THumpre Posted September 11, 2001 Share Posted September 11, 2001 Thanks in advance I need some info on the OOB and TO&E of the British 1st Armored Division in WWII 44'/45'. Any help would be appreciated. Thumprer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcm1947 Posted September 11, 2001 Share Posted September 11, 2001 Boy did I ever wonder in to the wrong post. I going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted September 11, 2001 Share Posted September 11, 2001 Michael Dorosh - a frequent poster to this forum has two very good sites that may help you: Tommy and Canuck. Since he posts here so often you shouldn't have too much trouble tracking down the links in his sig. The info you are after is on his sites, but you will need to do a little digging and collating. Oh yeah - Commonwealth divisions were all organised alike. Regards JonS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted September 11, 2001 Share Posted September 11, 2001 The British 1st armored fought in Italy until October 1944, with British V Corps, 8th Army. Then its armor brigade, 2nd AB, was renamed the 2nd -independent- armor brigade. The division's artillery was transfer to 8th Army command. The rest of the division was out of action, and was later disbanded, in January 1945. As a division, it did not fight in 1945, so I will confine myself to 1944. The basic division structure was an armor brigade, a motorized infantry brigade, two artillery battalions, and one battalion each of anti-tank, light AA, armored cars, and engineers. The 2nd AB consisted of 3 armor battalions - the Queen's Bays, the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers, and the 10th Royal Hussars - plus one motorized infantry battalion, the 1st battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. The 18th motorized infantry brigade consisted of 3 motorized infantry battalions - 1st battalion of the Buffs, 9th battalion King's Yorkshire Light Infantry, and the 14th battalion, Sherwood Foresters - plus a weapons battalion, 4th battalion of the Essex regiment. The artillery consisted of the 2nd RHA, the 11th RHA (the latter apparently equipped with Priests, US SP 105mm), the 60th anti-tank RA, and the 42nd light AA RA. The armored cars were the 12th Royal Lancers. Plus HQ, signals, supply troops, etc. So in all the battalion mix was 3 tank and 1 armored car, 4 motorized infantry and 1 infantry heavy weapons, 2 artillery, 1 anti-tank, 1 light AA, 1 engineers. The tank battalions had Shermans; I don't have all the details but have seen that much in histories of some of its actions in Italy. I hope this helps some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted September 11, 2001 Share Posted September 11, 2001 From British Forces Armoured Division Employment platoon, Light Aid Detachment Type 'B' (non-armed) and Armoured Division FS Section The Headquarters had command of: Headquarters, Armoured Brigades Three Armoured Regiments Three Light Aid Detachments Motorised Battalion One Light Aid Detachment Type 'B' (Armed) Headquarters, Infantry Brigade Infantry Headquarters Defence Platoon LAD Type 'A' (non-armed) Three Infantry Battalions Armoured Car Reconnaissance Regiment RAC Light Aid Detachment Type 'C' (RAC) Headquarters Armoured Division, Royal Artillery Field Regiment, Self-Propelled Two Light Aid Detachments Type 'D' Field Regiment, Towed Anti-Tank Regiment (Two Battalions Towed, Two Battalions Self-Propelled) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Workshop Type 'A' Royal Engineers Two Field Squadrons Field Park Squadron Divisional Brigade Troop Light Aid Detachment Type 'B' (armed) Armoured Divisional Signals Light Aid Detachment Type 'B' (armed) Independent Machine Gun Company Headquarters Armoured Division, RASC Armoured Brigade Company Infantry Brigade Company Armoured Division Troops Company Armoured Division Transport Company RMC Light Field Ambulance Field Ambulance Field Dressing Station Field Hygiene Section RAOC Armoured Brigade Ordnance Company RAOC Headquarters Armoured Division, REME Armoured Brigade Workshop Infantry Brigade Workshop Armoured Division Provost Company Armoured Division Postal Unit Armament and Transport Total Strength of the division 14,964 officers and man Armament 2,324 Pistols, revolvers 6,689 Rifles 6,204 Carbine Machine Guns 41,376 Bren Light Machine Guns 22 Vickers Mk I Machine Guns 132 2 inch mortars 24 3-inch mortars 4 4.2-inch mortars 302 PIATS 87 20mm Eqpts 36 40mm AA Eqpts 18 40mm AP Eqpts 24 25-pounder Field anti-tank guns 24 25-pounder SP Sexton 30 6-pounder anti-tank guns 24 17-pdr anti-tank 24 17-pdr M10 anti-tank Vehicles and Machines 853 Motorbikes 390 Cars 87 Scout cars 3 Armoured Cars 10 Light Reconnaissance Cars 261 Carriers 36 Ambulances 789 15-cwt trucks 1,309 3-ton lorries 130 Tractors (various) 19 Armoured Command vehicles 14 Armoured Recovery vehicles 366 Tanks 219 Trailers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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