The 27th 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 fr ...

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 ...

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 ...

that served in 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 ...

and played a crucial role in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

on 6 June 1944 and the following

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

until disbandment in late 1944.

Origin

The 27th Armoured Brigade was formed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 26 November 1940 by the conversion of the 1st Armoured Reconnaissance Brigade as a constituent of the new 9th Armoured Division. The brigade was used to experiment with

Hobart's Funnies Hobart's Funnies is the nickname given to a number of specialist armoured fighting vehicles derived from tanks operated during the Second World War by units of the 79th Armoured Division of the British Army or by specialists from the Royal Eng ...

, specialised armoured vehicles and on 8 September 1942 it 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 Hob ...

, which concentrated the various specialised armoured units. On 20 October 1943 the 27th Armoured Brigade became an independent GHQ formation and was attached to the 3rd Infantry Division to spearhead

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French A ...

during its landing at

Sword Beach Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied Fra ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

in June 1944.

Order of battle

4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment of the British Army formed in 1922. It served in the Second World War. However following the reduction of forces at the end of the Cold War and proposals contained in the Options for Change ...

(left 31 January 1944) *

13th/18th Royal Hussars The 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the 13th Hussars and the 18th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated wit ...

(left 29 July 1944) *

1st East Riding Yeomanry The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army formed in 1902. Units of Yeomanry Cavalry were raised in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the 18th and early 19th centuries at times of national emergency: the Jacobite Rising ...

(left 8 October 1943, rejoined 14 February 1944, left 29 July 1944) *

148th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps The 148th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (148 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II. It fought in the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Origin 148th Regiment RAC was formed in November 1941 by the ...

(from 8 October 1943, left 31 January 1944) *

Staffordshire Yeomanry The Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) was a unit of the British Army. Raised in 1794 following Prime Minister William Pitt's order to raise volunteer bodies of men to defend Great Britain from foreign invasion, the Staffordshir ...

(from 14 February 1944, left 29 July 1944) * 1st Battalion,

Queen Victoria's Rifles The 9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles) was a Territorial Army infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantr ...

(from 2 December 1940, redesignated 7th 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 ...

1 April 1941) * 7th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (from 1 April 1941, left 13 April 1943) Commanders *

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Charles Norman (until 15 October 1941) * Brigadier Arthur Fisher (from 15 October 1941 until 1 March 1942) * Brigadier J. G. de W. Mullens (from 1 March 1942 until 25 April 1943) * Brigadier George Prior-Palmer (from 25 April 1943)

Operational history

The brigade was assigned a crucial role in the Normandy landings. The 13/18th Hussars, equipped with

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the Military history of the United States during World War II, United States and Allies of World War II, Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman prove ...

DD amphibious tanks, were to accompany the initial assault on Sword Beach by the 8th Brigade Group of the 3rd Infantry Division, while the rest of the 27th Armoured Brigade would support the division's follow-up attacks towards Caen.

D-Day

House to house fighting at Riva Bella near Ouistreham

On the morning of D-Day the sea was rough and 27th Armoured Brigade's commander,

George Prior-Palmer, in conjunction with Captain Bush,

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, decided to launch his DD tanks closer inshore than had been planned. Thirty-four out of forty DD tanks of 'A' and 'B' Squadrons of the 13/18th Hussars were launched from their LCTs (

Landing Craft Tank The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or Tank Landing Craft TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ver ...

) from Sword. One sank immediately and the remainder made slow progress in the heavy seas and were overtaken by the leading landing craft carrying infantry and 'flail' tanks. Two DD tanks were struck by landing craft and lost on the run in. The remaining six tanks of the 13/18th Hussars were taken in to the beach aboard their LCT. The regiment lost six tanks knocked out in the surf and four shortly after, leaving 27 to support the infantry in their advance off the beach. One squadron supported the 1st Battalion,

Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before bein ...

in their attack on the 'Hillman' strongpoint. Another squadron assisted

No. 4 Commando No. 4 Commando was a battalion-sized British Army commando unit, formed in 1940 early in the Second World War. Although it was raised to conduct small-scale raids and harass garrisons along the coast of German occupied France, it was mainly emp ...

to capture Ouistreham on the left flank of the beachhead. 'C' Squadron landed last, towing waterproofed sledges containing the ammunition reserve but took a long time to get clear of the beach. The Shermans of the Staffordshire Yeomanry landed later on the morning of D-Day to support 185th Brigade, the spearhead of 3rd Division's attack inland. This was probably the only unit of conventional tanks landed that day on Sword. The advance was to be led by a mobile column of the 2nd Battalion,

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. In 196 ...

