80 years ago this week: Private Kay Elms of the ATS, a member of 281st Battery, 137 (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (TA), Royal Artillery, carries a STEN gun at a camp in Belgium, on 26 January 1945.
Photograph by LT O’Brien, War Office official photographer, IWM H 41228
Another from the same shoot.
One of the first “Mixed (co-ed) regiments in which women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated, the 137th was formed in 1941 and fought during the Blitz then, as shown above, were forward deployed with their SCR-584 radar-directed Mk IIC 3.7-inch HAA guns and to reinforce the Brussels “X” defenses against German V-1s in January 1945.
137 (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) was formed at Newton, Chester in November 1941. The Regiment served in Anti-Aircraft Command until moving to Brussels with 101 Anti-Aircraft Brigade in January 1945. They were the first Mixed AA Regiment to arrive there. Their experience with the static, power-operated 3.7’s and the latest Radar and Predictor proved invaluable in shooting down the V 1’s. 137 (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) was disbanded in October 1945.