regiment received the order to mobilise for overseas service. Its gunsites were taken over by batteries from 3 and 7 AA Divisions (including 177 HAA Bty), and 190, 192 and 199 HAA Btys arrived at the mobilisation centre at Southend-on-Sea on 14 November. (The regiment therefore missed the notorious bombing raid that destroyed Coventry on the night of 14/15 November.) While at Southend, one Troop of 484 (Carmarthenshire) Searchlight (S/L) Bty (also awaiting embarkation) was attached to it, and Lt-Col Mortimer Ruffer took over as CO on 18 November. Malta 190 HAA Battery, together with the recently-independent 191 HAA Bty and 484 Independent S/L Bty, sailed to Malta, where the HAA batteries reinforced 10th HAA Rgt. The island was under heavy air attack and the AA reinforcements were desperately needed. Middle East However, the move overseas was cancelled for the rest of the regiment (RHQ, 192 and 199 Btys), which waited at Southend until 25 February 1941 when the order to mobilise was repeated. It left AA Command and became part of the War Office Reserve, and then proceeded to the port of embarkation on 17 March. 69th (Warwickshire) HAA Rgt sailed round Africa and disembarked at Port Suez in Egypt on 6 May. After a period at a transit camp, RHQ and 192 HAA Bty took over guard duties at No 304 Prisoner of War (PoW) camp from a New Zealand unit on 29 June. Then on 18 July 192 Bty began taking over HAA gunsites in the Alexandria area. Tobruk On 17 August 1941, RHQ embarked at Alexandria aboard HMAS Nizam of the 'Tobruk Ferry Service', which sailed during the night to the besieged port of Tobruk. There it joined 4 AA Bde in the garrison. Lieutenant-Colonel Ruffer took over as AA Defence Commander (AADC) for Tobruk Harbour and RHQ 69th HAA Rgt took control of the AA units round the harbour: 152 (London) HAA Bty of 51st (London) HAA Rgt 153 (London) HAA Bty (part) of 51st HAA Rgt 235 (Kent) HAA Bty of 89th (Cinque Ports) HAA Rgt attached to 51st HAA Rgt 40 LAA Bty of 14th (West Lothian, Royal Scots) LAA Rgt 306 S/L Bty (detachment) of 27th (London Electrical Engineers) S/L Rgt – 10 x 90 cm S/L projectors 51 HAA Rgt Signal Section, Royal Corps of Signals (RCS) 51 HAA Rgt Workshop Section, Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) 13 LAA Rgt Section,