79th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery

The 79th LAA Battery was an independent Territorial Army unit of the Royal Artillery of the British Army. It was originally trained to defend key installations in the area of Walton on Thames, including water reservoirs supplying London. The battery contained mostly London volunteers eager to defend their homes from German air attack.

It was also known as:
*21 LAA Rgt 79 Bty RA
*79th (Timor) LAA Bty RA
*79th (British) LAA Bty
*B Troop 79th LAA Bty RA

The unit saw action during the Battle of Britain where it served with distinction defending the Hawker Aviation factory at Langley, Churchill’s country home at Ditchley and the oil refinery north of Bristol.

During the months the battery converted to using Bofors 40 millimetre automatic anti-aircraft artillery the battery was preparing to become a mobile battery. Conscripted 19 year old cockney drivers were being trained in Blackpool. Replacement gunners were sourced from the 79th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment trained at Hadrian's Camp in Carlisle. In November 1941 the men were all issued embarkation leave.

The battery was then formed with other batteries, including the 48th and 69th LAA batteries, into the 21st Light Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery for service overseas.

After leaving Gourock on the Warwick Castle at 8am on 7 December 1941 they were prepared to defend airfields and oilfields in Basra, Iraq. In Cape Town they were to learn that Britain was now at war with Japan and their new assignment was to defend Singapore. Singapore was under attack before they arrived and they were redeployed to Batavia on the jungle covered island of Java on 3 February 1942. Their ship was attacked as it arrived in port.

In Batavia the 79th LAA Battery was split in two. Troop B was sent to defend the airfield of Malang while Troops A and C boarded the Ban Hong Leong on 9 February to defend Penfui airfield in Dutch Timor – the closest airfield to Australia.

After their ship was chased and attacked by two Japanese submarines the ship was attacked by Japanese bombers as they arrived at Koepang port on 16 February.

In Timor the battery of 189 personnel joined Sparrow Force – a contingent of 1400 Australian troops, - under the command of Australian Lt. Colonel William Leggatt.

To cope with jungle conditions the 79th Battery were issued with the Australian Akubra slouch hat which they wore with the Royal Artillery cap badge. They are the only non-Australian troops to ever be issued with Australia’s traditional hat. The sight of cockneys and Scots wearing the Akubra proved a too irresistible target for jokes from the Tasmanian troops of 2/40 Infantry Battalion!

The 79th (British) LAA Battery were the only anti-aircraft artillery on Timor and certainly proved an important part of Sparrow Force. In Leggatt’s log he praised the 79th (British) LAA Battery:

“This unit showed its excellent discipline and training during the four days of action. Their guns registered eighteen hits upon enemy aircraft and reported 14 aircraft destroyed, including one four-engined troop carrier, and a twin-engine flying boat. Dive bombing did not deter them in the least, only ammunition shortages prevented them from engaging all enemy aircraft presented.”

The 79th were potent against invading ground forces. The exploding Bofors shells amongst the coconut palms killed many advancing infantry.

After capitulation on 23 February 1942 the battery was held at Usapa Besar POW camp until 23 September 1942. They were then herded into the hold of an old Chinese freighter, the ‘hellship’ Dai Nichi Maru, with the rest of Sparrow Force and transported to Surabaya via Dili coming under attack from Royal Australian Air Force bombers and Royal Navy and Dutch submarines. From there they travelled by train to Batavia and marched 11 miles to Makasuru where they were separated from the Australians and Dutch to join the R.A.F. POWs in #5 camp. There they rejoined their comrades from B Troop.

On 15 October the Battery was broken up and sent to different parts of South East Asia. Some were held on Java while on 18 October the rest of the battery boarded the notorious Singapore Maru freighter to endure a one week voyage to Singapore.

At Singapore the battery were marched 15 miles to Changi Barracks where they would be medically examined and assessed for labour camps throughout South East Asia. Some were sent to work on the Siam-Burma ‘Death’ Railway, sent on a one month voyage in the hold of a freighter to work in labour camps all over Japan, or remain in Singapore at the notorious Changi Prison.

Only one casualty, Gunner Fred Watkins, occurred in combat while the rest were in Japanese captivity.

Those who travelled to Japan to work in labour camps endured 46 days by hellship. Most casualties were aboard these hellships – either from disease or from being attacked by allied planes and submarines.

Many died from disease or accidents in labour camps on the Siam-Burma ‘Death’ Railway, in Japan, Java, Borneo, and Changi Prison. In 1945 several died during American bombing raids on Japanese industrial cities including Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

After the war ended Bombardier A.H. 'Jock' Compton fell through the bomb bay doors of a converted B-24 Liberator bomber transporting liberated POWs from Okinawa to Manila. 30 other bombers were brought down by a typhoon on the same day on the same route killing almost a thousand liberated prisoners of war. To put this number in perspective, 1036 prisoners of war in Japan died during the war.

