page_title: Queen's Edinburgh Rifles
section_title: Operation Diver
hierarchical_section_title: Queen's Edinburgh Rifles / World War II / 130th (Queen's Edinburgh, Royal Scots) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment / Operation Diver
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in the United Kingdom 1939-45 Light anti-aircraft guns in position on clifftops on the South Coast, 6 August 1944.
context_page_description: The Queen's Edinburgh Rifles was a brigade of Rifle Volunteers raised in the City of Edinburgh in 1859. It later formed two battalions of the Royal Scots, which fought in World War I at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front. The two battalions combined between the world wars before being converted into an air defence regiment of the Royal Artillery. This served in Anti-Aircraft Command during World War II and continued in the postwar Territorial Army until 1961, when its successors were converted into Royal Engineers.
context_section_description: 130th LAA Regiment was stationed on the Kent coast, in the so-called 'Hellfire Corner' where Cross-Channel shelling from German guns was frequent. In November 1943 2 AA Gp was ordered to plan for the expected onslaught of V-1 flying bombs (codenamed 'Divers') against London, to which it responded by planning a thick belt of Heavy AA (HAA) gun positions across the likely flight path, backed by LAA guns. Meanwhile, 2 AA Gp also had to deal with a sharp increase in Luftwaffe air raids trying to reach London during the winter of 1943–1944 (the so-called 'Little Blitz'), in which the regiment was heavily engaged. However, AA Command was being forced to release manpower for overseas service, particularly the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord, and many AA regiments lost one of their four batteries; by March 1944, 446 LAA Bty had been disbanded.
  Once 'Overlord' began on 6 June (D-Day) the shelling of Hellfire Corner increased in intensity.
  The first V-1 missiles were launched against London a week after D-Day, and Operation Diver was activated. 2 AA Group's batteries left their 'Overlord' sites and moved to pre-planned sites across the 'funnel' of V-1 flightpaths. However, the results were disappointing, and the HAA gun belt was moved to the coast and interlaced with LAA guns to hit the missiles out to sea. This new belt was divided into six brigade sectors, with 71 AA Bde taking charge of one. The guns were constantly in action and their success rate against the 'Divers' steadily improved, until over 50 per cent of incoming missiles were destroyed by gunfire or fighter aircraft. This phase of Operation Diver ended in September after the V-1 launch sites in Northern France had been overrun by 21st Army Group.
  A new phase of Operation Diver began when the Luftwaffe began launching V-1s from aircraft over the North Sea. AA Command had to reorganise its defences, stripping guns from existing sites and moving them to the coast of East Anglia, which entailed enormous reorganisation. As the Luftwaffe and V-1 threat to the UK diminished, AA Command was forced to transfer men and units to infantry duties. 130th LAA Regiment avoided all the shuffling and disbandments, remaining with 71 AA Bde in 2 AA Gp throughout the Diver offensive and until the end of the war. After the war it transferred to 28 (Thames and Medway) AA Bde in 1 AA Gp as demobilisation proceeded.
caption: LAA guns emplaced on the South Coast, August 1944.
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