British Brigades in World War II

Armoured Brigades 1st Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) It was based in the United Kingdom initially as part of the 1st Armoured Division and then the newly formed 2nd Armoured Division. In January 1941 it was shipped to Egypt. When Greece was invaded the 1st Armoured Brigade was sent with General Maitland Wilson's unsuccessful attempt at stopping the German invasion. On 29 April 1941 it was evacuated to Egypt. The 1st Armoured Brigade served briefly in the Western Desert Campaign with the 7th Armoured Division at the Battle of El Alamein. The brigade was disbanded on 21 November 1942. 3rd Royal Tank Regiment 1st Royal Tank Regiment 6th Royal Tank Regiment 1st King's Dragoon Guards 4th Queen's Own Hussars The Rangers (TA), 9th Bn. King's Royal Rifle Corps 102nd Royal Horse Artillery, (Northumberland Hussars), equipped with 36 x 2 pounder Anti-Tank guns Greece and Crete,campaigns. 2nd Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) The 2nd Armoured Brigade was part of the 1st Armoured Division when it was sent as part of the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1940. It was evacuated from Brest without its heavy equipment. After being reformed it was sent in November 1941 to North Africa where it served with the 7th Armoured Division at Gazala, El Alamein and with the 1st Armoured Division in Tunisia and Italy. The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) 9th Queen's Royal Lancers 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) 1st Bn. The Rifle Brigade

9th Bn. The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 3rd Armoured Brigade 5th Royal Tank Regiment 6th Royal Tank Regiment 1st King's Dragoon Guards 3rd (The King's Own) Hussars 4TH Guards Armoured Brigade 1st Royal Tank Regiment 6th Royal Tank Regiment 2nd Royal Tank Regiment 4th Royal Tank Regiment 5th Royal Tank Regiment 3 September 1939 3 September 1939 13 October 1940 4 May 1941 4 May 1941 31 July 1941 7th Royal Tank Regiment 44th Royal Tank Regiment 3rd Royal Tank Regiment 1st Royal Tank Regiment 6th Royal Tank Regiment 8th Royal Tank Regiment 44th Royal Tank Regiment 50th Royal Tank Regiment 7th Hussars 8th Hussars 8th Hussars 1st King's Dragoon Guards 4 May 1941 1 July 1941 31 July 1941 3 June 1942 7 June 1942 7 June 1942 13 July 1943 10 April 1940 19 January 1941 16 April 1941

27 July 1941 27 July 1941 7 June 1942 11 July 1941 27 July 1941 7 June 1942 7 July 1942 7 July 1942 7 July 1942 31 August 1945

25 August 1943 10 January 1944 10 April 1940 17 April 1941 31 July 1941 3 May 1941 3 May 1941 8 February 1942 22 November 1941

10 November 1941

8th Hussars 4/8th Hussars 11th Hussars 12th Lancers

14 February 1942 14 July 1942 16 July 1942 18 July 1942

2 June 1942

23 November 1942 22 November 1942 12 September 1942 23 November 1942

Royal Scots Greys (2 Dragoons) 16 September 1942

2nd The Derbyshire Yeomanry 4 October 1942 15 November 1942 1st King's Dragoon Guards 1st The Royal Dragoons 3 December 1942 5 December 1942 30 April 1943 21 May 1943 13 July 1943 28 July 1944

3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) The Royal Scots Greys (2 Dragoons)

27 January 1944

29 April 1945
31 August 1945

3rd/4th The County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)

29 July 1944

1st The East Riding Yeomanry

14 June 1945

31 August 1945 7 July 1942

1st The King's Royal Rifle Corps 1 February 1942 9th The Rifle Brigade 18 July 1942

3 August 1942

1st The Kings Royal Rifle Corps 3 August 1942 24 December 1942 2nd The Kings Royal Rifle Corps 24 December 1942 2nd The Kings Royal Rifle Corps 28 September 1943 1st Regiment RHA 9 February 1942 13 July 1942 21 May 1943 14 May 1945 7 July 1942 18 July 1942 30 April 1943

104th Essex Yeomanry Regiment RHA 3rd Regiment RHA 78th Field Regiment RA 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment RHA 5th Guards Armoured Brigade 1st Coldstream Guards Armoured 2nd Grenadier Guards Armoured

