109th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (The Lancashire Fusiliers) (109 RAC) was an

armoured Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Origin

109th Regiment RAC was formed on 1 November 1941 by the conversion to the armoured role of 1/6th Battalion of the

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and had many different titles throughout its 28 ...

, a 1st line Territorial Army infantry unit. The battalion had been serving in 125th Infantry Brigade of

42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division The 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force (TF), originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignated as the 42nd (Ea ...

, which were redesignated 10th Armoured Brigade and 42nd Armoured Division respectively. All three regiments in the brigade were drawn from the Lancashire Fusiliers and underwent simultaneous conversion to armour (the other two became 108 RAC and 143 RAC). In common with other infantry units transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, personnel continued to wear their Lancashire Fusiliers buttons and the cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps, but the rank of ' Fusilier' for private soldiers was replaced by 'Trooper', despite some resistance from the regiment. The regiment also continued to call itself '1/6th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers (109th RAC)', but was later told to desist and adopt the official name.

History

In May–June 1942, 10th Armoured Bde (later 10th Tank Brigade) became an independent formation, and moved from

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

, County Durham, to '

The Dukeries The Dukeries is an area of the county of Nottinghamshire so called because it contained four ducal seats. It is south of Worksop, which has been called its "gateway". The area was included within the ancient Sherwood Forest. The ducal seats wer ...

' area of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

to continue tank training. 109 RAC was based at

Welbeck Abbey Welbeck Abbey in the Dukeries in North Nottinghamshire was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order in England and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house residence of the Dukes of Portland. It is o ...

, and the following month the partly trained and partly equipped regiment was given the operational role (in case of enemy invasion) of providing HQ squadron and one tank squadron (drawn from all three of its squadrons) of

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

and Valentine tanks for a composite battalion from the brigade.Joslen, pp. 164, 198. In common with the other units of 10th Tank Bde, 109 RAC maintained Lancashire Fusilier traditions, celebrating

Minden Day {{Unreferenced, date=January 2017 Minden Day is a regimental anniversary celebrated on 1 August by certain units of the British Army. It commemorates the participation of the forerunners of the regiments in the Batt ...

on 1 August each year. However, in August 1943, rumours began to circulate that 10th Tank Brigade was scheduled for disbandment.

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the Lancashire towns complained about the possible loss of their TA battalions, and a recruiting team arrived to persuade men to volunteer for the Parachute Regiment if the brigade disbanded. Although 10th Tank Bde moved to

Wensleydale Wensleydale is the dale or upper valley of the River Ure on the east side of the Pennines, one of the Yorkshire Dales in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of only a few Yorkshire Dales not currently named after its principal river, but th ...

in September, with 109 RAC based at

Leyburn Leyburn is a market town and civil parish in the district of Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England, sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'L ...

, and became a holding and training formation for reinforcements, the impending disbandment was confirmed shortly afterwards. During November and December, 109 RAC's officers and men were progressively posted overseas or to 51st Training Regiment RAC at nearby Catterick. Disbandment was completed by the end of the year and 1/6th Lancashire Fusiliers went into a state of 'suspended animation' on 1 January 1944. Unlike 1/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, which was reformed after the war, after the disbandment of 108 RAC, the 1/6th Battalion has never been reformed.The Lancashire Fusiliers at Regiments.org
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Notes

References

* George Forty, "British Army Handbook 1939-1945", Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1998, . *

External sources

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Military units and formations established in 1941 Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps Royal Armoured Corps 109 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943