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The November 1943 organisation removed a number of anti-aircraft tanks from each regiment and added a reconnaissance troop to the regiment bringing its strength to 55 cruisers, 6 close support tanks, 11 light cruisers and 6 anti-aircraft tanks. Each regiment would be manned by 37 officers and 655 other ranks. [55]
This is a list of regiments within the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during the Second World War.. On the creation of the corps in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, it comprised those regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry regiments that had been mechanised, [1] together with the Royal Tank Regiment. [2]
The first armoured regiments - known at the time as "tank battalions" - were formed in the First World War, first in the Machine Gun Corps and later as the Tank Corps.Each battalion had three companies, each of three sections of four tanks, for a combat strength of thirty-six tanks; a further twelve were kept in reserve for training and replacement purposes. [2]
The early armoured formations did not reach these proposed tank strengths. For example, the 1st Armoured Division landed in France, in 1940, with 114 light tanks and 143 cruisers. The 2nd Armoured Division, prior to being deployed to the Middle East in late 1940, peaked at a strength of 256 light tanks and 54 cruisers.
40th (The King's) Royal Tank Regiment; 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment; 50th Royal Tank Regiment; 1st Battalion, The London Rifle Brigade later 7th Battalion, The Prince Consort's Own (Rifle Brigade) (London Rifle Brigade) 24th Armoured Brigade 22/11/40–10/10/42 then 31/10/42–6/11/42 23rd Armoured Brigade Headquarters
Of these, three regiments are designated Dragoon Guards, two as Hussars, one as Lancers and one as Dragoons. The remaining regiment is the Royal Tank Regiment. In the regular army, there are three armoured regiments, three armoured cavalry regiments and three light cavalry regiments.
The armoured reconnaissance regiment was equipped with medium tanks, bringing the armoured divisions to a strength of 246 medium tanks [37] (roughly 340 tanks in total) [34] and by the end of the Battle of Normandy the divisions started to operate as two brigade groups, each of two combined arms teams, each in turn of one tank regiment and one ...
The bright spots of British tank design included the Valentine, Churchill (A22), Cromwell (A27M), and Comet I (A34), which together made up a little over half of total British tank production during WWII. The Valentine was a reliable, heavily armoured infantry-support tank used successfully in the desert and by the Red Army as a light tank.