8 RUR - Mistaken in Malta

An early image of 8 RUR on conversion to the Light AA role. The RUR badge is visible on the left side of the helmet worn by the Corporal on the right. ©

After Tunis fell in May 1943, IX Corps Headquarters was disbanded and its Corps Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, the former 8 RUR re-roled as 117 Light AA Regiment RA, was 'forgotten' for some months. Its days as a Corps Light AA Regiment were over and it redeployed to a location on the coast near Sousse.

A week later the Commanding Officer was informed that the Regiment was to embark for Malta from Sfax. The capture of the islands of Pantellaria and Lampedusa was being planned so it was not clear how the move fitted in with future operations. On arrival it became clear that Malta was expecting not 117 - but 107 Light AA Regiment. The arrival of 107 Light AA Regiment a few days later did little to relieve suspicions that a mistake had been made and that 8 RUR should never have been sent to Malta. This was confirmed some weeks later when it was discovered that they should in fact have been re-designated as XXX Corps Light AA Regiment.

So when XXX Corps could not 'find' 8 RUR in North Africa, and nobody knew where it had gone, another regiment, ironically one from Malta, had been moved to support XXX Corps. Even worse, 8 RUR went without any mail for eleven weeks. Had Rommel ever heard of this saga he might have wondered why he had lost the war in North Africa.

The Regiment disliked Malta, in spite of the perfect weather and bathing, and was very happy to set sail on 8 August 1943, bound for Augusta, Sicily where it was deployed to protect the airfields at Lentini.