‘Z’ Battery, Royal Marines

United Kingdom: March 1940 – February 1941

1st Coast Artillery Brigade, R.M.

Following a short period of basic training, between 28th and 30th March 1940, the 1st Coast Artillery Brigade, R.M. formed six batteries:

- ‘Kent’ and ‘Devon’ Batteries with 3 X 6-inch guns each,
- ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ Batteries with 2 X 4-inch guns each,
- Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (A.M.T.B.) Battery with 4 X 2-pounder pom-pom guns.[1]

‘Z’ Battery was commanded by Captain W. Priddy, R.M.  Gunnery, searchlight and repository training began at Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth on 1st April 1940.  ‘Z’ Battery left Portsmouth for Harwich on 14th May and both 4-inch guns were complete in their pits on 16th May.  The searchlights arrived the following day.  Work to complete and improve the gun sites continued throughout the following months.  There were occasional air raid warnings and on 18th July and enemy plane laid mines at the entrance of Harwich harbour.  In August, the Battery began training Royal Artillery personnel in the operation of the coast guns.  During the evening of 12th October, an enemy plane was caught in searchlight beams and was seen to crash into the sea, it being presumed that the plane had hit a barrage balloon cable as there was no anti-aircraft fire.  There was a raid on 27th October by about 30 planes which passed overhead of the Battery.  Anti-aircraft was brought to bear from the ground defences and from destroyers in the harbour.  Bombs were dropped in the near distance.  A little later, a single enemy plane flew over the Battery and was engaged by the Marines’ anti-aircraft Lewis guns and several hits were claimed.  A similar raid occurred on 30th October.  The Battery’s Lewis guns were in action again on 4th November when they joined in the considerable fire put up to engage a Dornier aircraft which flew low along the harbour.  Harwich was certainly a hive of enemy aerial activity. [2] 

On 27th November, ‘Z’ Battery reverted to operational control of the Royal Marines Group, M.N.B.D.O. I.  In December, the Battery was warned by the Headquarters, 1st Coast Artillery Brigade that the Battery was to dismount the guns and other equipment and prepare them for return to Portsmouth.  The guns and equipment were duly despatched on 11th December.  The personnel remained at Harwich on guard duty.  Two parties were sent on seven days leave but it was not until February 1941 that orders were received for overseas deployment.  The Battery entrained at Harwich on 3rd February 1941 and headed north for Glasgow.  Arriving the next day, the Battery embarked upon H.M.T. Almanzora (H 12) at King George V Dock.  Also on board was the A.M.T.B. Battery.  The ship sailed the next day and formed up off Oversay on 9th February as part of convoy WS 6A.  The convoy reached Durban on 26th March and the Battery disembarked before re-embarking on board the H.M.T. Dilwara on 28th March for the final leg of the journey to Egypt.  Upon arrival, the Battery disembarked and went to El Tahag Camp.[3] 

Egypt and Crete: April – May 1941

Royal Marine Group, M.N.B.D.O. I

‘Z’ Battery went to Port Said on 1st May under the command of Captain C.R. Blount, R.M. where it boarded the H.M.T. City of Canterbury as part of the Royal Marines detachment being sent to Crete.  The Brigade Headquarters and the A.M.T.B. Battery disembarked on 3rd May, the orders for these units having been changed.  The ship sailed in Convoy AN 30 on 6th May and arrived at Suda Bay four days later.  The Battery disembarked and marched to Monastery Camp.  On the evening of 14th May, the Battery went to Maleme where the guns were installed.  This work was finished by 19th May – just in time for the German airborne assault began the next day.  The Maleme area was heavily bombed and strafed as a precursor to the arrival of German paratroopers.  Under the cover of a smoke screen the paratroopers, later joined by glider-borne troops, began landing.  The Battery engaged the enemy throughout the day, withdrawing gradually.  One Royal Marine Lewis gunner was killed by fire from an enemy aircraft.  A complete withdrawal from the area was undertaken that night – it is not clear from the war diary at which stage the coast guns were given up.  During 21st May, ‘Z’ Battery gave protection to a field battery which was shelling Maleme aerodrome.  Later that day, having expended all small arms ammunition, the Battery withdrew to the Canae area.  After a forced march through the night, the Battery arrived at Monastery Camp once again, with about half of its personnel missing.  After four days at the camp, a further evacuation was ordered eventually leading over the mountains to Sphakia where only a proportion of the Battery could be taken off the beach on the night of 30th-31st May.[4]

‘X’ and ‘Z’ Details

Egypt: June – July 1941

1st Coast Artillery Brigade, R.M.

