6th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of the British Army raised in the years leading up to World War II.

[1][2][3][a] Before the end of the year the new unit moved to Blackdown Barracks, near Aldershot in Hampshire, where it came under the command of 1st Air Defence Brigade.

Over the next few years it had the following organisation:[1][4] Apart from 1 MG Bty, the standard equipment of the batteries was the QF 3-inch 20 cwt AA gun that had been used in World War I, mounted on a cruciform travelling platform and towed by a lorry.

Brittan as CO.[8][10] On 19 March the regiment received its first Gunlaying Mk I radar sets to provide early warning and to assist optical instruments in picking up targets, although there were problems in calibrating them.

1 AA Brigade's role was to defend the routes forward, protecting roads and bridges, artillery concentrations, HQs and supply dumps.

On 21 May 15 Bty was ordered to detach a party with Bren guns to assist in defending Vimy Ridge; the battery finally got away from Ypres on 22 May while the city was under heavy bombing.

Deploying south of Lille the battery got its first confirmed 'kill' when A Section scored a direct hit on a Ju 88 at 8000 feet while conducting barrage fire.

[20][21][22][23][24] AA units returning from France were rapidly reinforced, re-equipped where possible, and redeployed for future integration into existing defence plans.

[27][30][31] The Battle of Britain was now under way, and during late July and throughout August the batteries had fleeting engagements with small numbers of raiders along the South Coast and Severn Estuary.

12 and 15 HAA Btys provided a cadre of officers and other ranks to 211 AA Training Rgt at Oswestry to form the basis of a new battery.

[30] During early September the pattern of fleeting targets – but no 'kills' – for all the batteries continued by day and night, though most of the 3-inch guns had been replaced by 3.7s, together with the new Sperry Predictor No 2.

The raids against London worsened, and RHQ of 6 HAA Rgt with two sections of 250/80 HAA Bty were brought from Kent on 14 September to take over command of six more sites in South East London under 48 AA Bde: ZS4 (Bostall Heath), ZS17 (Mitcham), and ZS26 (Thornet Wood, Bromley) (all mobile guns) and ZS9 (Sundridge Park), ZS12 (Southwark Park) and ZS23 (Ravensbourne, Bromley) (all static guns).

[32][36][37][38] Large daylight raids against London on 14 and 15 September were intercepted by Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters, so the guns were silent, but were active again at night, with several bombs dropped round the Eltham sites, and more batteries were brought into the IAZ.

[32][41][42][43][44] On 15 November the Luftwaffe carried out Operation Mondscheinsonate (Moonlight Sonata) – the Coventry Blitz – the first in a new series of attacks on industrial cities.

15 HAA Bty joined from Grove Park on 11 December, taking over two new sites (as yet without guns) at Castle Bromwich near an important aircraft factory, with Battery HQ at Sutton Coldfield.

Some of the guns were away on another exercise when Birmingham was attacked on 16/17 May; however 12 HAA Bty appeared to damage the formation leader, and the bombs were scattered to some extent.

It left AA Command and was relieved at its gunsites by 71st (Forth) HAA Rgt and concentrated at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain before proceeding to Liverpool for embarkation.

On 14 November 1941 the regiment sailed aboard the Monarch of Bermuda in Convoy WS12 bound for Iraq to join the build-up of AA defences for the oil terminal at Basra.

On 11 December the convoy was split, and the part containing 6th HAA Rgt (now aboard HM Transport Aorangi) was diverted to Singapore, arriving on 13 January 1942.

Several of the ships carrying equipment and vehicles had continued to Basra, but the gunners manned existing gunsites around Singapore island.

[63][66][67] On Sumatra, 6th HAA Rgt was sent to guard two airfields known as P1 and P2, and the Pladjoe and Soengei Gerong oil refineries and tank farm situated in dense jungle at Palembang.

One 3.7-inch Troop was rescued by a party of RAF pilots and ground crew with a Vickers machine gun and rifles, who cleared a drop zone.

A 3.7-inch shell fired with minimum fuze over open sights cleared a nest of snipers from a tree, while another destroyed a captured Bofors LAA gun.

[58][63][68][71][72] As the airfield was overrun, the gunners attempted to pull back to Palembang, but there were only two serviceable AEC Matador gun tractors left.

Brigadier H.D.W, Sitwell of 16 AA Bde was promoted to command all British troops on the island, of which his brigade represented the majority.

The defence forces at Kalidjati set up roadblocks and mobile patrols, but were caught be surprise when a Japanese motorised column arrived and destroyed many of the aircraft.

The PoWs from the regiment on Java were moved around various camps until October 1942 when they were transported by sea to Singapore and then on to Japan: 65 men of 6th HAA Rgt died aboard ship or shortly afterwards.

[83] Others were sent to Borneo to construct airfields and died in the infamous Sandakan Death Marches, and at least 20 men of 6th HAA Rgt were killed in the Balalae Island massacre.

[84] After the completion of the Burma Railway in March 1944, most of the PoWs were to be transported from Saigon to Japan, but there was no shipping, so they were moved to Singapore, where they worked in Keppel Harbour.

The convoy was intercepted by US Navy submarines and both ships were sunk, with heavy loss of life among the PoWs; 15 men from 3 HAA Bty were killed.