page_title: 137th (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
section_title: Operation Diver
hierarchical_section_title: 137th (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery / Operation Diver
caption_attribution_description: English: Doodlebug on display at the Imperial War Museum
context_page_description: 137th (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment was an air defence unit of Britain's Royal Artillery formed during World War II. It was one of the first 'Mixed' regiments in which women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated into the unit's personnel. It defended the United Kingdom against aerial attack until it deployed to Belgium in January 1945 to defend Brussels against V-1 flying bombs.
context_section_description: More significant were the V-1 flying bombs, codenamed 'Divers', which began to be launched against London from Northern France soon after the Allies launched their invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord) on D-Day. V-1s (known to Londoners as 'Doodlebugs') presented AA Command's biggest challenge since the Blitz. Defences had been planned against this new form of attack (Operation Diver), but the missiles' small size, high speed and awkward height presented a severe problem for AA guns. After two weeks' experience AA Command carried out a major reorganisation, stripping many guns from the London IAZ and other parts of the UK and repositioning them along the South Coast to target V-1s coming in over the English Channel, where the gun-laying radar worked best and where a 'downed' V-1 would cause no damage. 137th (M) HAA Regiment remained in the London IAZ, though here the guns stayed largely silent, to the dismay of Londoners. The first 'Diver' offensive ended when the launching sites in Normandy were overrun by 21st Army Group. A second campaign of air-launched missiles coming in from the North Sea led to a second redeployment by AA Command to East Anglia, but again 137th (M) HAA Rgt was unaffected by the moves.
  574 and 590 (M) HAA Batteries were disbanded on 16 October 1944, but the regiment was briefly joined from 7 to 30 November by 455 HAA Bty from 129th (M) HAA Rgt before it became an independent battery.
caption: A V-1 and launching ramp section on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "K750i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "R1BC002     prgCXC125952_EU_1_CL 4.5", "Image DateTime": "2009:04:21 14:13:35", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "258", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "736", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5346", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:04:21 14:13:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:04:21 14:13:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1632", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1224", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "600", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}