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    War Diary: 114th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment

    Month and year: August 1944

    The 114th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment August 1944 war diary covers the units time initially stationed near the Normandy coast before locating to Rouen. This war diary was not written on the standard war diary form but as a typed document attached to the empty war diary as Appendix A, that appendix is displayed below as the main diary.

    National Archive Reference: WO 171/1132

    The "References to Appendices" column for this document was empty so has been omitted.

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    Page 1 of 3
    PlaceDateHourSummary of Events and Information
    1/31As per Appx 'A' attached.
    Page 2 of 3
    PlaceDateHourSummary of Events and Information
    1stNothing to report.
    2nd.A quiet night and day. Warning Order received to make available
    54 men of SG3 minus or above for training as Sigs R.A
    3rd.Little air activity. Attack on shipping by human torpedoes which
    caused some damage. Order to send 54 men as signallers confirmed.
    4th.The 54 men were duly despatched to RHU en route to U.K. The night 4/5
    was extremely quiet with no engagements.
    5th.A ground mist in the early morning once more extended IAZ with all its
    attendant uncertainties as to states of readiness and whether LAA can
    or cannot fire. The day was quiet. Night 5/6 Aug was slightly more
    active.
    6th.No activity during the day. The Regt commenced learning to use its
    eqpt on a ground role - unseen targets. The night brought one
    engagement but otherwise no event.
    7th.Three guns of 'I' Tp 375 Bty carried out a ground shoot at a target
    anchored at sea. Unseen drill was used with excellent results.
    The whole drill requires speeding up, but all were convinced that a
    high degree of accuracy can be achieved by 40-mm. Bearing & Elevation
    scales were affixed to the layers hand wheels and a spirit level fixed
    to the breech casing. Drill used is attached at Appx. 'B'.
    8th.A quiet day so far as enemy air activity was concerned. 372 Bty took
    part in practice ground shooting. The night 8/9 Aug was uneventful,
    No engagements by this Regt, but firing observed from neighbouring Bde
    & Regts. Some sort of naval engagement was observed about 12 mls to
    sea.
    9th.A quiet day. The night 9/10 Aug was devoid of E/A. Shelling from
    enemy guns was reported on the coast area Langrune - St. Aubin.
    A new Part III to 80 AA Bde Fighting Book was received, which finally
    settled all our doubts and misunderstandings of our state of readiness.
    10th.The day was quiet. There was no enemy air activity over the Regtl area
    during the night.
    11thAt about 0420 B hrs the coastal area Courseulles was shelled from area
    12th.Houlgate. The day remained uneventful. Night 11/12 Aug was without
    incident. Aircraft were heard but none came within range.
    13th.Night 13/14 uneventful. 372 Bty took over VP 84 at BLAINVILLE.
    373 Bty came back u/c from 76 AA Bde and took over 372 Bty's positions at
    Courseulles. Shelling of beach area Bernieres to Courseulles commenced
    at 0013 and continued until 0530. 28 shells of large calibre fell.
    No casualties. The shelling commences with 3 airbursts, used evidently
    as ranging rounds, and then ground shelling.
    14th.Nothing to report. 155 AAOR and Sub AAOR moved. Regt.came under
    155 AAOR(Main).
    15th.More shelling during night 14/15. 14 shells fell in usual area.
    Remainder of day quiet apart from warning of anticipated hostile
    sabotage, landing or airborne attack.
    16thSlightly more enemy air activity during night 15/16 Aug,but none within
    range of Regt's guns. 372 Bty on Canal Zone have a more interesting
    time and quite a bit of shooting. Shelling in area Courseulles
    commenced at 0310 and continued until 0445 hrs. 18 shells fell,
    commencing with four airbursts. Day uneventful.
    17th.Night 16/17 Aug slight enemy air activity between 2200 B hrs and 0020 B hrs.
    Otherwise night quiet. No shelling.
    18/19th.Nothing to report.
    Page 3 of 3
    PlaceDateHourSummary of Events and Information
    20 Aug.Slightly more activity night 20/21. A land mine dropped near
    AAOR at Langrune, but no engagement by the Regt.
    21/25 Aug.Nothing to report.
    26th.RHQ moved from Graye-sur-Mer - MR 957851 to Langrune MR 031835.
    27/29th.Nothing to report. E/A activity NIL.
    30th.Received warning order to move.
    31st.C.O. to contact 74 AA Bde for orders. C.O. departed to RC
    at Brionne.
    1st Sep.Regt moved to ROUEN u/c 74 AA Bde.
    2nd Sep.RHQ established at MR M202164. VP covered.

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