10th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)
| 10th Armoured Division | |
|---|---|
| Active |
1 August 1941–15 June 1944[1] 1956–57 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom |
| Branch |
 British Army |
| Type | Armoured division |
| Size |
Second World War 13,225–14,964 men[2] 186 tanks[nb 1][nb 2] |
| Garrison/HQ |
Western Desert Tripoli |
| Engagements | North African Campaign |
The 10th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army, raised during World War II and was active from 1941–44 and after the war from 1956–57. It was formed from the 1st Cavalry Division, a 1st Line Yeomanry unit of the Territorial Army which had previously been serving in Palestine. The division was converted from cavalry to armour and redesignated from 1 August 1941.
History
The divisional sign was a fox's mask, representing the hunting tradition of the formation's cavalry and Yeomanry units. The division was originally under command of HQ British Troops Palestine and Transjordan, but transferred to Ninth Army when the headquarters was redesignated on 1 November 1941.[4] It was later transferred into Egypt, serving under HQ Middle East, XXX Corps, British Eighth Army, and X Corps. The division fought at the Battles of Alam Halfa and El Alamein. It was disbanded on 15 June 1944 in Egypt.
10th Armoured Division was also briefly active after the war ended in Libya in the 1950s, incorporating 25th Armoured Brigade,[5] but was disbanded in July 1957.[6] The 25th Armoured Brigade was formed in 1952 to provide an operational headquarters for the troops in Libya. The Royal Scots Greys arrived in Libya in 1952, and stayed until 1955. Other units of the brigade from 1952 were the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, and the 14th/20th King's Hussars.[7] In May and June 1956 the brigade was hastily expanded to division status as 10th Armoured Division, with the intention of invading Egypt from the west during the Suez Canal Crisis.[8] Planning was halted when it was found that such an invasion was banned under the terms of Britain's treaty with Libya. The Armoured Brigade Signals Squadron was expanded to 10th Armd Div Signals in May–June 1956, based in Tripoli. It began to wind up in April 1957, and disbanded completely in September 1957.[9]
General Officer Commanding
Four men served as the General Officer Commanding of the division during the Second World War.
| Appointed | General Officer Commanding |
| 1 August 1941[1] | Major-General John Clark[nb 3] |
| 26 June 1942 | Major-General Alexander Gatehouse[1] |
| 18 December 1942 | Major-General Charles Norman[1] |
| 12 January 1943 | Major-General Horace Birks[1] |
| 1955 | Major-General Rodney Moore[11] |
Component Units
8th Armoured Brigade
9th Armoured Brigade
- Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
- Warwickshire Yeomanry
- Yorkshire Hussars Yeomanry
- 11th (Queen's Westminsters) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
- later removed for use as an Independent Brigade
Support Units
- 1st Household Cavalry Regiment
- 1st Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
- 104th (Essex Yeomanry) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
- 84th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery
- 53rd (The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
- 101st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
- 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters
- 10th Armoured Division Signal Regiment
See also
Notes
- Footnotes
- ↑ 164 M4 Shermans, 8 cruisers, and 14 anti-aircraft tanks.[3]
- ↑ These figures are the war establishment, the on-paper strength, of the division for 1942–1944; for information on how divisional sizes changed over the war please see British Army during the Second World War and British Armoured formations of World War II.
- ↑ Joslen states a Major-General C.G.W. Clark was the division's first General Officer Commanding whereas Mead informs the reader that John Clark retrained control of the division after it was reformed as an armoured division.[1][10]
- Citations
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Joslen, p. 25
- ↑ Joslen, p. 129
- ↑ Joslen, p. 7
- ↑ 10th Armoured Division at Orders of Battle.com, accessed October 2011
- ↑ "WN1-10053 British War Office". austinchamp.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2008.
- ↑ Hansard, March 1958
- ↑ Orbat.com, Order of Battle, British Army, 1952
- ↑ See "Britain, Libya and the Suez Crisis", Journal of Strategic Studies, April 2007.
- ↑ Cliff Lord, Graham Watson, The Royal Corps of Signals, 2004, p. 47
- ↑ Mead, p. 101
- ↑ Army Commands
References
- Joslen, Lieutenant-Colonel H.F (1960) [1960]. Orders of Battle Second World War 1939–1945. Naval & Military Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84342-474-1.
- Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
External links
- "10th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008.