The 142nd (Suffolk) Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (142 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 fr ...

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 conscripted ...

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 A ...

that was raised in

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 opposin ...

and saw active service. The regiment served in the final stages of the North African Campaign at

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and later served during the Italian Campaign from 1943 until early 1945 when it was disbanded.

Origin

The 142nd Regiment RAC was formed on 22 November 1941142 RAC War Diary, November–December 1941, The National Archives (TNA), Kew file WO 166/1428. by the conversion to the armoured role of the 7th 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 ...

, a war-raised infantry battalion that was formed in June 1940 and serving with the

210th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home) The 210th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home) was an infantry brigade formation of the British Army organised during the Second World War to command a group of newly raised Home Defence battalions. It was later converted to a frontline brigade that ...

. In common with other infantry units transferred to the

, all personnel would have continued to wear their Suffolk Regiment cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps.Forty pp. 50–1. The establishment of a tank regiment being smaller than that of an infantry battalion, there were 161 men surplus to establishment who were transferred to other units, including 53rd and 59th battalions of the

Reconnaissance Corps The Reconnaissance Corps, or simply Recce Corps, was a corps of the British Army, formed during the World War II, Second World War whose units provided reconnaissance for infantry Division (military), divisions. It was formed from infantry brigad ...

, the remainder of the men going to the 30th Battalion,

Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Quee ...

.142 RAC War Diary, January–December 1942, TNA file WO 166/6937.

Training

142 RAC was assigned to the

25th Army Tank Brigade The 25th Army Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army that was active before and during the Second World War. It served with the British First Army and the British Eighth Army during the battles in North Africa and Ita ...

, alongside 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 on ...

and 51st RTR.Joslen, p. 203. and was initially equipped with

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 machin ...

and

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 ...

infantry tanks, later standardising on Churchills. On 4 July 1942, the regiment was ordered to mobilise for overseas service, but nothing came of this. On 4 August, the Commanding Officer, Lt-Col R.H. Maxwell (Suffolk Regiment) was promoted to Acting Brigadier to command 25th Tank Bde and the Second-in-Command, Major A.S. Birkbeck (

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

) was promoted to Acting Lt-Col and took over command. The 25th Tank Brigade had been attached to

43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division The 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division was an infantry division of Britain's Territorial Army (TA). The division was first formed in 1908, as the Wessex Division. During the First World War, it was broken-up and never served as a complete formatio ...

and based at

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

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 ...

, but in September 1942 it changed to 1st Infantry Division in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, followed in September 1942 by a transfer to

54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division The 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 following the creation of the Territorial Force (TF) as the East Anglian Division. During the First World War the division fo ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. On 30 December 1942, the regiment again received orders to prepare for overseas service. Some of the men had to be recalled from harvesting sugar beets.

Operations

The regiment landed at

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

on 1 February 1943 taking part in

Operation Ochsenkopf (Operation Ox Head) also known as the Battle of Sidi Nsir and the Battle of Hunts Gap was an Axis offensive operation in Tunisia from 1943, during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The offensive and a subsidiary operation was intende ...

during early March and in April fought at the Battle of Mejdez-el Bab in the

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. In May it took part in operations in the

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

area. On 20 April 1944 142 RAC landed at

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

to join the Italian campaign, and on 22 May it took part in breaching the Adolf Hitler Line. It was the Recce Troop of 142 RAC that effected the junction between

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 Forces, ...

and

US Fifth Army The United States Army North (ARNORTH) is a formation of the United States Army. An Army Service Component Command (ASCC) subordinate to United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM), ARNORTH is the joint force land component of NORTHCOM.

Valmontone Valmontone is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about southeast of Rome. Geography The historic part of the town is situated on a tuffaceous hill, above sea level, part of a mor ...

on 3 June. In July and August 1944 the regiment was in the advance to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, and on 28 August it took part in breaching the

Gothic Line The Gothic Line (german: Gotenstellung; it, Linea Gotica) was a German Defense line, defensive line of the Italian Campaign (World War II), Italian Campaign of World War II. It formed Generalfeldmarschall, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's la ...

near

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

. 142 RAC disbanded on 22 January 1945 in Italy.

Notes

References

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

External sources

Suffolk Regiment Official Website
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Military units and formations established in 1941 Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps Royal Armoured Corps 142 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945