During World War II it defended South Wales and the Severn Valley during the Blitz and then took part in the North African and Italian campaigns, fighting in both the anti-aircraft (AA) and ground fire roles.

Bristol suffered major raids from November to April 1941, Cardiff during January 1941, and Swansea was heavily bombed on the nights of 19/20 and 20/21 February 1941.

[17] It joined 2 AA Bde under British Troops in Egypt, responsible for defending the port of Alexandria and the Suez Canal, which had come under increasing air attack during the previous month.

As 12 AA Bde fell back from the advanced landing grounds in a series of defensive deployments, its guns joined the garrisons of the boxes.

Eventually, Eighth Army was forced to evacuate the boxes and retreat towards Egypt, the garrison of El Adem slipping away during the night of 17 June.

During the long retreat to the El Alamein position, 12 AA Bde under Brigadier Percy Calvert-Jones fell back in a series of rearguard actions at landing grounds, in the course of which it concentrated a sizeable body of troops.

Eighth Army gave Calvert-Jones two infantry brigades and 'Calforce' held defensive positions at 10 landing-grounds, providing its own artillery support from AA guns sited for ground tasks.

The 11-day battle to break through the Axis lines opened on 23 October, and after the break-out the airfields at Gambut and El Adem were quickly secured, 12 AA Bde's units following close behind.

88th HAA Regiment sited four-gun Troops beyond the ends of the runway, with arcs of fire facing outwards, those in the centre having full AA instruments.

[31] Afterwards, 88th HAA Rgt was transported to Taranto and travelled across to reinforce 2 AA Bde around the port of Bari and the Foggia Airfield Complex.

2 Aa Brigade's commander, Brigadier Murray McIntyre, was an enthusiast for using the versatile 3.7-inch HAA guns for ground support tasks.

The crossing of the Sangro and Biferno rivers at the end of November was an opportunity for this, involving long artillery fire programmes for the HAA guns.

There were still some vicious air attacks: in one action 88th HAA Rgt was dive-bombed and 15 men killed while the guns fought back with a mixture of predicted and gun-control shoots.

[33][34][35] However, the British Army was suffering a severe manpower shortage and a number of AA units deemed surplus were disbanded to provide reinforcements to other arms of service.