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6th Motor Brigade (Australia)

Formation of the Australian Army during World War II

Field	Value
unit_name	6th Motor Brigade
image	Australian Army Rising Sun Badge 1904.png
image_size	175px
dates	1942
country	Australia
allegiance	Australian
branch	Australian Light Horse
type	Motorised
role	Motorised infantry brigade
size	Brigade
command_structure	[2nd Motor Division](2nd-motor-division-australia)
garrison	Adelaide
equipment	Trucks, universal carriers
notable_commanders
identification_symbol	[[File:6 CAV BDE.png	Unit colour patch	80px]]
identification_symbol_label	Unit colour patch
identification_symbol_2

The 6th Motor Brigade was a militia formation of the Australian Army, which was formed during World War II. Formed in February 1942 from the previously existing 6th Cavalry Brigade, the brigade undertook defensive duties in Victoria before being converted into an armoured formation in May 1942.

History

The 6th Motor Brigade was descended from the Adelaide based 6th Cavalry Brigade, which was formed from the existing 8th Light Horse Brigade in the reorganisation of the Army in 1921. Upon the declaration of war in 1939, the brigade was placed on a war footing. Following the invasion of Malaya, attack on Pearl Harbor and fall of Singapore, the 6th was called up for full-time service, carrying out defensive duties in Australia. The evolution of Australia's mounted forces, the Australian Light Horse, had lagged well behind that of other countries who had converted their horse mounted cavalry to motorised (trucks) or mechanised (armoured fighting vehicles) forces in the 1930s and 1940s, but the advent of war provided the impetus for change. In the early phase of the war, the brigade was tasked with forming a district reserve, and defending positions along the Onkaparinga and Sturt Rivers, in South Australia.

Consequently, the 6th Cavalry Brigade became the 6th Motor Brigade in February 1942, and its subordinate units were also motorised. The 3rd, 9th and 18th Light Horse regiments were directed to reorganise and re-equip as "motor regiments", which were effectively lorry/truck borne motorised infantry, similar to the British Motor Battalions, US Armoured Infantry or German Panzer Grenadier units. The 3rd Motor Regiment was formed from two reconnaissance squadrons – the 3rd and 23rd – while the 18th was converted from a light horse machine gun regiment.

The brigade's existence proved short lived and most units never completed the process of motorisation. in Victoria, concentrating in Gherang in June before moving to Puckapunyal in July to begin receiving armoured vehicles.

Brigade units

The following units served with the brigade during its brief existence:

References

Citations

Bibliography

References

Hall 1968, pp. 76–77
Morrison 2006, p. 61
McKenzie-Smith 2018, p. 2120.
Morrison 2006, pp. 69–71.
"6 Australian Motor Brigade". Order of Battle.
McKenzie-Smith 2018, pp. 2120–2121.
"6 Motor Brigade units". Order of Battle.

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.

brigades-of-australia military-units-and-formations-established-in-1942 military-units-and-formations-disestablished-in-1942 1942-establishments-in-australia 1942-disestablishments-in-australia

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