YvonneFenter Posted 3 February , 2015 Share Posted 3 February , 2015 The WW1 RGA medal rolls list my grandfather, 7314 (later 296361) Gunner Daniel Godfrey Larter as served with 111 A.A.Sec.RGA. I also know from a printed obituary to him when he died in 1956 that he had been a "special spotter" in the Anti-Aircraft section in WW1. Can any of you wonderful people out there please enlighten me about the 111 AA Section, or point me in the right direction to find out more about it? Thanks in anticipation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YvonneFenter Posted 3 February , 2015 Author Share Posted 3 February , 2015 Forgot to add - I've added all the info I have about him to https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/2623161 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 3 February , 2015 Share Posted 3 February , 2015 99th AAS was formed in late February or early March 1917 so it would be reasonable to expect that 111th AAS mobilised around the middle of the same year. It almost certainly had a pair of 13-pdr 9-cwt guns mounted on lorry chassis, similar to the one on display at IWM Duxford. It can be tricky to follow a Section at this stage in he War as those on the Western Front - and any that subsequently moved to other theatres such as Italy - because they were combined into Batteries of several Sections and did not submit independent War Diaries. Good luck! Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinrowlinson Posted 3 February , 2015 Share Posted 3 February , 2015 Yvonne, Your grandfathers numbers indicate someone specifically enlisting in the 153rd (Tottenham) Heavy Battery. He would have joined around the 1st Nov. 1915. This battery went to Salonika in July 1916. Obviously there are only two main scenarios. He went with the battery and returned sick or wounded before joining 111th AA Section, or he was possibly medically downgraded here and was posted to an Anti- Aircraft Depot, possibly Shoeburyness or Abbey Wood, before being sent to the section on formation. I have a note that the section left Southampton on either the 31st May 1917 or the 1st June 1917 and disembarked Le Havre the following day. At the start of July 1917 it joined "J" AA Battery which would also have had a number of other sections. Whether it stayed with this Battery or was posted to another I do not know at the moment. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 3 February , 2015 Share Posted 3 February , 2015 111 AA Section was with J Battery in France at the Armistice. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generalist Posted 3 February , 2015 Share Posted 3 February , 2015 As of 1 July 1917, J Battery (19, 53, 88, 111 Sections) was in Second Army Anti-Aircraft Group. J Battery was transferred to Fourth Army by December 1917 - Second Army had been sent to Italy. I'm not sure which armies they were attached to during 1918 but as Terry notes they seem to have remained in France. Each section had two thirteen-pounder AA guns. There were a few different types of 13-pounder, but this is the most likely. I'm not sure about the size of the unit, but given the size of a field artillery battery and assuming the proportion was about the same, they would probably have 50-70 men per section, and perhaps 250 men in a four-section battery? Nine men in J Battery died during the war, five of them on the same day (13 August 1917) Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 4 February , 2015 Share Posted 4 February , 2015 Hello all 111 AA Section remained with J AA Battery throughout 1918. It was with Fourth Army up to and including mid March when, as Andrew says, Second Army HQ was effectively in Italy and Fourth Army was holding its place the Ypres Salient, but thereafter J AA Battery rejoined Second Army and stayed with them until the Armistice. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YvonneFenter Posted 22 April , 2015 Author Share Posted 22 April , 2015 Thanks everyone for your responses on this - it's given me lots to look into - very much appreciated. Thanks folks :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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