The 21st Army Tank 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. ...

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 Gurkha ...

active 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 opposi ...

. The brigade served with the

British First Army The First Army was a formation of the British Army that existed during the First and Second World Wars. The First Army included Indian and Portuguese forces during the First World War and American and French units during the Second World War. F ...

and the

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Force ...

during the fighting in Tunisia and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

History

In 1939, the brigade was a 1st Line Territorial Army

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. ...

stationed in the United Kingdom. It was assigned to Eastern Command defending the south-eastern portion of the country. Equipment shortages prevented it from receiving any significant numbers of modern tanks; obsolete

Vickers Medium Mark II The Vickers Medium Mark II was a British tank built by Vickers in the Inter-war period. The Medium Mark II, derived from the Vickers Medium Mark I, was developed to replace the last of the Medium Mark Cs still in use. Production and rebuilding ...

and Mk II Light Tanks comprising most of the armour on hand until after the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on t ...

. Shortly after that battle, the brigade HQ was pulled back to

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wit ...

, although each tank battalion was detailed as a mobile reserve for the infantry divisions holding the coastline. Each regiment could only form a single mobile squadron, the remaining two serving as infantry. In August 1940, it began to receive modern Valentine I

infantry tank The infantry tank was a concept developed by the United Kingdom and France in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were designed to support infantrymen in an attack. To achieve this, the vehicles were generally heavily armoured to ...

s, the first of what would be a continual change in tanks. Valentine IIs were received from April 1941 and the brigade had about a hundred

Churchill tank The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, ...

s on strength by the end of the year. The brigade lost

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 Worl ...

on 11 September 1940, but

43rd Royal Tank Regiment The 43rd (6th (City) Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) Royal Tank Regiment (43 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that tested and demonstrated specialised Armoured Fighting Vehicles during World W ...

wasn't assigned until 9 November 1940.

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 c ...

was transferred away on 12 April 1941 and 43rd Royal Tank Regiment was exchanged for

12th Royal Tank Regiment 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

on 12 April 1941.

145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps The 145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (8th Duke of Wellington's Regiment) (145 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that served in North Africa, Tunisia and Italy during World War II. The Duke of Wellington' ...

arrived on 15 November 1941. This left the brigade with 12th and 48th Royal Tank Regiment and the 145th Royal Armoured Corps, the units which it would keep for the bulk of the war. The brigade was re-designated as the 21st Tank Brigade on 6 June 1942 when it was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division as part of the British experiment with "Mixed Divisions". A mixed division had one tank brigade with infantry tanks and two non-motorized infantry brigades; the idea being to better coordinate tank and infantry support. The 4th Division, with the brigade, did not arrive in North Africa until the end of March 1943, although it helped to break open the approaches to

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

in April. The battle was extremely costly, 48th RTR alone losing 38 Churchills during the fighting, and the mixed division was judged a failure for lack of infantry to fight through difficult country. The division remained behind in North Africa until another infantry brigade could be assembled to replace the 21st Tank Brigade. The brigade was finally relieved of its assignment on 12 December 1943 by the 28th Infantry Brigade, but wasn't transferred to Italy until May 1944. In the meantime, it was reorganized and reequipped with new Churchill V close-support tanks and American-supplied Stuart light tanks replaced the

Bren Carrier The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used ...

s in its reconnaissance troops. Most of these had their turrets removed. Many of its Churchills had their 6 pdr guns replaced with the QF 75mm gun (which used American ammunition) or simply replaced by guns and their mounts taken from damaged Sherman medium tanks; the latter were known as "Churchill NA75"s. A number of Shermans were put into service by the regiments of the brigade. This gave each regiment a wide variety of tanks in service. For example, in September 1944, 12th RTR had six Churchill I's, six Churchill V's, 23 Churchill III/IV's with the 6-pdr gun, six Churchill NA75s and 12 Shermans. It remained under the direct command of the Eighth Army after it arrived in Italy until it was subordinated to the

I Canadian Corps I Canadian Corps was one of the two corps fielded by the Canadian Army during the Second World War. History From December 24, 1940, until the formation of the First Canadian Army in April 1942, there was a single unnumbered Canadian Corps. I ...

on 7 July 1944, but saw no action until it supported the Canadian attack on the

Gothic Line The Gothic Line (german: Gotenstellung; it, Linea Gotica) was a German defensive line of the Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence along the summits of the northern part of ...

on 31 August 1944. In December, 48th RTR was temporarily detached to support the 43rd Gurkha Infantry Brigade while 145th RAC was disbanded and replaced by the

North Irish Horse The North Irish Horse was a yeomanry unit of the British Territorial Army raised in the northern counties of Ireland in the aftermath of the Second Boer War. Raised and patronised by the nobility from its inception to the present day, it was o ...

21st Army Tank Brigade Churchill tanks Italy April 19445 IWM NA 24306

In January 1945, it began to receive "heavy" Churchill VIIs and converted to an all-Churchill structure. In February, it came under the command of the

V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army ...

and supported its various units during

Operation Grapeshot The spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the final Allied attack during the Italian Campaign in the final stages of the Second World War. The attack into the Lombard Plain by the 15th Allied Army Group started on ...

, the Allied offensive in the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

. On 11 June 1945, it reorganized as the 21st Armoured Brigade.

Order of battle

21st Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:Joslen, p. 200. *

(until 12 April 1941) *

(until 11 September 1940) *

48th Royal Tank Regiment The 48th Royal Tank Regiment (48 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army during the Second World War. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. It was originally formed as a duplicate of the 42nd Ro ...

(from 11 September 1940 until 26 April 1941) *

(from 26 April 1941) *

(from 15 November 1941 until 4 December 1944) *

(from 4 December 1944)

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{British mobile brigades of the Second World War 21 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Military units and formations established in 1939

History

Order of battle

See also

Notes

References

External links