Carmarthenshire Fortress Royal Engineers  The Carmarthenshire Fortress Royal Engineers (CFRE) was a coast defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army formed after World War I. In World War II, it provided an anti-aircraft searchlight unit that served during the early part of The Blitz, and then during the Siege of Malta. When the Territorial Army (TA) was reformed in 1920, the Carmarthen Fortress Engineers was formed as a new unit of the Royal Engineers (RE), with headquarters at Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, in South Wales. At first, it comprised a single company with a drill hall at 7 Hall Street, but by 1930 it had joined other local TA units at the Drill Hall in Murray Street. By 1935 it had expanded to two companies with the following organisation:  No 2 (AASL) Company gained a number of its recruits from the mining village of Trimsaran and the Kidwelly area. In 1935, HM Treasury approved expenditure on a new drill hall at Trimsaran for the company to share with a detachment of 4th Battalion Welch Regiment. By the outbreak of World War II, No 1 (EL&W) Co formed part of Fixed Defences (the coastal defence force) while No 2 (AASL) Co was in Anti-Aircraft Command. Both organisations were mobilised on 24 August 1939. No 1 Co went to the East and West Blockhouses at Angle, Pembrokeshire, overlooking the anchorage at Milford Haven. Here, it came under the command of Captain C.G. Glass, TD, a reserve TA officer. No 2 AASL Co, forming part of 45 AA Brigade in 4 AA Division (5 AA Division from 1 May 1940), took up its searchlight (S/L) positions at Bonvilston, near Cowbridge, and then established Company HQ at Coed Parc, Bridgend. Thus both companies were on their war stations when war was declared on 3 September. On 5 September, No 1 (EL&W) Co transferred a party of specialists to reinforce the Lancashire Fortress Royal Engineers at Walney Fort at Barrow-in-Furness. At the beginning of 1940, it received a draft of men from 53rd (Welsh) Division RE to bring it back up to strength. The company settled into a routine of installing and operating electrical machinery at the twin forts as part of the fixed defences. On 1 January 1940, Brevet Major C.L. Prichard, the Commanding Officer of CFRE, took direct command of No 2 (AASL) Co at Bridgend.