in 1967, this regiment also became part of the King's Own, ending the artillery lineage.

It consisted of a Red Rose of Lancaster within a silver circle (representing the end of a gun barrel) on a dark blue square.