page_title: Blythswood Rifles
section_title: Blitz
hierarchical_section_title: Blythswood Rifles / World War II / Blitz
context_page_description: The Blythswood Rifles was a Scottish Volunteer unit of the British Army. Raised in Glasgow from 1859, it later became a battalion of the Highland Light Infantry. During World War I it served at Gallipoli, in Egypt and Palestine, in Ireland, and on the Western Front. Converted into an anti-aircraft artillery regiment just before World War II, it served in The Blitz and in the Middle East during the war, and continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1955.
context_section_description: 83rd (Blythswood) HAA Rgt continue to served with 42 AA Bde through the period of the Phoney War and the Battle of Britain.  Following the Luftwaffe 's defeat in the Battle of Britain, it began night attacks on Britain's cities ('The Blitz'). 3rd AA Division's responsibilities were split in November 1940 and a new 12th AA Division created, to which 42nd AA Bde was transferred, with its responsibility restricted to the defence of Glasgow and the Firth of Clyde. The industrial town of Clydebank near Glasgow was badly hit on the nights of 13/14 and 14/15 March 1941 in the 'Clydebank Blitz', but none of the raiders was brought down by AA fire. 
  The regiment supplied a cadre of experienced officers and other ranks to provide the basis for a new 403 HAA Bty formed by 211th HAA Training Rgt at Oswestry on 12 December 1940. Once trained, this battery joined a new 123rd HAA Rgt at King's Park, Glasgow in March 1941. The urgent need for more HAA guns on Clydeside was well known: the authorised scale had been 80 in 1939, raised to 120 in 1940, but in February 1941 there were still only 67. A new scale of 144 guns was authorised on 21 March, but only 88 were in position. There were three other heavy raids on Clydeside during the Blitz, on the nights of 7/8 April, 5/6 and 6/7 May 1941.
  However, after the Blitz ended in May 1941, sufficient reinforcements were arriving to allow AA Command to withdraw 83rd (Blythswood) HAA Rgt to meet the urgent need for AA reinforcements in overseas theatres. The regiment left AA Command in July 1941 and joined the War Office Reserve with 257, 258, 259 HAA Btys.
caption: Formation sign of 12 AA Division.