The 20th Light Armoured Brigade, later 20th Armoured Brigade was an armoured formation 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 ...

which was formed on 3 September 1939. The brigade was disbanded in 1943 and its successor, the '' 20th Armoured Brigade'' (later Armoured Infantry) was formed in 1950, but was a regular formation and not a Territorial Army formation.

History

The 20th Light Armoured Brigade was formed on 3 September 1939 as part of the Territorial Army. The new brigade was formed as part of South Midland Area, a sub-element of Southern Command sitting alongside the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division and 61st Infantry Division. The Brigade played a vital role in the defence of the United Kingdom during the first year of the Second World War, including guarding aerodromes and other vulnerable points. In May 1940, due to the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France and the increased threat of invasion, a Brigade force known as the Yeomanry Armoured Detachment was formed to defend the coast of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, concentrating at Moulton Paddocks, Newmarket as a counter-attack force to repel any potential Nazi offensive. The Brigade subsequently moved to

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in June, where it was assigned to the 1st Armoured Division at the end of the month, which was being reorganised after it had returned depleted from

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

being fought overhead, brigade troops were tasked with conducting anti-invasion exercises and the reconnaissance of all roads leading to the coast, covering most of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, Surrey and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. It finally began to receive modern tanks in September 1940 when the first Valentine infantry tanks began to arrive. The Brigade was reorganised and acquired the 2nd Battalion, The Rangers on 16 October 1940 when it came under the command of the 6th Armoured Division, under

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

John T. Crocker General Sir John Tredinnick Crocker, (4 January 1896 – 9 March 1963) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both world wars. He served as both a private soldier and a junior officer in the First World War, and as a distinguished br ...

, whose insignia was a white mailed fist with a black background. The mailed fist –a symbol of the hard punch that an armoured formation gives the enemy –was selected by Crocker as the Division's recognition flash from a design created by Lieutenant Colonel Broadhurst, an Australian serving on his staff as assistant director of Ordnance Services (Engineering). On 12 September 1941,

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

inspected 20th Armoured Brigade at

Lakenheath Lakenheath is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It has a population of 4,691 according to the 2011 Census, and is situated close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, ...

in Suffolk during a parade and march-past of all the fighting vehicles in the division. It was the first time that an entire armoured division – at that time over 14,500 men and 4,500 vehicles – had been formed up complete in the same place. The logistical challenges of staging the parade and the scale of the air threat sealed the fate of the Brigade, contributing towards the decision in 1942 to halve the tank strength of an armoured division. The brigade continued to serve in Home Forces under various commands until 15 January 1943. At this time the brigade became a training formation and its regiments, on conversion to the armoured reconnaissance role, were posted elsewhere. Many former brigade troops subsequently saw active service in North West Europe including operations in Normandy and into Germany. On 30 April 1943, the 20th Armoured Brigade was disbanded.

Order of Battle

The following units served under the brigade: * Brigade Headquarters * 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (3 September 1939 – 6 April 1943) *

1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry The Northamptonshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1794 as volunteer cavalry. It served in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War before being reduced to squadron level in 1956. It ceas ...

(3 September 1939 – 3 April 1943) * 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry (3 September 1939 – 20 April 1943) * 2nd Battalion, The Rangers (15 October 1940 – 21 March 1941) ** 10th Battalion,

The King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

(22 March 1941 – 7 January 1943)

Brigade Commanders

Recent commanders have included: * 1939–1942 Brigadier

Evelyn Fanshawe Major-General Sir Evelyn Dalrymple Fanshawe, CB, CBE (25 May 1895 – 14 March 1979) was a British Army officer and the Director of the International Refugee Organisation in the British Zone of Germany from 1948 to 1952. A grandson on his mo ...

* 1942 Brigadier William Hinde * 1942–1943 Brigadier

Francis Mitchell Francis Mitchell (c. 1556 – died in or after 1628) was the last English knight of the realm to be publicly degraded (stripped of his knighthood), after being found guilty of extorting money from licensees following his being granted monopol ...

Notes

References

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External links