page_title: 93rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
section_title: Normandy
hierarchical_section_title: 93rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery / Normandy
caption_attribution_description: IWM caption&#160;: THE BRTISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45; Crusader AA tank mounting a triple Oerlikon gun in a hull-down position
context_page_description: The 93rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was an air defence unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery during World War II. Elements of the regiment landed with special equipment on D-Day, and served in the Normandy campaign. The regiment went on to defend Belgian cities against V-1 flying bombs and participated in the assault crossing of the Rhine.
context_section_description: Lt-Col Holman left England on 9 June (D+3) to join his troops in Normandy, but the rest of RHQ remained behind until 12 July. RHQ was finally established at Plumetot on 16 July. Since the early days after the landing, the batteries had been disposed with 320 Bty HQ at Asnelles with its detachments manning 20 mm guns on the 'Mulberry' piers under 76th AA Bde; 321 Bty HQ at Ouistreham, with D Tp at Courseulles-sur-Mer on the coast and E and F Tps defending the bridges across the River Orne and the Caen Canal, and 322 Bty HQ at Cresserons (under command of 73rd LAA Rgt), with H Tp on the coast at Petit-Enfer, and G and I Tps at the river and canal bridges. On 5 July one of 322 Bty's Crusaders was hit by shellfire, but the driver drove it clear. On 9 July, another Crusader of 322 Bty was drowned when the River Orne burst its banks. 322 Bty reverted to 93rd LAA command on 18 July.
  At the end of July, 320 Bty joined the rest of the regiment around the bridges, and in the last week of August 321 Bty was placed in direct support of 6th Airborne Division east of the Orne. During almost three months in the beachhead, the regiment's guns had shot down a sizeable but unknown number of enemy aircraft.
caption: Crusader AA tank mounting a triple 20mm gun in a hull-down position, 19 July 1944
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