parties to help Warwickshire farmers with the harvest. 191 Bty moved to Newport, Wales, with its 3-inch guns on 9 September, being replaced at Coventry by guns from Manchester. The regiment's active guns at Birmingham and Coventry were now all 3-7-inch or 4.5-inch. RHQ moved from Coventry to Castle Bromwich on 16 September. On 24 September 190 AA Bty was temporarily broken up among the other three, and its Battery HQ (BHQ) became the cadre for training recruits. A group of officers from the regiment volunteered to join the Regular 4th AA Rgt for service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. 191 HAA Battery returned from Wales on 6 November, and at the end of the year the regiment was manning 12 x 4.5-inch and 11 x 3.7-inch guns at sites round Birmingham, 4 x 3.7-inch guns at Coventry, and 8 LMGs at Ryton. By the end of February 1940 it had been concentrated at sites in the Birmingham Gun Zone, manning 12 x 4.5-inch and 14 x 3.7-inch guns, rising to 16 x 4.5-inch and 24 x 3.7-inch by the end of June, having been joined by 228 (Edinburgh) AA Bty from 94th AA Rgt. On 7 July 228 AA Bty left the regiment and moved to Crewe, and its sites in the Birmingham Gun Zone were taken over by 60th (City of London) AA Rgt. On 1 June 1940, along with other units equipped with 3-inch or heavier guns, the 69th was designated a Heavy AA (HAA) Regiment. GL Mk I gun-laying radar began to be delivered to the regiment's gun sites during the summer, and Lt-Col P.L. Vining took over as CO on 6 July. Battle of Britain and Blitz Although most of the Luftwaffe air raids during the Battle of Britain and the early part of The Blitz concentrated on London and the South and East Coasts, the West Midlands also suffered badly, with Birmingham and Coventry experiencing heavy raids in August and October. The regiment's guns were very active on the nights of 15/16 and 17/18 October, with some firing on 31 October/1 November and considerable activity on 1/2 November. On 6 October, 191 HAA Bty became an independent unit under War Office control and its gunsites were taken over by 177 (County of Durham) HAA Bty, which was attached to the regiment from 63rd (Northumbrian) HAA Rgt. Then on 4 November the