The History of the Third Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (3LAA)

As supporting arms the unit had a Battery of Field Artillery, a Troop of self-propelled anti-tank guns and later a section of Engineers. Also, although not under command or in support, the Commanding Officer was permitted to call on help from the South Alberta Regiment, the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment on the right flank of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division.

The relief of 5th Brigade was completed by 1030 hours on the 24th April. As the Regiment was comparatively few in numbers the guns had to be used to the best possible advantage. They were sited to give ground support for the men employed as infantry. Standing patrols were maintained by day but withdrawn at night to help form a tight defence for the Headquarters along the main axis. Fire plans were drawn up and co-ordinated with the Field Battery.

Patrols were sent out regularly. “F” Troop patrols plus tanks from the South Alberta Regiment beat up some German locations on the right axis on their first day in the line. A patrol from “D” Troop under Lieutenant Rohne, captured two enemy, and from information obtained from them a successful shoot took place, resulting in the surrender of twenty-six more.

All troops took part, at various times, in harassing fire tasks on enemy locations and areas on the Regiment’s front and that of the South Saskatchewan Regiment on the right flank. A telephone line was put through from “F” Troop to the South Saskatchewan thus hooking up the Regiment with Division eight miles away.

Casualties during the period were very light. One man was wounded by a mine, one by blast from a mine and one Officer, Lieutenant John Ross, was wounded by a rifle shot when his patrol ran into a pocket of resistance.

As prisoners of war reported that the enemy were withdrawing it was decided to move forward on the 30th April in conjunction with the 6th Infantry Brigade’s attack. A “Pepperpot” fire plan was carried out at 0445 hours in support of the attack and the town of Westerburg was taken without opposition but many road blocks, mines, bombs and craters were encountered.

On 1st May, 1945, patrols from the 17th and 38th Batteries proceeded along both axis and met at Astrup and reported that the enemy had departed. As a result the Regiment moved forward about five miles to the area of Wardenburg and Astrup. AA considerable number of mines were found in this new area and the help of the Engineers in neutralizing them was much appreciated. Most of the roads were blocked by trees which had been felled as road blocks. These were quickly removed by civilian labour. Prisoners of war reported no enemy before Oldenburg so an advance was made to Tungeln and the village of Wardenburg. When patrols reported the bridges blown over the river north and west of the area arrangements were made to build a raft capable of bearing a jeep over the river to enable contact to be made with Division by a short route. This was cancelled on the 3rd of May by orders to concentrate in Wardenburg.

Orders to relieve the 5th Infantry Brigade in the Hude area were received late on the 3rd of May and were completed the following day at 1700 hours. Patrols sent out from Hude the next day brought in prisoners who reported that the area was clear. When the “stand fast” order was received at 1000 hours patrolling ceased except for the search of the villages in the area for weapons. On the 6th of May the Commanding Officer conducted a thanksgiving service and the unit received word that it would remain in its present area. At 0900 hours the regiment stood down after eleven months of arduous effort and supporting arms were ordered to return to their respective units.

During the whole of this latter period the unit had undertaken to hold, patrol and advance on a front formerly held by a complete Infantry Brigade. They had formed the left flank protection for the Division and had moved across the entire Divisional area to form the right flank protection. On the advance they kept even with, and sometimes outstripped their flanking Brigade; indeed the expression, “The 3rd Light Anti –Aircraft regiment is worried about its right flank” has become a byword in the Division.

May the Regiment, mighty in conflict, prove itself as noble in peace!


I am currently working on the Appendices and will add those shortly. These include the nominal rolls of those killed or wounded; also, listings of honours and awards.

 

Great job Michelle. My father, Jack Beardmore, was in the 3rd LAA and had a copy of the book which I now cannot find. Luckily I have located one with a book dealer and it is on the way to me. I want to compare my Dad's letters with the info in the history and see how they fit together.
Cheers!
Sylvia
(in Wolseley SK)

 

Royal Artillery Units Netherlands 1944-1945 - Roll of Honour

link to the graves

thanks Michelle

 

I have to add a post that I am very excited to have connected with two children of Veterans of the 16th Battery 3LAA because I posted this thread. I wanted to give attention to their story as in all my searching through military websites, it is rare that I have found mention of their service in WWII. I feel very fortunate that it has led to connections with those who might be able to tell me more than I learned from my Dad.

