Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Army recognised that German armoured success during the fighting had come about as a result of the concentration of tanks in divisions. The Army intended to raise another seven armoured divisions by mid 1941. [18] This resulted in the 6th, the 8th, and the 9th Armoured Divisions being formed over the final months of 1940. [19]
The following is a list of British military equipment of World War II which includes artillery, vehicles and vessels. This also would largely apply to Commonwealth of Nations countries in World War II like Australia, India and South Africa as the majority of their equipment would have been British as they were at that time part of the British Empire.
The Infantry of the British Army comprises 49 infantry battalions, from 19 regiments. Of these, 33 battalions are part of the Regular army and the remaining 16 a part of the Army Reserve . The British Army's Infantry takes on a variety of roles, including armoured, mechanised , air assault and light .
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of British Armed Forces. Since the end of the Cold War, the British Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force, a coalition force or part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation. [1]
These medium-sized cruiser tanks were the mainstay of British armoured units during the war. Weighing 10-35 tonnes, they were fast and mobile, and were designed to operate independently of the slow-moving infantry and their more heavily armoured infantry tank support. They were built specifically to fight a mobile war against other tanks.
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 division was formed in late 1941 by converting the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division. [3] The 42nd Division was a 1st Line Territorial Army (TA) infantry formation that saw service in the Battle of France and was evacuated at Dunkirk in June 1940. [4] The division was converted on 1 November 1941 into an armoured division.
The 79th Armoured Division was first raised as a conventional armoured division, with one Armoured Brigade, one Infantry Brigade and supporting arms. [9] 27th Armoured Brigade - Attached to the 79th Armoured Division from 8 September 1942 until 20 October 1943. 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards; 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own).