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British 1st Army Tank Brigade
The 1st Army Tank Brigade was a formation of the British Army during the Second World War. A ''Tank'' Brigade was intended to support the Infantry and was mostly equipped with slow moving Infantry tanks, unlike an Armoured Brigade, which was equipped with faster cruiser tanks and later its own motorised infantry. Initially using infantry nomenclature for its smaller units, ''company '' and ''section'' and having 175 light and infantry tanks, it later adopted cavalry nomenclature of ''squadron'' and ''troop'' and later in the War grew to 240 tanks. History The 1st Army Tank Brigade took part in the Battle of France, serving as part of the British Expeditionary Force. It fought against the Germans in Belgium and Northern France, providing the armour for the counter-attack at the Battle of Arras and covered the Allied retreat to Dunkirk. It lost all of its equipment on the beaches following the evacuation. The reformed 1st Army Tank Brigade was transferred to North Africa, equip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armoured Warfare
Armoured warfare or armored warfare (mechanized forces, armoured forces or armored forces) (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences), is the use of armoured fighting vehicle, armored fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern Military science, methods of war. The premise of armoured warfare rests on the ability of troops to penetrate conventional Defense (military), defensive lines through use of Maneuver warfare, manoeuvre by armoured units. Much of the application of armoured warfare depends on the use of tanks and related vehicles used by other supporting arms such as infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and other combat vehicles, as well as mounted combat engineers and other support units. The doctrine of armoured warfare was developed to break the static nature of World War I trench warfare on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, and return to the 19th ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bardia
Bardia, also El Burdi or Barydiyah ( ar, البردية, lit=, translit=al-Bardiyya or ) is a Mediterranean seaport in the Butnan District of eastern Libya, located near the border with Egypt. It is also occasionally called ''Bórdi Slemán''. History In Roman times the town was known as Petras Maior. During World War I, German U-boats made several landings in the port of Bardia in support of the Senussi order during the Senussi Campaign. During World War II, it was the site of a major Italian fortification, invested by the XXIII Corps under the command of General Annibale Bergonzoli. On 21 June 1940, the town was bombarded by the 7th Cruiser Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet. The bombardment force consisted of the , British cruisers and , the Australian cruiser , and the destroyers HMS '' Dainty'', ''Decoy'', '' Hasty'', and . The bombardment caused minimal damage. The town was taken during Operation Compass by Commonwealth forces consisting mainly of the Australian 6 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Army Order Of Battle (September 1939)
In September 1939, the British Army was in process of expanding their anti-aircraft and mobile (including armoured) assets. Among these new changes was the formation of Anti-Aircraft Command which was formed on 1 April 1939, and the 1st Armoured Division formed in 1937. The list below will include the British Army units, colonial units, and those units which were in the process of formation. The list includes units which were in the process of formation, cadre sized, or had no units attached Also included are Territorial Army (TA) and Supplementary Reserve (SR) units. War Office The War Office or WO as it was abbreviated, was the office of the British Government which controlled all of the Armed Forces of which were based around the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland and Middle East. * Secretary of State for War, The Right Honourable Leslie Hore-Belisha, MP (holding the office from 28 May 1937 – 5 January 1940) ** Army Council, Secretary of Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Armoured Formations Of World War II
During the Second World War the British Army deployed armoured divisions and independent armoured and tank brigades. Background During the interwar period, the British Army examined the lessons learnt from the First World War; and a need was seen for experimentation with and development of theories of manoeuvre and armoured warfare, as well as the creation of the short-lived Experimental Mechanized Force. The long-term impact was for the army to start to move towards mechanisation, to enhance battlefield mobility. By the 1930s, the army had established three types of divisions: the infantry division, the mobile division (later called an armoured division), and the motor division (a motorised infantry division). The primary role of the infantry division was to penetrate the enemy's defensive line, with the support of infantry tanks. Any gap created would then be exploited by mobile divisions, and the territory thus captured would be secured by the fast-moving motor divisions. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Battle Of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis powers, Axis from advancing further into Egypt. In August 1942, General (United Kingdom), General Claude Auchinleck had been relieved as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army (United Kingdom), Eighth Army. Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive. The British victory was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis sin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Gazala
The Battle of Gazala (near the village of ) was fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, from 26 May to 21 June 1942. Axis troops of the ( Erwin Rommel) consisting of German and Italian units fought the British Eighth Army (General Sir Claude Auchinleck, also Commander-in-Chief Middle East) composed mainly of British Commonwealth, Indian and Free French troops. The Axis troops made a decoy attack in the north as the main attack moved round the southern flank of the Gazala position. Unexpected resistance at the south end of the line around the Bir Hakeim box by the Free French garrison, left with a long and vulnerable supply route around the Gazala Line. Rommel retired to a defensive position backing onto Allied minefields (the Cauldron), forming a base in the midst of the British defences. Italian engineers lifted mines from the west side of the minefields to create a supply route through to the Axis side. Ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Tobruk (1941)