 

Michelle - you can't imagine how excited I was to find all of your work (and you!) My Great-uncle was Major Harry (Hetherington) Stata, 17th Battery., 3rd LAA. I have the genealogy bug and have been trying to learn as much as I can about him. He passed away in 1964, without having any children. I have about 20 of his photos from the war that I would love to share, as well as a few letters.

Some of the names mentioned are:
Tommy (Cal) Thompson
Brig. Pete Shields
Doug Campbell (Edmonton)
Carson McWilliams
Red Reid
Bdr. Smith (Montreal)
Ben Currie (Manitoba or Montreal?)
Frank Carr
Geo. Holbrook
Drever - Red Deer

After the war, Harry came back to Calgary for a little while, then he returned to England and ran the Marine Hotel in Selsey. He married Hattie Parsons who was from nearby Worthing.

Thanks for all of your work posting this wonderful history!
Michelle

 

Hi Michelle!

I'm happy to have been found!! I spent years trying to find any mention of the 3LAA to no avail and then suddenly found the history at the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum wesite and other tiny bits that are starting to add up. I am currently reading thoroughly through the England and NW Europe section of the Gunners of Canada Vol II and will eventually add here other information I find on the 3LAA.

As you may have seen, I've also made contact with a couple of others whose fathers were in the 3LAA, although they were in the 16th Battery like my Dad, Lloyd Cochrane. Please do share your photos and letters! It would be great to see this thread turn into an informative location for others who may also be searching for information.

I have some information re photos and other information that is on file at National Archives and will shortly add that as well as the earlier mentioned appendices.

 

I added some photos, they can be found at:
http://www.ww2f.com/members/statagen-albums.html

If anyone has any information about them, I would love to hear it!

Michelle

 

Great photos, Michelle!

In the history it mentions your Great Uncle, both in the appendices and I just saw him briefly here:
The troop train carrying the Regimental Headquarters came through from the Pacific Coast and the 17th Battery boarded it at midnight on the 31st January, 1941, and started eastward. At Winnipeg the train was boarded by two of the Officers, Lieutenants H. S. Stata and F. G. Pym, who were on course in that city. On the journey eastward route marches were held at North Bay, Ontario, and Riviere du Loupe, P.W., and the train arrived in Halifax on a cold morning in early February at 0900 hours. Immediately the troops detrained and embarked on the Duchess of York. Two evenings were enjoyed off the ship in Halifax, then it moved up into the Basin where it remained for two weeks before sailing in convoy to the United Kingdom.

They arrived in Gourock Feb 27 and then on to Colchester afterwards. re the scan of the newspaper article, you may want to check here CMHQ Reports - Online Resources - History and Archives - Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH) to look at some of the pdf versions of reports from Canadian Military HQ by the official historian who reported on the anti-aircraft units in Colchester mid March and based on the timeline mentioned in the newspaper the shooting may have occurred mid-April. Look to see if there is anything mentioned re LAA in that time period in the other reports - unfortunately, not all have been added yet. I'll have a look in The Gunners of Canada to see if it mentions anything about the 17th Battery or the 3LAA shooting any planes down between mid-March and mid-April, and where.

I look forward to anything else you share! By the way, I only have photos of my Dad in the beret, so it is interesting to see the soldiers in the other hat (which name I forget at nearly 3 am!).

 

I thought I posted yesterday but cannot see anything but then it was late in the day!! I want to thank Michelle for all the information but have some questions. My father, Otto Kline, served as a Gunner in the 15th Light Anti-Aircraft and I see some mentions of them in what has been posted so far, but more on the 16th and 17th batteries. I am not familiar with the publication being referenced and am looking for a bit more information about it as well....