After the war the 79th LAA Battery was disbanded and it would thereafter be recorded as the 79th (Timor) LAA Battery – the ‘Sparrows.’

"C Troop of the 79th LAA Battery in Scilly November 1941."

taff

Officers

Major Jack P.H. Dempsey, Commanding Officer

Captain Craig, Second in Charge

Warrant Officer (II Class) Ron 'Abdul' White, Battery Sergeant Major

Captain Jim White, Transport

Lieutenant Charles Scott, A Troop

Lieutenant Andrew Baillie, C Troop

Non Commissioned Officers

Sergeant Alfred Lucas, Transport Sergeant

Sergeant Richard 'Dickie' Birkhead, Battery Sergeant Fitter

Sergeant Harry Lucas

Sergeant Robert Jones

Sergeant Ronald J. Weston

Sergeant 'Nobby' Brockway

Sergeant Jim 'Paddy' Storey

Sergeant Jim R. Hepburn

Sergeant Dennis Kember

Sergeant Gibson H. Brown

Sergeant Henry Evans

Sergeant George H. King

Lance Sergeant Edward Sawyer

Equipment

Primary weaponry

"Timor"
*8 x Bofors 40 millimetre automatic anti-aircraft artillery
*12 x Mark 2 Bren Guns

"Malang"
*4 x Bofors 40 millimetre automatic anti-aircraft artillery
*6 x Mark 2 Bren Guns

econdary weaponry

*No.4, Mk.I Lee-Enfield rifles
*No. 69 grenades
*.38 Enfield revolvers (used by officers)

Primary transport

"Timor"
*8 x Chevrolet 5 tonne trucks/tractors

"Malang"
*4 x Chevrolet 5 tonne trucks/tractors

econdary transport

"Timor"
*2 x Chevrolet 1.5 tonne utility trucks
*4 x motorcycles with sidecars

"Malang"
*1 x Chevrolet 1.5 tonne utility trucks
*2 x motorcycles with sidecars

Roll of honour

Name Died Place Cause

F.K. Watkins 22/02/1942 Timor K.I.A.

J. Mills 10/03/1942 Timor Wounds

J. Wallace 1/06/1942 Timor Wounds

H. Evans 2/07/1942 Timor Wounds

A. Mackie 6/12/1942 Japan Illness

A.E. Casey 9/12/1942 Japan Illness

R.J. Weston 9/12/1942 Japan Illness

J.B. Moth 10/12/1942 Singapore Illness

W. Cockaday 18/12/1942 Japan Illness

R. Mitchell 4/02/1943 Japan Illness

H. Chandler 23/02/1943 Japan Illness

A.J Coe 4/03/1943 Japan Illness

M.B. Pascoe 4/03/1943 Japan Illness

W.F. Charman 6/04/1943 Japan Illness

H.L.J. Martin 16/06/1943 Timor Executed

R.J. Burnett 25/06/1943 Siam Illness

G.H. King 17/08/1943 Japan Illness

J.C. Challoner 20/11/1943 Amboina Illness

A. Barker 2/40 Bn AIF 29/11/1943 Siam Illness

W.J. Bennell 29/11/1943 Drowned

C.V. Saban 29/11/1943 Drowned

K. Smith 29/11/1943 Drowned

S. Stearn 29/11/1943 Drowned

J.R. Skinner 18/09/1944 Japan Illness

G. Marshall 27/02/1945 Japan Illness

J.F. Buchan 11/03/1945 Japan Accident

O. Crowdell 11/03/1945 Japan Accident

D.A.C. Jarvis 12/03/1945 Japan Illness

J. Foster 28/03/1945 Japan Accident

A.J. Goff 26/07/1945 Sarawak Illness

J. Barkin 3/08/1945 Palembang Illness

A.F. Compton 10/09/1945 Accident

The Battle of Timor

For a detailed description of the Battle of Timor see Battle of Timor (1942-43).

ee also

*Sparrow Force

External links

* [http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/timor.htm Australian War Memorial, 2005, "Fighting in Timor 1942"]
* [http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/timor/transcript.htm Australian War Memorial, "Remembering Timor 1942"]
* [http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/japadvance/timor.html Australian Department of Veterans Affairs, 2005, "Fall of Timor"]
* [http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/timor_port.html L. Klemen, 1999-2000, "The fightings on the Portuguese East Timor Island, 1942" ]
* [http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/east_timor.html L. Klemen, 1999-2000, "The East Timor Island, March 1942-December 1942" ]
* [http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/timor_dutch.html L. Klemen, 1999-2000, "Dutch West Timor Island in 1942" ]
* [http://www.onelang.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Australian_8th_Division The Australian 8th Division]
* [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/timor.htm Digger History - Timor]