Once in Egypt the survivors were gathered together with those of ‘X’ Battery and formed into a single unit at El Tahag Camp.  The unit was known as ‘X’ and ‘Z’ Details and was placed under the command of the senior officer remaining, Captain C.R. Blount, R.M., who was one of several officers and men who escaped from Crete in a marine landing craft.  The unit remained at El Tahag, resting and kitting out during May until seven days ‘Survivors Leave’ to Cairo was granted on 23rd May.[5]

R.M. Striking Force

The ‘X’ and ‘Z’ Details unit moved to Abu Sueir aerodrome on 1st July 1941 where it undertook infantry training.  The aerodrome was bombed on 10th July but there were no reported casualties.  It seems that the unit formed two infantry platoons, ‘X’ and ‘Z’ while at Abu Sueir.[6] 

‘Z’ Battery, R.M.

Egypt: August – September 1941

1st Coast Regiment, R.M. – Force ‘Shortcut’

On 1st August, the 1st Coast Artillery Brigade, R.M. was re-designated as the 1st Coast Regiment, Royal Marines.  In mid-September, M.N.B.D.O. I formed two detachments to undertake the construction of defended naval bases in the Indian Ocean.  It appears that ‘Z’ Battery was re-instated at this time for the personnel of the Battery were allocated to the second of the two detachments, Force ‘Shortcut’ formed around the Headquarters, Landing and Maintenance Group.  This detachment was earmarked for the construction of a defended base code named Port ‘W’, with Force ‘Piledriver’ being allocated to the preparation of Port ‘T’.  Together with the Royal Marines of both detachments, the men of the Battery moved to Port Tewfik on 19th September and completed embarkation for Port ‘T’ - Addu Atoll – the next day.[7]

[The war diary for ‘Z’ Battery is missing for September 1941 – December 1942 is missing.]

Addu Atoll: October 1941 – November 1941

Force ‘Shortcut’

On board the H.M.T. Clan Forbes, ‘Z’ Battery arrived with Forces ‘Piledriver’ and ‘Shortcut’ at Port ‘T’ on the morning of 30th September 1941.  Upon arrival, the personnel of Force ‘Shortcut’ were placed under the command of Force ‘Piledriver’ for operational tasks.  Together with the other Marine gunner components of Force ‘Shortcut’, the A.M.T.B. Battery, the ‘Z’ Battery set to work on 1st October, building a Transit Camp on the main island of Gan.  Work progressed and the men of both batteries disembarked the Clan Forbes, which up until now had provided accommodation for the men, and moved into the Transit Camp on 11th October.  Heavy rain damaged the newly constructed road on Gan and ‘Z’ and A.M.T.B. Batteries restored it using coral sand.  The personnel of Force ‘Shortcut’ continued to assist with construction and the unloading of supply ships throughout October and into November.  Preparations then began for the move of Force ‘Shortcut’ to Port ‘W’.  Stores were prepared and reorganised and loaded on board the Clan Forbes when it returned to Gan from Colombo on 14th November.  Leaving a number of sick behind on the hospital ship Vita, ‘Z’ Battery and the rest of Force ‘Shortcut’ boarded the Clan Forbes on 23rd and 24th November and the ship sailed two days later.[8]

Diego Garcia: November – December 1941

Force ‘Shortcut’

However, the original intended objective for Force ‘Shortcut’, to build a defended base in the Nancowry Island chain, was by now in the process of being discarded by the military chiefs, given the speed with which the Japanese were advancing in the Far East.  Instead, Port ‘W’ now came to be the anchorage at Diego Garcia where the Royal Marines were to build facilities and install a two-gun 6-inch coastal battery.  The ship arrived on 28th November 1941 and work began immediately.  After initial progress, a detachment was left to continue with the works programme while the majority of Force ‘Shortcut’ were sent to enjoy a deserved break at Ceylon.  The Clan Forbes sailed on 4th December, made a brief stop at Addu Atoll on 6th December and arrived at Colombo on 8th December. 

Ceylon and Diego Garcia: December 1941 – March 1942

Force ‘Shortcut’

