No.	Task	Rank
1	Gun Commander (DC)	Sergeant
2	Gun Layer (Line)	Bombardier
3	Gun Trainer (Elevation)	Lance/Bombardier
4	Gun Loader & Firer	Gunner/HGV Driver
5	Ammunition Supply	Gunner/HGV Driver
6	Ammunition Supply	Gunner
7	Target Spotter	Gunner

  

Operating System In the early days, the Bofors gun was either air or water-cooled. It was 8.5 Meters long from muzzle to tow bar and approximately 2.5 Meters wide.  

The gun was recoil operated with a sliding breechblock mechanism. Clips of four rounds were fed into the gun through an opening on top of the breechblock. Pulling back on a lever attached to the side of the breech casing  allowed the breech block to slide back and one round was pushed into the feed tray by the feed pawls.

Returning the lever to the forward locked position loaded the round and returned the breechblock to the closed position.  The gun was now ready to fire, automatically firing each round that had been loaded.

After each round was fired, the expended case was ejected to the rear of the breechblock. Once clear of the breechblock the case was channelled into a trough where its impetus carried the case to the front of the gun.

The Bofors gun was capable of firing at a rate of 120 rounds per minute. The shell itself was 40mm wide, 70mm long and weighed nearly 1 kilo. Because of the weight, the Coleraine gunners called the gun, the 2 Pounder. The destructive power of this shell was equivalent to a hand grenade. Depending on the operational deployment of the gun, the shell used was either, Armoured Piercing, Tracer or Impact High Explosive.

"When the Bofors was first introduced to the Battery, the No 3 (Elevation) fired the gun. This routine was changed in order to conserve ammunition and the barrel of the gun. No 4, the Gun Loader took over this task by firing the gun with the use of a foot lever. That way a person who did not have a sighting picture of the target became responsible for firing the gun". Robin Martin (2004)

Tactical Use    The gun was an efficient anti-aircraft weapon designed to independently engage aircraft flying below 2,000 feet that were moving at 300 miles per hour. As an Anti Aircraft weapon it was also used in a tactic called the Umbrella Barrage. This tactic will be described in more detail later on.

As a surface to surface weapon, in it's ground fire role, one gun was capable of throwing the equivalent of 120 hand grenades every minute at a target over 4000 yards away. In the ground fire role the Bofors was used in at least three different ways.  It was used either as an Anti Tank weapon, an Anti Personnel weapon or as a Path Marker.

As an anti-tank weapon the 40mm Bofors was of limited use.  It was no match for the armour of the Panzer tank. 

It was often used as an anti-personnel weapon. For example, William Gamble recalled that he fired the weapon at either retreating or attacking German convoys in both Europe and Egypt.  As another example, Lt Martin Jackson of the Coleraine Battery won the Military Cross for employing his guns in a ground role on November 23rd 1941.

In this action Lt Jackson acted as an observer in order to engage four Italian guns that had the Troop and other Force ‘E’ units pinned down. This Italian group consisted of two 47mm guns and two 20mm guns.  Sgt Albert Curry's second burst of fire hit one of the 47mm guns. All the Italian gun crews then surrendered (Doherty p185).   What is remarkable about this incident was the fact that both men carried it out in full view of the enemy. Lt Jackson was awarded the military Cross and Sgt Curry was awarded a Mentioned in Despatches for their heroism.

 

Photo supplied by Scot Cousley

As an anti-personnel weapon, the Bofors were also used in a rear guard action at Consthum on the 17/18th December 1944 (Elstob 2003 p160). In this situation, the guns were used to stop the advance of German infantry. 

Despite these successes, the ground role limited the life expectancy of the gun itself. It was designed for short bursts at infrequent and fleeting targets. Sustained fire would have led to the gun overheating and having mechanical malfunctions.

Finally, the Bofors round was used as a path marker. Tracer fire from the Bofors Gun was used in Egypt to indicate the direction of travel for troops advancing to engage the German Forces. It was also used the same way in Europe to indicate the targets for the rocket firing Typhoon planes.

The gun was also very popular with the Germans. There were many occasions when captured guns were turned on the Allied Forces.

 The Gun Tractor and Bofors Gun

In its Mobile Operational role the Bofors gun was towed by a Gun Tractor. This tractor also carried the gun crew, their kit and equipment as well as the ammunition for the gun. The Troop rations, water supplies and other stores were carried on other Heavy Goods Vehicles.

 

 

The Self Propelled (SP) Vehicle For the European phase of The Battery operations between 1944 and 1945, some of the Troops were deployed on Self Propelled (SP) vehicles. Here the gun and equipment were mounted on a Morris truck chassis.

 

Training

The training and administration of the SR was the responsibility of a small cadre of Regular Army personnel. This included Battery Sergeant Major ‘Busty’ Streeter and three Permanent Staff Instructors (PSI's).  This cadre was led by Major WW ‘Toby’ Allison (RA), an officer with Anti Aircraft experience. He had been in Active Service in WWI, India and Egypt.

The recruits were expected to complete forty drill nights and fifteen days annual camp each year.  The Annual Camp was to be held near Morcambe, Lancashire each September. Attendance at this camp would entitle the gunners to full army pay and a Marriage Allowance.

Provided each gunner attended the mandatory number of training nights and Annual camp, he would be entitled to an Annual Bounty of £9.50.

“Sgt Alexander was one of our Permanent Staff Instructors (PSI's). He was there from the time the Battery was formed. When the Battery was posted to the Middle East Forces he went to OCTU and the last time we learned about it, he was a Captain”. Robin Martin (2005)

With the exception of Major WW Allison and Sgt. Alexander, the remainder of the Staff remained with the Battery for the full period of the war.

