In Normandy most Allied units have an anti aircraft element, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the Western Desert. Were there any integral anti aircraft weapons in 6th Army Infantry Battalions and Armoured Regiments? Or was all air defence provided by the Desert Air Force?
The Royal Artillery had heavy (3.7") batteries/regiments and Light AA batteries/regiments (40mm Bofors) often to defend field artillery etc. in addition some mixed AT/AA regiments had batteries of AT guns and of 40mm Bofors.
I've got listings by theatre in various books if that's of interest.
Edward
The 3.7 Inch AA gun was occasionally used in the ground support role certainly in the desert. One of my late fathers friends was a captain in a 3/7" AA unit. He claimed that on occasion they had engaged tanks.
They were also used post D-Day as ground support as due to lack of German aircraft and the mass od allied aircraft, thier was little use for them. they did prove very effective against teh V1's
They are not listed the BKC2 army lists. The shell was 29lb compared to the 20lb shell of the German Flak 36. So if you want to use them they would be similar to the early war 25pdrs as far as HE is concerned. As far as I am aware they were never issued with an anti-tank round, although the unfused he shell would have certainly had quite a punch. particularly to the earlier enemy vehicles.
I would suggest giving them the same stats as the 25 pounder for HE and reduce the firpower by one if you use them in the A/T role
AP 3/100
A/T 2/50
https://rommelsriposte.com/2012/10/09/use-of-the-3-7-aa-gun-in-the-ground-role/
British AA in the desert was poor on the battlefield.
Each infantry battalion had an AA platoon of four twin Bren AALMG on trucks, which in BKC rules is merely reflected by the inhouse AA factor of the HQs.
There were 40mm Bofors at division level, but doctrinely they were placed around the DHQ and artillery batteries, so rarely appeared directly on the battlefield. Doesn't stop you as a wargamer fielding them of course.
Above that as mentioned were the 3.7" AA guns, which were used in the direct fire role more often than we think, especially in Normandy and onwards.
Armoured Regiments were meant to have an AA platoon of 4 or 8x Vickers VI AA tanks from 1941, but were quite rare in practice, and it isn't clear if any actually deployed, I've not seen a photo of one in sevice or a wrecked one. Like many things in WW2, more research to be done!
Many thanks all three contributors. I think I will leave it all to the RAF then and assume its built into the HQ then. It reinforces the feeling that the Brits were not really learning as they went, given the high proportion of AA deployed by the Germans as early as the May 1940 Meuse crossing when it proved impossible for the RAF to knock out the single bridge.
Don't forget the captured Italian Breda 20mm guns used in many Commonwealth formations.
Thanks for those sources Orcs, really interesting reading.