9 September 1942 30 April 1943 18 July 1942

21 May 1943 7 September 1942

2nd Irish Guards Armoured 1st Bn, Grenadier Guards Motorised Infantry 6th Guards Tank Brigade (United Kingdom) The 6th Guards Tank Brigade was formed in 1941 as the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade when Great Britain was under the threat of invasion and more armoured formations were required, permission was granted from King George VI and the Colonels of the Regiments involved and over the summer of 1941, the Infantry of the Guards converted into an armoured formation and so the Guards Armoured Division was formed which contained the 5th Guards Armoured Brigade and the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade. In 1942 all British armoured divisions were reorganised to have one armoured brigade and one motor brigade. The 6th Guards Armoured became an independent tank brigade being renamed as the 6th Guards Tank Brigade.[2] The brigade now equipped with the Churchill tank, served in the North West Europe Campaign landing in Normandy on 20 July 1944. They went onto take part in Operation Bluecoat, Operation Veritable finally ending the war at Lbeck on the Baltic Sea where they captured a U-boat. 4th Motor Battalion Coldstream Guards 4th Armoured Battalion Grenadier Guards 3rd Armoured Battalion Scots Guards 2nd Armoured Battalion Welsh Guards 8th Armoured Brigade 3rd Battalion, the Royal Tank Regiment The Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) Staffordshire Yeomanry 1st Battalion The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) 1st Royal Horse Artillery 297th (Kent Yeomanry), Royal Artillery 11th Armoured Brigade 107th Regt. RAC 110th Regt. RAC

111th Regt. RAC 1st Bn. The Highland Light Infantry 20th Armoured Brigade 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars 1st and 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry 21st Army Tank Brigade 48th Royal Tank Regiment 12th Royal Tank Regiment North Irish Horse 22nd Armoured Brigade 1st Royal Tank Regiment 5th Royal Tank Regiment 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) 4th County of London Yeomanry 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards 23rd Armoured Brigade 40th Royal Tank Regiment 46th Royal Tank Regiment 50th Royal Tank Regiment 11th Battalion, The King's Royal Rifle Corps 463rd Battery, 104th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery 24th Armoured Brigade 41st (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment 45th Royal Tank Regiment

47th Royal Tank Regiment 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars 1st Bn, Queen's Westminsters The King's Royal Rifle Corps 11th Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps 5th Regt. Royal Horse Artillery 26th Armoured Brigade 16th/5th Lancers 17th/21st Lancers 2nd Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry 4th Queen's Own Hussars 10th The Rifle Brigade 1st The King's Royal Rifle Corps 27th Armoured Brigade 148th Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) 1st East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry The Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) 1st Bn, Queen Victoria's Rifles (The King's Royal Rifle Corps) 7th Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps 28th Armoured Brigade 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry 8th The King's Royal Rifle Corps

29th Armoured Brigade 22nd Dragoons - Until Jan '41

24th Lancers- Disbanded 24 July 1944 due to lack of reinforcements and absorbed by 23rd Hussars

23rd Hussars 3rd Royal Tank Regiment 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry 30th Armoured Brigade 141st Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, formerly 7th Battalion, The Buffs 11th Royal Tank Regiment 22nd Dragoons 2nd County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons) 1st Lothian and Border Horse 4th Royal Tank Regiment 12th The King's Royal Rifle Corps 33rd Armoured Brigade 1940 - 1944 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry (Sherman I & Firefly VC) 144th Battalion Royal Armoured Corps (Sherman I & Firefly VC) 148th Battalion Royal Armoured Corps (Sherman I & Firefly VC) Rhine Crossing 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry 4th Royal Tank Regiment 11th Royal Tank Regiment 137th Armoured Brigade 113th Regt, Royal Armoured Corps (2/5th Bn. The West Yorkshire Regiment)

114th Regt.RAC (2nd/6th Bn. The Duke of Wellington's Regiment) 115th Regt.RAC (2nd/7th Bn. The Duke of Wellington's Regt.)

Cavalry Brigades
4th Cavalry Brigade Regt of Household Cavalry (consisting of various squadrons) 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) 3rd (King's Own) Hussars 1st Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars 5th Cavalry Brigade Yorkshire Dragoons Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) Yorkshire Hussars 6th Cavalry Brigade The Cheshire Yeomanry The Staffordshire Yeomanry The Warwickshire Yeomanry

Army Tank Brigades

1st Army Tank Brigade 8th Royal Tank Regiment 42nd Royal Tank Regiment 44th Royal Tank Regiment: 1941-1943