The British capture of Tobruk was a battle fought between 21 and 22 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first offensive of the Western Desert Force (WDF) in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. After defeating the Italians in the Battle of Bardia (3–5 January 1941), the 6th Australian Division and the 7th Armoured Division pressed on and made contact with the Italian garrison in Tobruk on 6 January. The Italians had fortified Tobruk, their only naval base in Eastern Cyrenaica, before the war but after being routed at the Attack on Nibeiwa, the Battle of Sidi Barrani and the Battle of Bardia the Italian 10th Army had lost eight of its nine divisions and had only the 61st Infantry Division "Sirte" and stragglers to defend the port. The Tobruk garrison suffered 2,048 casualties and 20,000 men were taken prisoner for 400 Australian and British casualties. The WDF continued its westwards advance towards Derna and Mechili. Background Operation Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
11th Royal Tank Regiment
The 11th Royal Tank Regiment (11 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. History The 11th Royal Tank Regiment was raised during World War II in January 1941 and designated for the Canal Defence Light (CDL) role in May 1941. The unit trained at Lowther Castle near Penrith, and was based at Brougham Hall, Cumberland. It spent 1942 and 1943 in the Middle East without seeing action, returning to the UK in April 1944. 11 RTR formed part of 79th Armoured Division (aka Hobart's Funnies), equipped initially with CDL (tactical searchlight) tanks. It landed in Normandy on 12 August 1944, seeing no action until 29 September 1944, when it was ordered to transfer all of its equipment to the 42nd and 49th Royal Tank Regiments, and was retrained to operate the American amphibious LVT-4, known by the British Army as the Buffalo Mark IV. Not long after D-Day (6 June 1944) 11 RTR converted to Buffalo (U.S. LV ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
42nd Royal Tank Regiment
The 42nd Royal Tank Regiment (42 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army from 1938 until 1956. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. Mobilisation The unit was formed on 1 November 1938 by converting the 7th (23rd London) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, a Territorial Army (TA) infantry battalion, into a tank unit. For a short while it was 42nd (7th (23rd London) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment) Battalion of the Royal Tank Corps before the corps was redesignated the Royal Tank Regiment in 1939. World War II The regiment was mobilised on the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 as part of 21st Army Tank Brigade, composed of three TA battalions of the Royal Tank Regiment. The unit formed part of 1st Army Tank Brigade in 1941–42, serving with it in the Western Desert Campaign including the Second Battle of El Alamein. For the invasion of Northern Europe in 1944, it was equipped with Canal Defence Light Grant tanks. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
49th Royal Tank Regiment
49th Royal Tank Regiment (49 RTR), later 49th Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment and 49th Armoured Carrier Regiment, was a regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II that operated specialised armoured fighting vehicles in North West Europe. Origin and training As part of the rearmament of the British Army before World War II, the 6th Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, a Territorial Army infantry battalion, was converted to the armoured role on 1 November 1938, under the designation 43rd (6th City) Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Tank Regiment, or '43 RTR' for short. During 1939, it formed 49 RTR as a duplicate regiment. The regiments shared St George's Drill Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne as their depot. While 43 RTR used the conventional 'A', 'B' and 'C' squadron designations, 49 RTR adopted 'X', 'Y' and 'Z' for its squadrons.Scull. Both regiments were part of 25th Army Tank Brigade. In August 1939, 49 RTR had still not re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
44th Royal Tank Regiment
The 44th Royal Tank Regiment (44 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army, which was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps that saw active service in World War II. The 44th RTR was formed before World War II in 1938 from the 6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. When war was declared on 3 September 1939 44th RTR was in Bristol, attached to 21st Army Tank Brigade at the time, with the 42nd and 48th RTR. The battalion then went to the Middle East in April 1941 and by the time of Operation Crusader, November 1941, 1st Army Tank Brigade, equipped with Valentine tanks, along with 8th and 42nd RTR, supporting 2nd New Zealand Division, contributing to the Divisions stand against the German and Italian armoured attacks on 30 November 1941. It was still part of 1st Army Tank Brigade when the Germans and Italians attacked at Gazala in May 1942 and also in the Cauldron battles of that campaign. It then supported the Australians during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
8th Royal Tank Regiment
The 8th Royal Tank Regiment (8 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army until 1960. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the .... It originally saw action as H Battalion, Tank Corps in 1917. In the North African campaign it was part of 23rd Armoured Brigade In 1960, it amalgamated with 5th Royal Tank Regiment. References * External links Merseyside RTR Brian Gill's website) 8-008 {{UK-mil-unit-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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