When the Territorial Force (TF) was created in 1908 as part of the Haldane Reforms,[1][2] each of its infantry divisions included a heavy artillery battery in its establishment.

On 28 February 1917 the battery was made up to a strength of six guns when it was joined by a section from the newly arrived 199th Heavy Bty.

[4][11][13] By now, Second Army was involved in the Third Ypres Offensive, taking the lead at the Battles of the Menin Road Ridge, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde, which were notable artillery victories.

Even before their defeat the Italians had asked for the loan of heavy artillery, and now a number of units were hurriedly sent by rail, including 1/1st Warwickshire Battery, which went on 14 November.

[11][18][19][20][21] On arrival, 1/1st Warwickshire Bty joined 24th HAG (renamed 24th Bde RGA in February 1918), with which it remained for the rest of the war.

By 6 December its guns went into action on the Montello Hill, supporting the Italian army, which had been critically short of heavy artillery.

[26] At the end of March 1918, 1/1st Warwickshire Hvy Bty moved to a position south of the Asiago plateau supporting VIII Italian Corps.

The British were relieved in the Asiago sector and moved to join the British-commanded Tenth Italian Army near Treviso.

By 1 November the Austrian army had collapsed and the pursuing British troops had left their heavy guns far in the rear.

This was an awkward arrangement, Saltley being many miles from the brigade HQ at Truro and the other batteries at Padstow, Par and Penzance.

[6][7][5][42][43][44] On 1 April 1939 the battery was transferred yet again, this time to provide the experienced cadre for a newly formed 95th (Birmingham) AA Regiment (RA 'brigades' became 'regiments' on 1 January 1939):[6][7][43][44][5][42] The TA's AA units were mobilised on 23 September 1938 during the Munich Crisis, with units manning their emergency positions within 24 hours, even though many did not yet have their full complement of men or equipment.

[53][54][55][56][57] The new division was still being formed when the Luftwaffe launched a series of devastating raids, beginning with the notorious Coventry Blitz on 14/15 November.

[58] The Coventry raid was preceded by a dozen pathfinder aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 100 riding an X-Gerät beam to drop flares and incendiary bombs on the target.

The huge fires that broke out in the congested city centre then attracted successive 40-strong waves of bombers flying at heights between 12,000 and 20,000 feet to saturate the defences.

The AA Defence Commander (AADC) of 95th HAA Rgt had prepared a series of concentrations to be fired using sound-locators and GL Mk.

I gun-laying radar, and 128 concentrations were fired before the bombing severed all lines of communication and the noise drowned out sound-location.

Although the Coventry guns fired 10 rounds a minute for the whole 10-hour raid, only three aircraft were shot down over the UK that night, and the city centre was gutted.

The Coventry raid was followed by three consecutive nights (19–22 November) of attacks on Birmingham and other Black Country industrial towns including West Bromwich, Dudley and Tipton.

[53][59][58][60] The change in enemy tactics led to additional HAA guns being moved from London to the West Midlands.

By now the HAA sites had the advantage of GL Mk I* radar with an elevation finding (E/F or 'Effie') attachment, and several attackers were turned away by accurate fire and their bombs scattered widely, some on nearby Nuneaton.

[42][56][74][75] When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, the regiment reformed at Sheldon as 495th (Birmingham) (Mixed) HAA Rgt, RA ('Mixed' indicating that some of its personnel were drawn from the Women's Royal Army Corps).