 

 

 

  

                                      

X, Y and Z Troop  The Battery volunteers were posted to their designated Troops before training commenced. X Troop consisted of men from the Coleraine area. Y Troop consisted of men from the outlying districts of Portstewart, Portrush, Castlerock and Garvagh. This Troop was augmented with the over-spill from X Troop.

 

 

Z Troop consisted of men from the Mid Ulster area including Kilrea, Upperlands, Tobermore and Maghera. Again, there were many Coleraine men in Z Troop for the duration of the war. This included Robbie Boyce and Jackie Pearson. The Troop Commander’s Batman for the first year was William “Speedy” Moore.

X and Y Troops trained on separate nights through the week after their normal days work. Special provisions had to be made for Z Troop. Because of the distance they had to travel, training in the evening was not possible. Initially, they trained at the week ends.

 

Training included Foot Drill, Rifle Drill, Bofors Drill, Route Marching as well as Vehicle, Gun and Personal Kit maintenance. The training the Battery received from the RA Staff was of such a high order that visitors to the Calf Lane Camp mistook the volunteers for experienced regular soldiers.

 

  

 

3 Anti Aircraft Brigade (SR)

Brigade Structure 3 Brigade consisted of one Searchlight Regiment, two AA Regiments, a Signals Section and a workshop of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. The Coleraine Battery was a unit within the 9th (Londonderry) Anti-Aircraft Regiment. Outlined below are details on the formation and location of all the Royal Artillery units in Northern Ireland in 1939 (D.A. Ryan). The heavy anti aircraft batteries were equipped with 3.7 inch guns and the light anti aircraft batteries were equipped with the Bofors 40mm gun (N Irwin 2004).

  

 

 

 

Light Anti Aircraft Regiment Structure

The following table outlines the typical structure of a Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment and Batteries in the Royal Artillery. At its peak strength, The Coleraine Battery consisted of approximately 250 men. The Battery was split into Three Troops with four guns in each Troop. Each Gun was manned by seven personnel.

 1939 Weddings 

On 3^rd September 1939 war was declared and all Battery personnel received their call up papers. They were asked to report to the Drill Hall at calf Lane Camp.

Research on Battery personnel has shown that many of them married at this time.

It was stated by one Battery individual that, well before the war started, their knowledge of warfare was gleaned from the local cinema screenings of the First World War, as well as their own family history.  He expected to be killed in the early stages of the war.

The numbers of Ulster volunteers for WWII service reflected the sacrifices made by their forefathers. At least 75,000 volunteered for WWI and only 38,000 for WWII.   The Battery personnel all married their sweethearts because they wanted to provide for them through a widows pension. 

 

 

 

The Legal System

In October 1939 Blackout Regulations and Food Rationing started in Northern Ireland. For the duration of the war the Rationing and Blackout Regulations were strictly enforced. A new class of criminal started to go through the portals of Coleraine Courthouse on the Castlerock Road.

The prosecutions included; Café Owners who ‘Failed to keep a written record of all meals sold on their premises’, Poultry owners who ‘Sold eggs to a person not authorised to collect eggs’, Car owners who ‘Misused their petrol ration instead of using public transport’.

Family Ties

The Battery had twenty three pairs of brothers and four sets of three brothers. These were the Diamonds, Dohertys,  Simpsons and McDonalds.

  

 

Farewells to Coleraine

The Battery officers and men (200) were entertained in the Town Hall as guests of Coleraine Rotary Club on Friday 27^th October. Music was supplied by 2^nd Coleraine Company Boys Brigade Silver Band. Twelve of that band had joined the Battery. The Battery men were also entertained by a veteran of the Somme, Jim Baxter. He was a noted flautist and a former member of the 10^th Iniskilling Fusiliers. The Battery applauded him when he played the marches of the Ulster Division.

The evening’s entertainment concluded with community singing. A fitting conclusion considering the fact that quite a few of Killowen Male Voice Choir were now in the Battery. The songs included hits from the First World War, “Tipperary” and new hits such as, “Hang out the washing on the Siegfried Line”.  This song had been written by the Portstewart resident who also penned the hit, “Red Sails in the Sunset”, Jimmy Kennedy. Little did the Battery members know that two English officers attached to the Battery Lt. Brennan and Lt Bridgland, would be killed in Action at the Siegfried Line in 1944.

In his speech, Mr AD Sutherland, the President of the Rotary Club talked about how the citizens of Coleraine admired the way the volunteers had conducted themselves during training.

He went on to advise the Battery to keep all their data and compile a dossier on all the interesting episodes and incidents. It was his hope that some budding author would write the Battery history. “Such a history would be of very special interest to coming generations of Coleraine people”.

 In his response, Major WW Allison went on to say that as an Englishman he was the proudest man in Ireland. He had never before experienced a finer spirit, a finer enthusiasm and a finer sense of loyalty that was to be found in the Battery. He had absolute confidence that the Battery would never be anything but a cause of pride to Coleraine.

The following week, on Friday 3^rd November, the Battery officers and men were back in the Town Hall. This time they were the guests of Alderman DH Christie. The Alderman’s son, Lt. DJ Christie, would go on to be the Officer Commanding the Battery.

The final farewell for the Battery was conducted at the Strand Hotel in Portstewart.

 

On 28^th November 1939, the Battery marched through their town on the way to Coleraine Railway Station. They sang as they marched. Many who watched that parade recalled a similar march twenty five years before when the 10^th Battalion Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers set off from Coleraine to Finner Camp in the autumn of 1914.

The Battery was heading for Scotland. There, under the command of the 51st LAA Regiment, they covered AA Defences over a wide area.

 

 Coleraine Battery Deployment for World War II

 

Introduction	The Early Years	The Move	Egypt	Western Desert	France and Belgium
Netherlands and Germany	Italy	Battery Administration	Battery Roll Call	Closing Notes	Home