8 ( Belfast ) HAA Regiment Royal Artillery The 8th ( Belfast ) Heavy Anti - Aircraft Regiment , Royal Artillery ( Supplementary Reserve ) , was founded in the wake of the Munich crisis , and recruited mainly in the spring of 1939 from young men of the City and District of Belfast . It was mobilised and at action stations , manning its guns to defend Belfast , before war was declared on 3 September 1939 . World War II . In October , it left for practice camp in Cornwall , and thence to France , where it joined the British Expeditionary Force before Christmas . Following the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May 1940 , all units were soon in action , but the fortunes of war resulted in evacuation from Dunkirk , Cherbourg , Saint - Malo and other ports during late May and early June . One troop successfully brought back four of its 3 . 7 AA guns and some vital gunnery instruments despite having orders to blow them up . Back in England , the regiment was soon in action again during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz , first in Coventry , unit then ordered to London ( Clapham Common ) three days before Coventry was blitzed , the units road convoy took two hours to pass Green Road Roundabout on the outskirts of Oxford , such was its size , London and then on Teesside . In the spring of 1942 , the regiment embarked for the Far East in the Belfast - built liner RMS " Britannic " , and after a long voyage , escorted for a long way by battleships HMS " Rodney " , HMS " Nelson " & HMS " Valiant " at different times , reached Bombay . The guns and equipment were unloaded at Karachi and both elements assembled at Lahore before driving some 2 , 000 miles in convoy down the Grand Trunk Road to Calcutta . It was later transferred to East Bengal , before moving south to join XV Corps in Burma . For the next two and a half years . the regiment took part in the Arakan campaigns , firing effectively against the Japanese Air Force and ground targets . Their accuracy at long range earned them the nickname “ The Twelve Mile Snipers . ” Some elements took part in the famous Battle of the Admin Box at Ngakyedouk ( “ Okeydoke ” ) Pass . Several officers and men received awards for gallantry following this heroic stand , which proved to be the turning point in the Arakan . At Easter 1945 , a tablet to the memory of members of the regiment who died in the Arakan was unveiled in St . Mark ’ s Church , Akyab . This little , battle - torn church was one of the first in all Burma to be retaken , and men of the regiment assisted in restoring the building . Post - war . When the war ended , the regiment was fortunate to embark at Madras as a unit , instead of being dispersed in age groups as was the common practice , and returned home to Ulster in another Belfast - built ship , RMS " Stirling Castle " . Many of the officers and men came together again in 1947 when the Territorial Army was re - formed , and so helped to perpetuate the regimental spirit in a new organisation , the 245th ( Belfast ) ( Mixed ) Heavy Anti - Aircraft Regiment , RA which was formed in T . A . with HQ at Belfast . ( 245 HAA Regiment was considered the successor to 8th ( Belfast ) HAA Regt , although that unit was continued by the regular 56 HAA Regt ) . The successor of which , the 206 ( Ulster ) Battery Royal Artillery ( Volunteers ) , is one of the most efficient units of the Volunteer Reserve today .