page_title: 45th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
section_title: Italy
hierarchical_section_title: 45th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery / Italy
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: 45th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, was a British Territorial Army unit formed in July 1940. After serving in Anti-Aircraft Command during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz, it went to North Africa as part of Operation Torch] and fought in Tunisia and Italy. It ended World War II as a garrison regiment.
context_section_description: 45th LAA Regiment was not involved in the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), but entered the Italian Campaign as part of the British Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese, in early 1944 when it rejoined 66th AA Bde. The brigade had been defending the Salerno landing area and airfields supporting the American Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark Clark. After the breakout from the Anzio beachhead, in May 1944, it took over defence of that area, and it followed up as Fifth Army advanced to Rome and beyond.
caption: A Bofors gun crew in Italy, January 1944.
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