35th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom)
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The 35th Armoured Brigade 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 ...
brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...
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 ...
, formed during the
Second World War 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 opposin ...
. The brigade was never deployed in combat, remaining in the UK to act as a home defence and training unit, and provided replacements for other formations.


Unit history

The unit was formed in the UK on 1 December 1941 when the 225th Independent Infantry Brigade was converted to armour and renamed the 35th Army Tank Brigade as part of Northern Command. On 1 January 1942, its units were renamed, with the 10th Battalion,
King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in many wars and conflicts, including both the First and the Second World Wars, from 1680 to 1959. In 1959, the r ...
becoming the 151st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, the 11th Battalion,
King's Regiment (Liverpool) The King's Regiment (Liverpool) was one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army, having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot in 1751. Unlike most British Army infantry regiments, which were ...
becoming the 152nd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, and the 15th Battalion,
Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...
becoming the 155th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. They were equipped with the Canal Defence Light, a
Matilda II The Infantry Tank Mark II, best known as the Matilda, was a British infantry tank of the Second World War.Jentz, p. 11. The design began as the A12 specification in 1936, as a gun-armed counterpart to the first British infantry tank, the machi ...
or
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 later
M3 Grant The M3 Lee, officially Medium Tank, M3, was an American medium tank used during World War II. The turret was produced in two forms, one for US needs and one modified to British requirements to place the radio next to the commander. In British C ...
) tank, fitted with a turret containing a 13 million
candlepower Candlepower (abbreviated as cp or CP) is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity. It expresses levels of light intensity relative to the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents. The historical candlepower is equal to 0.981 ...
(12.8 million
candela The candela ( or ; symbol: cd) is the unit of luminous intensity in the International System of Units (SI). It measures luminous power per unit solid angle emitted by a light source in a particular direction. Luminous intensity is analogous t ...
) searchlight, designed to dazzle, disorient, and temporarily blind the enemy. The 151st Regiment RAC was detached on 4 August 1942, to join the 25th Army Tank Brigade, and was replaced by the 49th Royal Tank Regiment on 16 August, the brigade having been renamed 35th Tank Brigade the previous day, and transferred to the command of
GHQ Home Forces Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces was a senior officer in the British Army during the First and Second World Wars. The role of the appointment was firstly to oversee the training and equipment of formations in preparation for their deployment over ...
on 8 August. On 10 April 1943, the brigade was transferred to the
79th Armoured Division The 79th Armoured Division was a specialist armoured division of the British Army created during the Second World War. The division was created as part of the preparations for the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, D-Day. Major-General Percy ...
, returning to the command of GHQ Home Forces on 27 April 1944. On 13 July 1944, the 43rd Royal Tank Regiment was added to the brigade, to replace the 49th RTR, which had been detached on 30 April to join the 1st Tank Brigade of the 79th Armoured. The 8th Battalion,
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 ...
joined on 17 September 1944, and the
Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (RWY) was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when t ...
and
Warwickshire Yeomanry The Warwickshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as cavalry and machine gunners in the First World War and as a cavalry and an armoured regiment in the Second World War, before being amalg ...
were added to the brigade on 27 March 1945. On 16 June 1945, the 1st Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and the
Yorkshire Hussars The Yorkshire Hussars (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own) was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed in 1794. The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry (Yeomanry) in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars and served in the Second Boe ...
were also added. On 14 July, it was renamed the 35th Armoured Brigade; it was disbanded on 31 August 1945.


Order of battle


Commanding officers

Brigadier H. T. de B. Lipscomb was appointed
Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
of the 35th Brigade on 4 December 1941, remaining in post for the entirety of the unit's existence.


See also

*
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 ...
*
List of British brigades of the Second World War This is a list of British Brigades in the Second World War. It is intended as a central place to access resources about formations of brigade size that served in the British Army during the Second World War World War II or the Sec ...


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * {{British mobile brigades of the Second World War Armoured brigades of the British Army in World War II Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945