page_title: 115th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
section_title: Naples to the Garigliano
hierarchical_section_title: 115th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery / Italy / Naples to the Garigliano
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Italy 1944 40mm Bofors gun of 579 Battery, 115 LAA Regiment, 7 January 1944.
context_page_description: The 115th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, was an air defence unit of the British Army during World War II. Initially raised as an infantry battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, it transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1942. It served as the LAA component of 46th Division in the Tunisian Campaign, at the Salerno landings, and through the Italian Campaign until it was disbanded in 1945.
context_section_description: 46th Division fought its way through the high ground north of Salerno, and then the armour drove across the Plain of Naples to the city itself on 1 October. Next the force moved up for the assault crossing of the Volturno. The division's attack on the night of 12/13 October was almost unopposed except in one sector, and it had two brigade bridgeheads by nightfall on 13 October. However, this was partly because the Germans had chosen to defend the wide marshy area across the river, and meanwhile their aircraft were very active in attempting to deny the other crossings and to disrupt the bridging operations, with frequent attacks using Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Fighter-bombers.
  After the Volturno, the Luftwaffe was rarely seen and AA engagements became uncommon as 46th Division worked its way up the coastal plain past Monte Camino to the German Winter Line. The division's next major operation was a failed assault crossing of the Garigliano on the night of 19/20 January 1944 intended to assist II US Corps crossing of the Rapido (part of the attacks on Monte Cassino). Afterwards the division was involved in hill fighting between 26 January and 9 February, taking Monte Furlito and Monte Purgatorio but failing at Monte Faito. The attacks were then called off in rain, sleet and snow.
caption: Bofors gun of 379 Bty, 115 LAA Rgt, in Italy, 7 January 1944.
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