The day after arrival, all ranks went to the Royal Navy Camp, Diyatalawa where they enjoyed a lengthy rest until on 2nd January 1942, the main body of Force ‘Shortcut’ returned to Colombo and boarded the Clan Forbes once again.  Leaving Colombo on 5th January, the next day the ship called briefly at Male, the capital of the Maldives, before arriving back at Diego Garcia.  The ship then went to Addu Atoll, on 7th January before returning once again to Male on 11th January.  Doubling back on itself, the ship then returned to Addu Atoll to drop off equipment collected at Male, arriving on 12th January.  The ship left the next day and finally arrived at Diego Garcia on 15th January.  The guns were unloaded and installed before being test fired on 22nd January.  Unloading of ships and construction work continued into February.  The major part of Force ‘Shortcut’ left Diego Garcia on board the Clan Forbes, having handed over to a relief force, on 19th February and sailed to Addu Atoll, arriving on 21st February.  Having loaded fresh stores, the ship returned one more time to Diego Garcia, leaving Addu Atoll on 24th February and arriving at the destination two days later.  After a final period of unloading and construction, Force ‘Shortcut’ left Diego Garcia – Port ‘W’ – on 13th March.  Stopping at Addu Atoll for only a few hours on 15th March, the ship arrived at Colombo on 18th March.  The men of Force ‘Shortcut’ disembarked the next day and ‘Z’ Battery and the A.M.T.B. Battery rejoined the 1st Coast Regiment, R.M., by now established at Boosa Camp.  Force ‘Shortcut was formally disbanded the next day.[9]

Ceylon: March 1942 and January – November 1943

1st Coast Regiment, R.M.

On 30th March, ‘Z’ Battery and the A.M.T.B. Battery combined with ‘Devon’ Battery to form the ‘Devon’ Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, R.M.  The ‘Devon’ L.A.A. Battery was disbanded at Diyatalawa on 27th November 1942 and the personnel reorganised to reform ‘Devon’, ‘Z’ and A.M.T.B. Batteries.  The Headquarters, 1st Coast Regiment moved from Galle to Echelon Barracks, Colombo on 18th January 1943 and assumed responsibility for the beach defences in the Colombo area.  ‘Z’ Battery once more became an independent sub-unit on 22nd January 1943, having been combined with ‘Devon’ Battery up until this point.  The commander was Captain Blount.  As part of Exercise ‘Box’, ‘Z’ Battery provided No. 8 Platoon and part of No. 9 Platoon of ‘B’ Company.  ‘B’ Company was commanded by Captain D.R. Fayle, R.M., a veteran of Force ‘Viper’ which served in Burma during the 1942 campaign.  With the exercise completed on 10th May, ‘Z’ Battery returned to the routine of training and guard duty.  Captain Fayle assumed command of the Battery from Captain Blount on 20th May.  The next day, the Battery left Colombo for Trincomalee where it arrived the next day and moved to Sober Island where it took over guns and searchlights from the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on 24th May.[10]

After the reorganisation of the 1st Coast Regiment to form two new regiments – the 1st and 3rd – on 1st August 1943, the ‘Z’ Battery remained as part of the 1st Coast Regiment, R.M.  The Battery remained at Sober Island until relieved on 11th August 1943 by ‘X’ Battery, R.M., now part of the 3rd Coast Regiment, R.M.  ‘Z’ Battery arrived at Katukurunda on 12th August and remained there until the 1st Coast Regiment moved to Galle on 18th September. 

India: November 1943 – January 1944

1st R.M. A.A. Brigade

Orders to move to India were received on 3rd November and the Battery entrained at Galle on 5th November.  A transfer to the ferry was made that evening followed by the the crossing to India the next morning.  The Battery then continued onwards by train to Gulunche, near Poona.  Arriving on 11th November, the Battery now came under the command of the 1st R.M. A.A. Brigade.[11]

In December, the 101st H.A.A. Regiment, R.A., itself under the command of the 1st R.M. A.A. Brigade, received orders to provide transport for the ‘Coast Defence units of 1 R.M A.A. Brigade' to take them from Gulunche to Worli, Bombay where they were to carry out firing practice.  The Royal Marine coast defence units were ‘Chatham’ and ‘Z’ Batteries and were under the commander of ‘Chatham’ Battery for the purposes of the move.  They left Galunche on 12th December and arrived at Worli, Bombay the following morning.  Firing practice was to begin on 15th December 1943.  Following completion of the practice, the Battery went to Marol Camp, Bombay on 23rd December 1943.[12] 

The Battery remained at Marol until 9th January 1944 when it returned to Worli, Bombay.  On 14th January, the first news of the move to the United Kingdom was received and the Battery returned to Marol.  The Battery left the camp on 28th January and embarked that morning, possibly on the same ship as that boarded by the H.Q. 1st R.M. A.A. Brigade, H.T. G4.  The ship sailed the next day and the men disembarked at Suez on 8th February.  On 24th February the men re-embarked and the ship sailed for the United Kingdom the next day. 

United Kingdom: March – May 1944

Having arrived and disembarked at Gourock on 24th March, the Battery went to Ardrossan, Ayrshire where the first leave parties began to leave on 30th March.  It is most likely that in the months that followed the personnel of the Battery were remustered for landing craft, Commando and other duties.[13]  

01 February 2021