The 1st Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army. It was formed as the Mobile Division on 24 November 1937, after several years of debate on the creation of such a formation. It was then renamed, in April 1939, the 1st Armoured Division. Following the start of the Second World War, in September 1939, subordinate units and formations were withdrawn from the division to reinforce others. Then, in May 1940, the division was deployed to France and then fought in the Battle of France. After several engagements and heavy tank losses, it was forced to withdraw to the UK, in June, during Operation Aerial. In late 1941, the division was sent to North Africa where it took part in the Western Desert campaign, notably fighting at the Battle of Gazala, and the First and the Second Battles of El Alamein.
The division then fought in the Tunisian campaign until the Axis defeat in North Africa in May 1943. It was during this period that it was temporarily renamed the 1st British Armoured Division, to avoid it being confused with the American 1st Armored Division. With the conclusion of fighting in Tunisia, the division remained in North Africa until 1944. In May, it started to move to Italy to fight in the Italian campaign. Between late August and the end of September, the division fought in several engagements as part of the Allied assault on the German Gothic Line. Due to a manpower shortage in the British Army, the division was broken up to provide reinforcements for other formations to keep them at full strength. In October 1944, the division relinquished command of its final troops and ceased to be an operational formation. It was disbanded on 11 January 1945, and reformed again in 1946 but disbanded in 1947, and then reformed again in 1978.
Background and formation
During the interwar period, the British Army examined the lessons it learnt during the First World War and determined there was a need to experiment with and develop theories of manoeuvre and armoured warfare. The short-lived Experimental Mechanized Force was created and the army moved towards mechanisation to improve its battlefield mobility. During the early 1930s, General Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), advocated for the formation of a tank-based force, dubbed a Mobile Division, that would be used to screen the advance of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), as had the Cavalry Division in 1914. In early 1937, British planners assumed a European war would be fought against Germany, and a BEF would be dispatched to Europe to supplement Franco-Belgian forces. The BEF was to consist of one mobile and four infantry divisions. The former would ideally be dispatched seven days into such a war and around one week ahead of the infantry. By the end of the year, the timetable had been updated to the entire force being ready to embark 21 days into a war.
During 1937, the army was split on how to implement an armoured formation. General John Burnett-Stuart argued for a formation of cavalry regiments, equipped with light tanks, to be used in a screening role. Colonel Percy Hobart, deputy director for staff studies, favoured a more-balanced force that would include light tanks, more-heavily armoured-and-armed tanks, mechanised infantry, and supporting arms. B. H. Liddell Hart, a military theorist, supported this idea and influenced Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Secretary of State for War, on the subject. The division announced in November was based on Hobart's idea. The Mobile Division was formed with six light-tank regiments that were split between the 1st Light and the 2nd Light Armoured Brigades; three regiments of medium tanks that formed the Tank Brigade; two motorised infantry battalions, and two artillery regiments. It was intended for the formation to be 620-armoured-vehicles strong, but it had only around one-eighth of these vehicles on formation. The lack of armoured vehicles resulted in trucks being used for training in lieu of tanks. David French, a historian who wrote about the development of the British Army during this period, commented that cavalry officers largely supported mechanisation, but resisted turning their regiments into motorised infantry. They argued that light tanks were a better replacement for horses, and allowed the regiments to continue their traditional reconnaissance role. French stated that this had a detrimental effect on the Mobile Division, which became 'tank heavy' with too few supporting infantry and the light-tank regiments exclusively committed to reconnaissance. A rhinoceros, being the most-heavily-armoured animal, was chosen as the divisional insignia. The design included a white standing rhinoceros on a black oval.
There was a dispute over command following the creation of the division. General Cyril Deverell, now CIGS, favoured Major-General John Blakiston-Huston, who was a cavalry officer. Deverell believed Blakiston-Houston an appropriate choice, considering most of the forces assigned to the division came from cavalry regiments. Hore-Belisha and senior army officers opposed this; Liddell Hart argued for an officer from the Royal Tank Corps such as Hobart, Frederick Alfred Pile, or Charles Broad, on the basis experience with tanks and armoured warfare was needed. In a compromise, Major-General Alan Brooke, who had served in the artillery but had no prior experience in mobile forces or their training, was appointed to command on 24 November 1937.
