Monument record TQ 77 NE 1337 - Diver Box Light Anti Aircraft (Diver) Battery D9

Site of a Second World War light anti aircraft (Diver) battery in the Diver Box at St Marys Marshes. It was armed with four 40mm guns and four 20mm guns when it was deployed here 28th August 1944, and was manned by 2796 RAF Regiment.(1)

Eight patches of bare earth on St. Mary's Marshes seen on aerial photographs taken in 1946 are thought to mark the location of the battery described by the previous authority. The guns in this Light Anti Aircraft (LAA) battery were aligned in a north-south row. This row was 320m long and the guns appear to have been paired. Three of the four pairs arer circa 36 apart, the most southerly were circa 45m apart. Although there is little documentary evidence as to the form of RAF Regiment batteries, these remains provide an example that some of their batteries were laid out in a row a right angles to the main bearing. Four smaller bare patches to the west, centred on TQ 7957 7805, may be associated with this site. No trace could be seen on aerial photographs taken in 1947. This battery was mapped from air photos as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project.(2-3)

<1> Dobinson, C., Operation Diver : England's Defence Against the Flying Bomb, June 1944-March 1945 (Monograph). SWX23707.

<2> RAF, 1946, RAF 106G/UK/1444 3004-3005 1-MAY-1946 (Photograph). SKE58738.

<3> RAF., 1947, RAF CPE/UK/1923 3007-3008 16-JAN-1947 (Photograph). SKE58787.