Recently reading the back cover of my Dad's Identity Card, I found to my partial delight that it was stamped with his units. I knew that he was in the Home Guard's Anti-Aircraft side, but not which units. My delight is partial because there are 2 stamps laid virtually on top of one another - can anyone help me work out which the batteries were?
The lower Battery Office stamp reads:
"72 Cheshire HG HAA Bty".
"72 Cheshire Home Guard Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery", I guess. But does 72 denote a Battery within the whole HG or just within Cheshire? The upper stamp is only partly legible and seems to read:
"230 (104?? illegible?? illegible??) AA 'Z' Bty
And I've a feeling that there might be more still under the upper stamp because I can see a 44 but really can't guess that one.
He was living in Crewe, south Cheshire, throughout the war. If I had to guess which came first, I'd say that the lower stamp is the original since I seem to remember him saying that they had "proper" guns first, which were then shipped south to combat V1s, and were replaced by "projectors". But I could be wrong.
So can anyone confirm my reading and suggest what the partly illegible battery designations might be? And the significance of the 230 and 104 (assuming that's what it reads)? I think I've read that one was the Home Guard designation and another the designation in the regulars to cover the regulars attached to the battery, but which is which I'm not sure.
Grateful for explanations and suggestions.