The 89th (Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) raised in Kent just before the outbreak of World War II.

[12][13] [14] 205 and 235 Batteries carried out the regiment's first engagement early on the morning of 10 May, when their fire broke up a formation of Junkers Ju 88s flying over Kent.

[11] The regiment then entrained for Glasgow where it embarked on HM Transport J5 (SS City of Canterbury) and sailed on 15 December 1940[b] bound for Egypt.

After a close call on Christmas Day when the German surface raider Admiral Hipper intercepted its convoy, the regiment disembarked at Port Tewfik, Suez, on 16 February 1941.

[20][24][25][26] The British bases on Crete had been regularly dive-bombed in March and April, and the HAA guns at Suda had been reorganised for close defence against these tactics.

Some of the paratroopers were specifically tasked with knocking out the AA defences but those briefed to take Left Troop found the positions empty and were wiped out.

[27][28][29][30] Although German casualties in men and aircraft had been heavy, their troop transports were able to use Maleme airfield the next day, followed by landings from the sea.

On one occasion Hooker had put his foot on a grenade thrown into his gun pit, 'risking the full force of the explosion, in order to save his detachment'.

235 Battery, together with eight static 3.7-inch guns brought by sea, arrived to reinforce the garrison just before the ring closed round the port on 11 July, beginning the Siege of Tobruk.

[44] The Royal Artillery historian notes that these Stuka attacks concentrated on gun positions, which was a serious threat to HAA sites, whose instruments could not cope with the rapid height changes.

The gunners devised a tactic of opening fire with short Fuzes just before the dive started, to force the pilots to fly through a ring of bursts.

In the last two months of the siege, troops of HAA guns took it in turn to move out to the perimeter and take on ground targets under the control of 9th Australian Division.

[20][49][50][51] While the Crete and Tobruk operations were going on, RHQ and 205 Bty (8 × 3.7-inch guns and 1 × Gun-Laying Mk I* radar set) had remained at Suez under 2nd AA Bde.

RHQ 89th HAA Rgt provided the HQ for AADC Suez, which meant that a number of different AA units came under its command at various times.

[20][55] Occasional bombing raids by Ju 88s flying from Greece against Suez began in July and became almost nightly in August and September.

[59] Lt-Col Stebbings was promoted to Acting Brigadier in November 1941 and took command of 1st AA Bde (he was later captured at the Fall of Tobruk in June 1942).

[58] During the summer, as Rommel's forces neared the Egyptian frontier, Luftwaffe reconnaissance flights and raids over Suez and the canal increased once more, but there was no concentrated bombing campaign against the vital bases.

[58] By now, Eighth Army had broken through the Axis positions at the Second Battle of El Alamein and began its pursuit across Libya, AA units were leap-frogged forwards to cover the important objectives as they were taken.

1st AA Brigade and 51st (London) HAA Rgt moved up from Egypt to defend the captured port of Benghazi and the nearby airfields for the supporting fighters and bombers of the Desert Air Force.

89th HAA Regiment was kept busy convoying supplies and carrying out a trial of the effectiveness of the 3.7-inch gun against concrete emplacements (a technique that later bore fruit in Italy).

[65] By mid-March 1943, 89th HAA RHQ/AADC Benghazi had the following units under command:[65][66] After the end of the Tunisian Campaign in May 1943, the AA defences of North Africa could be scaled back, and 135 Z Battery returned to Suez in June.

However, the build-up of the USAAF's IX Bomber Command at landing grounds around Benghazi still required protection, and guns were redeployed accordingly.

[65] The regiment disembarked at Taranto on 24 September 1943, two weeks after it had been captured in Operation Slapstick, and proceeded by rail to Brindisi Docks where the guns and transport arrived by sea.

The guns were quickly deployed, 231 and 235 Btys round the docks with a GOR, 205 Bty detached at Grottaglie Airfield, and were ready for action by 30 September.

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