Thanks...All the best

Rob Kline

 

Hi Rob,

I'm so glad to see so someone else with a connection to the 3LAA. As it says in my first post "My source is THIRD CANADIAN LIGHT ANTI-AIRCRAFT REGIMENT The History of the Third Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment from 17 August, 1940 to 7 May, 1945, World War II (Identified on cover as: 3 LAA R.C.A.) Calgary, Kellaway Printing. [1955], reprint. No author or publisher identified, and the printer apparently is no longer in business. " I got my copy from Royal Canadian Artillery Kit Shop The Royal Canadian Artillery Kit Shop. Until a few weeks ago they still had a copy advertised. They do still have The Gunners of Canada Volume II left. This volume deals with World War II and is quite instructional to those of us learning more about the artillery. It mentions the 3LAA at various times. The the 3LAA regimental history, I don't know why the writer tended to focus on the 17th Battery and less on the other batteries. I can only speculate that he may have been with the 17th. What I transcribed is the only direct history of the 3LAA of which I know. I have seen the original folio in the Canada War Museum, and it is word for work the same as I transcribed - and what is posted here through post #40 is all that is contained in this history, less the full appendices. As you read, you need to realize that some of the history encompasses all the batteries with the regiment.

I'm hoping at some point to actually be at National Archives to look at the Regimental history, battery histories (if anything exists).

If I come across more on the 15th, I'll let you know.

Re your post not showing it may be because I received a post on my message board on my profile.

 

C.Carson - please see my response to your message to me! I cannot send a private message until you do 5 posts to reach member status. Thanks!

 

Bob Sudbury let me know about the reunion of the 16th Battery of the 3LAA:

"the 16th Battery Reunion has been set for Wednesday,
April 29 at the Sandman Inn on Georgia Street, close to BC Place. It starts
around 11:00"

I shall be attending and hopefully shall have photos to share.

 

Would be interesting to attend, even being a generation removed from most of the crowd. Have always wanted to track down more information on grandfather's unit and the men in the photo's we have. Never thought to ask much about his time overseas until it was beyond reach.

Posted a photo of his crew and have a few other nice shots of some of him and his mates, as yet unidentified.
http://www.ww2f.com/members/cccarso...t-taking-off-could-have-been-taken-france.jpg

 

Some photos from WWII of the 16th Battery I got from Bob Sudbury on a CD taken from the giant scrapbooks they have amassed over the years from various members of the Battery. Hopefully, no one will mind me posting them here where some of their history is already told.

 

more...

 

George Chow - Canadian Chinese Veterans George served in the same troop as my Dad, although they were on different gun crews. In the first photo of A troop the arrow points to my Dad. In the previous post in the 3rd photo there is a young man sitting on the ground in the middle who is not identified - I don't have a high enough resolution version of the photo - but he very much reminds me of my Dad in photos when he was young.

 

Hello again!

Sorry I haven't looked in on this thread in quite a while now, but I am certainly glad I did!

I'm going to add a couple of pictures to my album here on the site, and please have a look at them. I have all the original pics, and some of them are incredibly similar to what you've posted macrusk! I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps you'll recognize some of what I'm putting up.

My grandfather was in "C" troop on Oct 2 1940, but it's clear that the photos were all taken at the same time against the same wall. Your images are too low res for me to be certain, but I would swear some of the officers in the center of the front row are the same men!

Anyways, if anyone can identify their family in any of the photos, please post and I'll reply. I have many more photos including some I believe were taken from Batory!

sorry, a little excited about your images Macrusk!

 

Feelings slightly embarassed/challenged after that excited post. Of course the officers in the center of the C troop photo would be the same as A troop, as the are battery officers (BSM, Major etc), so I can only assume that they would appear in all of the various troop photos.

The labels on the photo identifies the officers, but no ID on the rest. The other photos are currently attached (stuck down) to old albums pages, so there may actually be names on the back, but since they are fairly glued now after at least 30 years (put together in the 70s I think), I'm hesitant to attempt to peel them off.

I would have posted the in my message but I didn't want to annoy anyone, and I wouldn't have known how anyways

C

 

It may be possible to save the photos in the album. Use a hand held hair dryer on a low warm setting. It will start to lift the photo by warming up the adhesive. Then carefully use waxed dental floss to slide under the photo. I've been able to rescue many photos that were initially put in those albums of the 70s that were so non-archival!!

 

I've added many of the 16th Battery 3LAA photos (which Bob Sudbury graciously shared with me from the powerpoint presentation at the reunion) to the members photo gallery.

The photos are ones contributed by various battery members into the large record books they have compiled over the years. I believe they were talking of sharing the books between the Bessbourough Armories in Vancouver, and a unit on Victoria Island.