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Good morning,

I just found out that a family member served in these 2 regiments :

Italy: from 14 June 1943 – 9 March 1945

Unit: 2 LAA Regiment

North West Europe: from 11 March 1945 – 10 September 1945

Unit: 2 HAA

I'd love to find the right combination for these 2 units => up to Division/Army , down to Battalions/Batteries ?

+ the dates and campaigns they were in please. Are there good places to look for this info ?

Thanks.

fiwi wrote: ↑

Tue May 07, 2019 8:08 am

Good morning,

I just found out that a family member served in these 2 regiments :

Italy: from 14 June 1943 – 9 March 1945

Unit: 2 LAA Regiment

North West Europe: from 11 March 1945 – 10 September 1945

Unit: 2 HAA

I'd love to find the right combination for these 2 units => up to Division/Army , down to Battalions/Batteries ?

+ the dates and campaigns they were in please. Are there good places to look for this info ?

Thanks.

Good day Filip, the best source of information on these units are their War Dairies, that tells you what they did “day to day” throughout the war.

Below are links to the War Diaries of the 2nd Heavy AA Regiment RCA. Warning, these are FILLED with information and pretty “dry” reading

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1

The records can be “out of order” so sometimes very hard to read. I’ll see if I can find a “Unit History” for you

Here’s a bit more info on this unit

https://www.royalartilleryunitsnetherla ... t-rca.html
Gunners of the 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, pushing a 3.7-inch (9.84 cm) anti-aircraft gun through mud.
Photographer: Bell, Ken.
Location: Dunkerque, France:
Subject: Mil. - Ops. - Land - 1945/02/01.@Weapons - Armaments - Artillery.@Mil. - Units - R.C.A. - 1945/02/01.@Army.
Date: February 1, 1945.
Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun manned by 2nd Canadian Heavy AA Regiment. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607529)
Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun manned by 2nd Canadian Heavy AA Regiment. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607609)
3.7-inch HAA Gun in tow position. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3607610)
Ordnance QF 3.7-inch Heavy AA Gun being cleaned. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3225276)

Here’s the War Diaries of the 2nd Light AA Regiment RCA

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocih ... /1?r=0&s=1

I’ll also is if I can find you a Unit History for this Regiment

The 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was made up of 3 Batteries:

4th LAA Bty
54th LAA Bty
5th LAA Bty

The 2nd LAA was part of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, and would have taken part in the Landings in Sicily and Italy until the Division moved to NW Europe to join the 1st Canadian Army



1st Canadian Infantry Division

1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
2nd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery
3rd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery
1st Anti-Tank Regiment
2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Gunner V.C. Northey, loading 40-mm Bofors AAA rounds, 5th Battery, 2nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RCA, Campobasso, Italy, 29 October 1943. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3260956)
QF 40-mm Bofors AA Gun manned by 1st Canadian Division gunners. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233963)

A little more info on the 2nd LAA Regiment

https://www.royalartilleryunitsnetherla ... t-rca.html

There IS a unit History of the 2nd Heavy AA Unit.......not sure where you can find a copy. This is the cover page
https://www.royalartilleryunitsnetherla ... overs.html

The 2nd Canadian Heavy AA Regiment was part of First Canadian Army Troops

FIRST CANADIAN ARMY TROOPS

ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY:

1st Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery:
11th Army Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
5th Medium Regiment

2nd Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery:

19th Army Field Regiment
3rd Medium Regiment
4th Medium Regiment
7th Medium Regiment
2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Mobile)

Copy of above history?.......a little bit expensive I think

https://www.abebooks.com/History-2-Cdn- ... 4356116/bd


NOTE: The Imperial War Museum in the UK may have a copy

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item ... 1500010807

I just found a Unit History of the 2nd Cdn LAA Regiment in the war diaries, give a moment and I’ll download the pages and post them up here for you

EDIT: Download all 40 plus pages. Just need to fix them up for easy reading.......then I’ll post the entire history on a separate thread, so everyone can find it when using Google. Probably have this done later today

Wow, fantastic, I traced one of my cousins in the diaries of the 5th LAA Battery, 2nd LAA Regiment !

Temujin wrote: ↑

Tue May 07, 2019 11:43 am

There IS a unit History of the 2nd Heavy AA Unit.......not sure where you can find a copy. This is the cover page

1CF24201-3491-43EA-AD66-AE47ECF4C12A.jpeg

https://www.royalartilleryunitsnetherla ... overs.html

The 2nd Canadian Heavy AA Regiment was part of First Canadian Army Troops

FIRST CANADIAN ARMY TROOPS

ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY:

1st Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery:
11th Army Field Regiment
1st Medium Regiment
2nd Medium Regiment
5th Medium Regiment

2nd Army Group, Royal Canadian Artillery:

19th Army Field Regiment
3rd Medium Regiment
4th Medium Regiment
7th Medium Regiment
2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Mobile)

If only there was a similar one for the 2nd LAA Regiment ?

Temujin wrote: ↑

Tue May 07, 2019 11:55 am

I just found a Unit History of the 2nd Cdn LAA Regiment in the war diaries, give a moment and I’ll download the pages and post them up here for you

EDIT: Download all 40 plus pages. Just need to fix them up for easy reading.......then I’ll post the entire history on a separate thread, so everyone can find it when using Google. Probably have this done later today

Thank you very much !!