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1st Army Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)

Tank Brigade of the British Army during the Second World War

Field	Value
unit_name	1st Army Tank Brigade
image	1st Army Tank Brigade Formation Badge.svg
image_size	75px
caption	Brigade insignia
dates	3 September 1939 – November 1944
country	United Kingdom
branch
type	Armoured formation
role	Armoured warfare
size	Brigade
command_structure	BEF
battles	* Battle of France

Operation Crusader The 1st Army Tank Brigade was a formation of the British Army during the Second World War. A Tank Brigade was intended to support the Infantry and was mostly equipped with slow moving Infantry tanks, unlike an Armoured Brigade, which was equipped with faster cruiser tanks and later its own motorised infantry. Initially using infantry nomenclature for its smaller units, *company * and section and having 175 light and infantry tanks, it later adopted cavalry nomenclature of squadron and troop and later in the War grew to 240 tanks. Its designation was changed on 14 April 1940 to 1st Tank Brigade.

History

The 1st Army Tank Brigade took part in the Battle of France, serving as part of the British Expeditionary Force. It fought against the Germans in Belgium and Northern France, providing the armour for the counter-attack at the Battle of Arras and covered the Allied retreat to Dunkirk. It lost all of its equipment on the beaches following the evacuation.

The reformed 1st Army Tank Brigade was transferred to North Africa, equipped with Valentine infantry tanks. The brigade took part in Operation Crusader, as part of the XIII Corps. Attached to the 2nd South African Division, it took part in the conquest of Bardia (December 1941 – January 1942).

The 1st Tank Brigade was disbanded 21 November 1944.

Order of battle

From

4th Royal Tank Regiment (September 1939 – December 1940)
7th Royal Tank Regiment (September 1939 – December 1940)
8th Royal Tank Regiment (September 1939 – September 1942) did not go to France
44th Royal Tank Regiment (December 1940 – May 1943)
49th Royal Tank Regiment (December 1940 – October 1944)
42nd Royal Tank Regiment (April 1941 – November 1944)
11th Royal Tank Regiment (October 1942 – October 1944)

Battle honours

Tobruk 1941
Gazala
Defence of Alamein Line
El Alamein

References

Bibliography

References

Joslen pp. 138–139, 192–194
Taylor, Dick. (2022). "Armoured Warfare in the British Army 1939-1945". Pen & Sword Military.
Joslen p. 195
Joslen p. 196

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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