(KSLI) riding on the Staffordshire Yeomanry's tanks but at noon the heavy weapons of the battalion were held up on the congested beaches and the tanks by a minefield. The leading tanks caught up with the infantry at the Periers rise but four tanks were knocked out by flanking fire from German guns in a wood, which had to be dealt with. By 16:00 hours one squadron of the Staffordshire Yeomanry was with the advanced infantry and self-propelled 17-pounders from the 20th Anti-Tank Regiment,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

at Beuville and Bieville on the direct road to Caen, a second was supporting the attack on 'Hillman' and the third was guarding the flank at Point 61 on the Periers rise. Soon afterwards a scouting troop of the Staffordshires reported about forty German tanks advancing fast. These were from Panzer Regiment 22 in the

21st Panzer Division The 21st Panzer Division was a German armoured division best known for its role in the battles of the North African Campaign from 1941–1943 during World War II when it was one of the two armoured divisions making up the Deutsches Afrikakorps ...

(Major-General

Edgar Feuchtinger Edgar Feuchtinger (9 November 1894 – 21 January 1960) was a German General (Generalleutnant) during the Second World War. Feuchtinger was commander of the 21st Panzer Division during the Normandy Invasion. Later in 1944 he was tried and convic ...

) primarily equipped with

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Panze ...

tanks, supplemented with obsolete French

SOMUA S35 The SOMUA S35 was a French cavalry tank of the Second World War. Built from 1936 until 1940 to equip the armoured divisions of the Cavalry, it was for its time a relatively agile medium-weight tank, superior in armour and armament to its French ...

s and self-propelled anti-tank guns on various French chassis. These panzers had already suffered losses when attacked by

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

fighter-bombers on the road from Caen. The Staffordshire squadron from Hillman was quickly brought up and several of the German tanks were knocked out by the Staffordshires and the anti-tank guns of the 2nd KSLI and the 20th A/T Regiment RA. The panzers turned aside into the woods, pursued by the Yeomanry and by field-gun fire, suffering more losses when they showed themselves again. Drawing off a second time, the Panzers were reinforced and then made a wide detour towards the Periers ridge. Here they were met and driven off by the squadron positioned there. The British claimed 13 panzers knocked out for the loss of one SP gun. Fuechtinger later reported that his division lost 54 out of 124 tanks in these actions and by the earlier Typhoon attacks. At nightfall his division was still interposed between I Corps and Caen. The city did not fall for another month, greatly dislocating the British operations. The third regiment of 27th Armoured Brigade, the East Riding Yeomanry (also equipped with Sherman DD tanks) landed later on D-Day with the reserve of the 3rd Division, the 9th Brigade Group.

The Battle for Caen

During the follow-up operations after D-Day the 27th Armoured Brigade continued to support the attacks of I Corps along the River Orne towards

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being t ...

attack along the river and later in the month the regiment supported the

51st (Highland) Infantry Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

in further attacks along the river. On 8 and 9 July, the 27th Armoured Brigade supported

Operation Charnwood Operation Charnwood was an Anglo-Canadian offensive that took place from 8 to 9 July 1944, during the Battle for Caen, part of the larger Operation Overlord (code-name for the Battle of Normandy) in the Second World War. The operation was int ...

, the capture of Caen.

Operation Goodwood

On 18 July the British Second Army began an operation south from Caen (

Operation Goodwood Operation Goodwood was a British offensive during the Second World War, which took place between 18 and 20 July 1944 as part of the larger battle for Caen in Normandy, France. The objective of the operation was a limited attack to the south, ...

). I Corps was to attack along the left flank of the main armoured thrust. The 3rd Division plus one brigade from the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division moved forward at 07:45 hours, supported by 27th Armoured Brigade. The German reception by troops of the 346th Infantry Division and the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division was varied; the villages of Sannerville and Banneville la Campagne had been well hit by the preliminary attack by

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

and both were in British hands by midday. Touffreville was on the edge of the Bomber Command aiming point and it held out until evening. There was heavy fighting in the mined and broken country through which the road ran to Troarn. Attacking by that route and from Sannerville, the 3rd Division found Troarn strongly defended and at nightfall was still about a mile short of the town. Between Manneville and Guillerville, south of the Troarn–Caen road, there was stiff fighting against the German infantry of 711th Infantry Division, rushed up by bicycle from the coast, supported by some

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

tanks. It was midnight when both villages were cleared. The day's fighting had cost the British 500 casualties and 18 tanks. At dawn the following day infantry of the 3rd Division were working their way through orchards towards Troarn. The place was defended, with well-sited outlying infantry positions. The division attacked four times during the day, supported by the 27th Armoured Brigade but all failed. I Corps was reinforced, but the Goodwood offensive petered out the following day.

Disbandment

After Goodwood the emphasis of the Second Army switched away from the Caen sector and on 27 July 1944 the 27th Armoured Brigade was broken up, its three regiments being distributed to other formations.Ellis p. 522.

Notes

References

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External links

* * https://web.archive.org/web/20081006141627/http://www.d-daytanks.org.uk/index.html {{DEFAULTSORT:27 Armoured Brigade Armoured brigades of the British Army in World War II Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944