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The Organization of British Armoured Divisions, Northwest Europe, 1944-1945

by Chestnut Lodge Wargamers Group

The Second World War is a popular period amongst war­gamers, yet in some respects it does not attract the same care and attention that is lavished on, say, the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleonic players know how their troops were organized, what went to make up a reg­i­ment, a brigade, or a division. Unfortunately for World War II this same knowl­edge is not always ex­tended to the more recent past. War­gamers seem con­tent for the most part to use ad hoc units composed of the more unusual weapons of the war, with a pre­pon­der­ance of armor, and with only cursory reference to operational doctrine. We must hasten to add that there are, and always will be, those who insist on historical units, and the above comments are not in any way aimed at them.

We have chosen the 1944-45 armored division mainly because it represents a change from the 1943 division in a number of respects, mainly deriving from the introduction of the 17-pounder gun tanks. It is also a period at which the British Army as a whole was arguably at its most efficient, having assimilated the lessons of the previous five years of war. Sadly, this is an oft-misquoted organization. We have as far as pos­si­ble derived this information from original sources and regimental histories, to be found in the Old War Office Library, Whitehall, and War Diaries at the Public Records Office.

The organization we have quoted is as definitive as we can make it to date, excluding local variations, which we know occurred often. If anyone with per­sonal experience of the Northwest European theater has any comments or infor­ma­tion, we would be de­lighted to hear from them. In fact, if anyone has any other information, that they think may refine our de­scrip­tion, we would be glad to hear that also.

The following organization charts and notes give a breakdown of the fighting arms. It must also be re­mem­bered that we have omitted the bulk of the non-combatant sup­port­ing services as they remained virtually unchanged right through the war.

Overall Organization Of The Division

Divisional Headquarters

Armoured Brigade

three armored regiments

one motor battalion

Infantry Brigade

three rifle battalions

Divisional Troops

Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment

Anti-tank Regiment, RA

Field Regiment, RA (SP)

Field Regiment, RA (Towed)

Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA

Armoured Divisional Engineers

Armoured Divisional Signals

Independent Machine Gun Company

Armoured Regiment 1944-45

Regiment

Headquarters Squadron

Regimental Headquarters

four tanks

Recce Troop [Not every regiment in Northwest Europe had this many light tanks. Some regiments were known to create a temporary D Squadron and group the light tanks and scout cars in it.]

11 light tanks

Anti-Aircraft Troop

four anti-aircraft tanks

Intercommunications Troop

eight scout cars

A Squadron

Headquarters Troop

two CS tanks, one or two Cruisers [The Close Support (CS) tanks were either the Centaur with 95mm howitzer, or in some cases the American Sherman 105mm CS tank (depending on the unit).]

A Troop

B Troop

C Troop

D Troop

each troop had three Cruiser tanks and one gun tank

each squadron had one ARV attached

B Squadron

same as A Squadron

C Squadron

same as A Squadron

All regiments had either the M4 Sherman or the Crom­well as the Cruiser tank. The gun tank was the Sherman Firefly. Some (but not all) Cromwell reg­i­ments had Chal­lenger gun tanks instead of Fireflys. The anti-aircraft tank could be either the Crusader anti-aircraft tank or the Cen­taur anti-aircraft tank, according to circumstances and availability. Armored observation for the artillery was often supplied by permanently attaching AOP tanks to squadrons.

Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment 1944-45

Regiment

Headquarters Squadron

Regimental Headquarters

four tanks

Recce Troop [This was in all armored recce regiments. Light tanks in both the armored regiment and the ar­mored recce regiment were Stuarts (known as Honeys to the crews).]

11 light tanks

Anti-Aircraft Troop

four anti-aircraft tanks

Intercommunications Troop

eight scout cars

A Squadron

Headquarters Troop [The Close Support tank was always the Centaur with the 95-mm.]

two CS tanks, one or two Cromwells

Sabre Troop [These were called Sabre Troops in the cavalry reg­i­ments, which formed most of the armored recce reg­i­ments.]

