In the period of international tension of the late 1930s, the TA rapidly expanded its Anti-Aircraft (AA) capacity.

Tortise, DSO, formerly officer commanding 292 Bty, and the regiment formed part of 43rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade covering Middlesbrough and Teesside.

[11][12][13][14] When the German offensive in the west opened on 10 May, the regiment was deployed in the area of Waziers and Douai, where B Troop under 2nd Lieutenant G.A.

1 AA Brigade's role was to cover Corps assembly areas and the routes used by the BEF, and 85 HAA Rgt moved right forward to Brussels and established itself at Dilbeek.

Carter shot down an He 111 at night with searchlight illumination, using only nine rounds, and captured the crew members who had parachuted clear.

On 19 May, at Orchies and Pecq, A Troop of 174 Bty received casualties from enemy field gun fire.

Then on 23 May it received orders to move quickly to defend Dunkirk, which had been selected for the evacuation of the BEF (Operation Dynamo).

Many ships were lost under air attack, but the AA units were constantly in action and did their best to cover the shrinking Dunkirk 'pocket' until it was their turn to destroy their equipment and join the queues of men waiting to be taken aboard small boats back to England.

[19][20] AA units returning from France were rapidly reinforced, re-equipped where possible, and redeployed for future integration into existing defence plans.

Pembrey was the location of an RAF Sector Station but the guns were mainly positioned to defend a Royal Ordnance Factory explosives works.

[23][24] There were low-intensity air attacks on the coastal towns of South Wales throughout the summer, at which the guns sometimes fired without effect, but on the night of 1/2 September there was a heavy bombing raid on Swansea.

There were few air raids in 5 AA Bde's Gloucester–Hereford area, although the Gloster Aircraft Company's works at Brockworth and Hucclecote were targeted.

The allocation of AA units to the force was generous, in order to defend the ports and airfields on which the campaign would depend, but their arrival was spread over a long convoy programme.

It joined 66 AA Bde, which had seen months of heavy action in defending the supply ports of Algiers and Bône.

Eventually, 25 AA Bde moved to Italy, arriving in late December 1943 to take over defence of the ports on the Adriatic coast.

However, by now the air threat to the southern Italian cities had diminished and Allied Forces in Italy had an excess of AA units.

Meanwhile, the ground forces were suffering a manpower shortage, so a number of AA units and formations were disbanded and their personnel redistributed.