Thereafter, the army established three types of divisions and solidified the role of the mobile division. Infantry divisions would penetrate the enemy's defensive line with the support of infantry tanks. Mobile divisions would then exploit any gaps created and the territory captured would be secured by fast-moving motor divisions (motorised infantry). It was envisioned this would transform the attack into a breakthrough and maintain mobility. Burnett-Stuart, who had been responsible for the training of the Mobile Division, influenced its doctrine. He argued the assigned infantry were not "to be put on to a position by tanks and told to hold it, and they are not meant to fight side by side with your tanks in the forefront"; the infantry's role was simply to protect the tanks when they were stationary. Burnett-Stuart's tactics did not conform with British doctrine, which promoted combined-arms co-operation to win battles, as did German armoured warfare doctrine that believed tanks alone would not be a decisive weapon. Burnett-Stuart's thinking, however, predominated within the British armoured forces until a doctrine reformation occurred in 1942.
On 15 July 1938, Major-General Roger Evans, a cavalry officer, took command of the division following the promotion of Brooke. By this point, the Vickers Medium Mark II, which was the main weapon system of the tank brigade, was considered obsolete. Starting in December, the first deliveries of modern cruiser tanks arrived to replace them. During January 1939, Hore-Belisha proposed splitting the Mobile Division into two smaller formations but found no support. The issue was again broached a month later, and was accepted in principle by the Cabinet. Shortly after, the French government was informed of a preliminary timetable for the arrival of the BEF in the event of war; "One Regular Armoured Division will become available about the middle of 1940".
In April 1939, the formation was renamed as the 1st Armoured Division. The following month, the army developed a new organisation for such formations; they were intended to have one light-armoured brigade with 108 light tanks and 66 light cruisers, and one heavy-armoured brigade outfitted with 78 light cruisers, 45 heavy cruisers, and 24 tanks equipped to provide close support. Additionally, 13 heavy cruisers and 15 light cruisers were to be spread around the divisional and brigade headquarters. This would give such a division a total of 349 tanks. The division's support group was to have one artillery regiment, one anti-aircraft/anti-tank regiment, engineers, and two infantry battalions.
Second World War Battle of France At the outbreak of the Second World War on 3 September 1939, the division consisted of the 1st Light, the 1st Heavy (formerly the Tank Brigade) and the 2nd Light Armoured Brigades. During October that year, the support group's two regiments of artillery were withdrawn and dispatched to France to join the BEF. The following month, the 1st Light Brigade was removed and used to form the 2nd Armoured Division over the following months. This re-organisation left the division with 190 light and 25 cruiser tanks. During the same period, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, General Sir Walter Kirke developed Julius Caesar, a plan to defend the UK from a potential German invasion. Under this plan, the 1st Armoured Division was to be within a short distance of the East Anglian coast, which was assumed to be the country's most vulnerable point. The 2nd Light Brigade and the support group were located in west Suffolk and north-west Essex while the heavy brigade was based further inland in Hertfordshire. A small number of tanks and an infantry company were maintained as a separate unit to counter any small (German paratrooper) landings. During January 1940, with the risk of a landing reduced due to winter, the division concentrated for training in Dorset. On 14 April, the 2nd Light Armoured Brigade was renamed the 2nd Armoured Brigade and the 1st Heavy Brigade became the 3rd Armoured Brigade. Later in the month, the infantry of the support group were transferred to the 30th Infantry Brigade. By 3 May 1940, the division had 203 light and 121 cruiser tanks and it was hoped it would be able to cross the English Channel to France and finalise its training at Pacy-sur-Eure, Normandy.
On 10 May 1940, the Phoney War—the period of inactivity on the Western Front since the start of the conflict—ended as the Germans invaded Belgium and the Netherlands. As the Allied forces advanced to meet the invasion, the main German attack came via the Ardennes Forest and continued into France. This invasion split the Allied forces in Belgium from the rest of the French Army along the Franco-German border. The 1st Armoured Division, now 114 light and 143 cruiser tanks strong, was still in Dorset and was ordered to France. The division lacked spare parts and bridging equipment, did not have all of its wireless equipment, lacked a full complement of anti-tank or anti-aircraft guns, and had no tank reserves to replace losses. An advance party landed at Le Havre on May 15 and moved to Arras. Approaching German forces, coupled with aerial attacks on Le Havre and the mining of the port resulted in the decision to unload the rest of the division at Cherbourg. On 19 May, the first meaningful elements landed. On 22 May, the 3rd Armoured Brigade had one of its regiments removed and transferred to the 30th Infantry Brigade.