Sabre Troop

Sabre Troop

Sabre Troop

Sabre Troop

each Sabre Troop consisted of three Crom­well tanks

B Squadron

same as A Squadron

C Squadron

same as A Squadron

one ARV was attached to each squadron

By August 1944 most of the armored recce reg­i­ments were converted to armored regiments in their organization by the addition of Challenger gun tanks. They continued to be called armored reconnaissance regiments, but for most purposes they became an extra armored regiment in the armored division.

Motor Battalion 1944-45

Headquarters Platoon

A Motor Company

1 Platoon

2 Platoon

3 Platoon

these platoons were usually in half-tracks [When the Motor Battalions were first formed they were to be mounted in 15-cwt. trucks, but by early in the Normandy campaign they had Amer­i­can M3 half-tracks. The platoons were otherwise organized as standard rifle companies.]

4 Platoon

recce platoon, in carriers

B Motor Company

same as for A Motor Company

C Motor Company

same as for A Motor Company

Support Company

Anti-tank Platoon

Anti-tank Platoon

Anti-tank Platoon

four 6-pounders, carriers

Medium Machine Gun Platoon

Medium Machine Gun Platoon

four medium machine guns, 8-9 carriers

Rifle Battalions 1944-45

Headquarters Platoon

A Rifle Company

Company Headquarters

14 men, three PIATs

1 Platoon

Headquarters Section

seven men, 2-inch mortar

Section

ten men, one Bren

Section

as above

Section

as above

2 Platoon

same as for 1 Platoon

3 Platoon

same as for 1 Platoon

B Rifle Company

same as for A Rifle Company

C Rifle Company

same as for A Rifle Company

D Rifle Company

same as for A Rifle Company

Support Company

Mortar Platoon

six 3-inch mortars, carriers

Anti-tank Platoon

six 6-pounders, carriers

Carrier Platoon

13 carriers, 64 men

Assault Pioneer Platoon

By the time the Normandy campaign got underway, the rifle battalion had 15-cwt. trucks for non-tactical movement. By the end of 1944 many rifle battalions had M3 half-tracks for battalion transport (notably the Guards battalions).

Independent Machine Gun Company

This was often divided up between the rifle battalions in the divisions. It consisted of three platoons of four medium machine guns each, with possibly a platoon of 4.2-inch mortars. In late 1944 the independent com­pany attached to the Guards Armoured Division raised a platoon of six Wasp flamethrower-armed Universal carriers.

Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery

Regimental Headquarters

A Battery

1 Troop

2 Troop

3 Troop

each Troop had four 17-pounder anti-tank guns

B Battery

same as for A Battery

C Battery

same as for A Battery

D Battery

same as for A Battery

The organization of anti-tank regiments varied with the type of division, and it should be remembered that the or­gan­i­za­tion would be different in, say, an infantry division.

There was a total of forty-eight 17-pounder anti-tank guns in the regiment. Two of the batteries could have been towed. Specialized armored towing vehicles were provided for some regiments just before D-Day, con­verted from the old Crusader III tank and some special Sherman tank chassis. Two of the batteries would have been self-propelled anti-tank guns. These would be either the Archer or Achil­les tank destroyers after D-Day. At D-Day, however, a large proportion of the self-propelled anti-tank vehicles were American M10 tank destroyers, and these were not converted to Achil­les/Archer until August 1944 and after. The batteries and troops would often operate independently, in sup­port of the various units of the division.

Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

Regimental Headquarters

A Battery

1 Troop

2 Troop

each Troop had four 25-pounder gun/howitzers

B Battery

same as for A Battery

C Battery

same as for A Battery

Each battery would have three AOP mounted in either Universal carriers or scout cars. There would also be one regimental observer in a carrier or scout car. There were a total of twenty-four guns in the regiment. Of the two regiments in a division, one would be self-propelled. The self-propelled regiment was or­gan­ized in the same way as the towed reg­i­ment. There were also a large number of soft-skinned ve­hi­cles attached to a regiment, such as 15-cwt. trucks and jeeps, as well as ammunition lorries.

Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery

Regimental Headquarters

A Battery

1 Troop

2 Troop

3 Troop

each Troop had six 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns

B Battery

same as for A Battery

C Battery

same as for A Battery

The total number of anti-aircraft guns was fifty-four. Two of the troops were towed, and the third was self-propelled. By the end of 1944 these were almost exclusively used in support of the ground troops in a direct fire role. A lot of anti-aircraft gunners were put to other tasks, such as CDL, radar ranging, and other special artillery tasks (such as rockets, etc.), as their services became less important as the war progressed.

Employment of the Division

Although the division was organized into two fighting bri­gades, one of infantry and one of armor, it did not use this in combat. The division was still divided into brigade groups, but these would consist of two ar­mored regiments and two infantry battalions each.

The brigade groups were further divided into battle groups of one armored regiment and one infantry battalion each. It was also common to battle group the armored re­con­nais­sance regiment and the motor bat­tal­ion together. This pairing off would also apply to companies and squad­rons, providing a flexible for­ma­tion for most situations. These battle group formations were one of the lessons learned from the German kampfgruppe system of or­gan­i­za­tion.

Each battle group would have its own artillery, both field and anti-tank, who could provide readily available close support. One thing of note is a lack of both heavy and medium artillery at divisional level. Allocation of heavier artillery at divisional level was normal for the Germans and Americans. The British Army preferred to keep its heavier artillery in one package, thus giving the divisions access to stronger corps artillery; called Army Group, Royal Ar­til­lery, or AGRA.

An AGRA would consist of one heavy regiment of 7.2-inch and 155-mm howitzers, two or three medium reg­i­ments of 5.5-inch gun/howitzers, and sometimes a field regiment. Sometimes a heavy anti-aircraft reg­i­ment would be attached to an AGRA for support against ground targets. There were usually about one AGRA per corps, and it was rare for a major attack to start without some preparation from it.

By early 1945 the armored regiments and the ar­mored reconnaissance regiment in the divisions were re-equipped with the Comet tank. Unfortunately, op­por­tu­ni­ties for tank-against-tank action at this stage in the war were very limited, and while the Comet was very probably the finest British tank of World War II, it arrived too late to make any real difference.

The infantry organization changed little throughout the war, and a great deal of accurate information is readily available. An excellent book on the British Army or­gan­i­za­tion is the British Army Handbook 1943, which also pro­vides excellent information on all the services that we have left out here, as well as the infantry organization in greater detail.


Cromwell tanks of 7th Armoured Division in Hamburg, 3 May 1945.

British troops, armed with Lee-Enfield rifles and the light Bren machine gun, moving forward on the back of a Sherman tank in September 1944.

A British Comet tank in the last days of the Second World War. The tank came too late to see even larger operations and its opponents were mostly one or two German tanks with accompanying infantry and anti-tank guns.

Stuart tanks of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 11th Armoured Division, drive along an autobahn towards Lubeck, 2 May 1945.

Winston Churchill in a jeep with Field Marshal Montgomery is driven past troops in carriers during the Prime Minister's tour of the Rhine assault, 26 March 1945.

Comet tank of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 11th Armoured Division, during the advance towards Lubeck, 2 May 1945.

Comet tank of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment carrying infantry of 1st Herefordshire Regiment, 2 May 1945.

Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade pass a burning Daimler scout car during the advance towards Coesfeld, 30 March 1945.

A Sherman Firefly leads a column of Sherman tanks of Guards Armoured Division near Beauvais, 31 August 1944.

Churchill tanks carrying infantry through Mellendorf, 11 April 1945.

Churchill tanks of 6th Guards Tank Brigade in Dulmen, Germany, 30 March 1945.

Ram Kangaroo armored personnel carriers carrying infantry of 8th Royal Scots during the assault by 15th (Scottish) Division on Blerick, 3 December 1944.

A camouflaged Sherman Firefly of the Irish Guards and infantry guard a section of the Bremen-Hamburg autobahn, 20 April 1945.

Scenes of jubilation as British troops liberate Brussels, 4 September 1944. Civilians ride on a Sexton self-propelled gun.

A Sherman tank and infantry advance into a heavily-bombed area of Bremen, 26 April 1945.

A Churchill tank of 6th Guards Tank Brigade carrying paratroopers from the American 17th Airborne Division through Dorsten, 29 March 1945.


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