page_title: 6th Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom)
section_title: Orders of Battle Summer 1944
hierarchical_section_title: 6th Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom) / Operation Diver / Orders of Battle Summer 1944
caption_attribution_description: English: V1 Flying Bomb A Bofors gun battery fully manned, situated on the South Coast.
context_page_description: 6th Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of the British Army formed during World War II. It served in the disastrous Norwegian Campaign in 1940 and then defended East Anglia during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz. It was reorganised to take part in the invasion of Normandy, but instead was diverted to defending Southern England against V-1 flying bombs. It was briefly recreated in the postwar Regular Army.
context_section_description: During this period the brigade was composed as follows:
  19th LAA Rgt
  221, 263, 294 LAA Btys
  88th LAA Rgt
  178, 289, 293 LAA Btys
  97th LAA Rgt - see above
  232, 301, 480 LAA Btys
  98th LAA Rgt - see above
  305, 306, 481
  129th (1st Surrey Rifles) LAA Rgt - see above
  425, 426, 427, 455 LAA Btys
  135th LAA Rgt
  445, 447, 450 LAA Btys
  140th LAA Rgt
  457, 459, 464 LAA Btys
  There were further radical reorganisations of the Diver defences in August and through the autumn of 1944, giving the brigade the following composition:
  119th HAA Rgt – joined in December 1944
  372, 377, 378 HAA Btys
  122nd HAA Rgt – left in September 1944
  397, 400, 410 HAA Btys
  132nd (M) HAA Rgt – to Diver defences of Brussels December 1944
  435, 450, 457, 469 HAA Btys
  134th (M) HAA Rgt – joined in September, left by December 1944
  459, 460, 461, 583 HAA Bty
  189th (M) HAA Rgt  – joined in November, to Diver defences of Brussels December 1944
  434, 440, 663 HAA Btys
  85th LAA Rgt – joined in September, left by December 1944
  52, 201, 304, 448 LAA Btys
  98th LAA Rgt – left in November 1944
  129th (1st Surrey Rifles) LAA Rgt – as above
  425, 426, 427, 455 LAA Btys
  131st LAA Rgt – as above; left in September 1944
  432, 433, 434 LAA Btys
  * 134th LAA Rgt – joined in November 1944
  192, 275, 287, 475 LAA Btys
  136th LAA Rgt – joined in November, left by December 1944
  386, 453, 474 LAA Btys
  140th LAA Rgt – left by December 1944
  142nd LAA Rgt – joined in December 1944
  374, 498, 465 LAA Btys
  151st LAA Rgt – joined in November, left by December 1944
  449, 472, 478 LAA Btys
  In October 1944, the brigade's HQ establishment was 11 officers, 10 male other ranks and 28 members of the ATS, together with a small number of attached drivers, cooks and mess orderlies (male and female). In addition, the brigade's Mixed Signal Office Section comprised 1 officer, 5 male other ranks and 19 ATS, which was formally part of the Group signal unit 
  As the V-1 launching sites in Northern France were overrun by 21st Army Group, the Luftwaffe began air-launching V-1s from the North Sea, and further AA units had to be repositioned along the East Coast. AA Command formed a new 9 AA Group to control the units in East Anglia, and 102 AA Bde came under its command in December 1944. New HAA sites had to be quickly established, with static guns mounted on ingenious 'Pile Platforms' (named after the commander of AA Command, Sir Frederick Pile) and thousands of huts moved and re-erected to shelter the crews as winter approached.
  During the winter of 1944–45, the Belgian cities of Brussels and Antwerp were bombarded with V-1s, and a number of Mixed HAA regiments were stripped from AA Command and sent to provide anti-Diver defences.
  At the end of 1944 the Luftwaffe was suffering from such shortages of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious aerial attacks on the UK could be discounted. At the same time 21st Army Group fighting in North West Europe was suffering a severe manpower shortage, particularly among the infantry. Large numbers of AA gunners and whole units were converted into infantry, and the strength of AA Command dwindled. By February 1945, the brigade only had 119th HAA Rgt,  140th HAA Rgt (418, 420, 429 HAA Btys) and 129th LAA Rgt under command. In March March, 119th HAA Rgt went to 26 AA Bde and was replaced by 157th HAA Rgt (415, 430, 438 HAA Btys). In April 129th LAA left and was replaced by the return of 19th LAA Rgt.
  After VE Day, AA Command was rapidly run down, and both 9 AA Group and 102 AA Bde quickly disappeared from the order of battle. 102 AA Brigade was disbanded at Orsett on 3 June 1945.
caption: Bofors guns at a South Coast anti-Diver battery, August 1944.
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