RAC - WW2

[slick_mick]

Gents,

I'm slowly trying to collect WW2 British badges worn by the regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps.

Can anyone suggest a good resource for me that shows a list of all the RAC/HCAV regiments and also the infantry regiments that transferred to the RAC during WW2?

A quick look via google didn't get me much.

Mick

[lettman]

Mick,
The French-language Militaria Magazine recently completed a comprehensive series of articles on that very subject. It was quite an eye-opener, in that it showed that a number of converted infantry battalions wore only the RAC badge rather than their regimental badges. If you go into the magazine's website you should be able to track down the actual issues. The language barrier shouldn't be too much of an issue, as the articles are copiously illustrated and the captions relatively easy to work out.

[slick_mick]

Thanks!

I'll check it out.

Mick

[Postwarden]

The best source I know on this is a book published in 1971 entitled British and Commonwealth Armoured Formations 1919-1946 by Duncan Crow

It lists all the converted regiments and their numbers as well as describing the formations and their historeis.

ABE Books has some for sale and they are not too expensive.

Happy hunting

Postwarden.

[slick_mick]

Jolly good show!

I'll check it out.

Mick

[Luc]

Originally Posted by lettman

a comprehensive series of articles

http://militaria.histoireetcollectio...moured+corps/0

[slick_mick]

Do they do an English language version?

Mick

[lettman]

Originally Posted by slick_mick

Do they do an English language version?

Mick

Unfortunately, no. Quite a few years ago now they started up an English-language version which consisted of translations of previous French articles, but phased it out after only 25 issues. I'm afraid the RAC articles are only available in French.

[slick_mick]

Bummer - I won't bother getting them in that case.

Mick

[lettman]

A pity -- an excellent resource!

[lettman]

Mick (and anyone else interested),
I did a trawl through the Militaria Magazine articles on the RAC, and (apart from the mass of information about service records, formation signs and other insignia), sorted out which regiments (according to the articles, that is -- don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger!) wore variations on their standard regimental cap badges:

107 and 151 RAC: initially RAC 2nd ptn, then sometime in 1943 KORR badges chromed or WM.
111 RAC: uncertain, but probably Manchester GM, possibly RAC 2nd ptn.
115 RAC: unknown; probably DWR BM.
141 RAC: Buffs WM or chromed.
144 RAC: RAC 2nd ptn throughout service.
145 RAC: RAC 2nd ptn throughout service.
148 RAC: RAC 2nd ptn throughout service.
149 RAC: initially RAC 2nd ptn, then KOYLI BM.
155 RAC: RAC 2nd ptn throughout service.
156 RAC: unknown, but probably HLI WM on tartan patch.

Hope this is of use. I'm sure there are members out there with different stories. Happy arguing!

[leigh kitchen]

Compiled from some books I have (can't remember which ones off hand), this info may help but don't trust it, I don't know a lot about the subject.

From 1935 conversion of cavalry regiments from horse to armour began, & in 1937 the First Mobile Division was formed, consisting of two poorly equipped light armoured brigades (as the cavalry brigades were now designated) with First Tank Brigade & support troops which included two motorized infantry battalions.
The Royal Armoured Corps was formed on 4/4/1939, to combine all British army armoured units & initially consisted of the 18 mechanised cavalry regiments, 8 battalions of The Royal Tank Regiment (prior to the formation of the Royal Armoured Corps the RTR was titled The Royal Tank Corps) & 8 yeomanry regiments which had been mechanized as Armoured Car Companies of The Tank Corps, later Royal Tank Corps (TF) in 1920.
Although the RTC battalions carried on as battalions of The RTR, they were officially renamed as regiments, which in effect they already were, in September 1945.
The RAC was responsible for recruiting, administration & training of the armoured regiments although they retained their own insignia & uniforms.
The 18 mechanised cavalry regiments were:

1st King’s Dragoon Guards, which had been mechanised in 1938 & initially served as an RAC armoured car unit in the Western Desert.

The Queen’s Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards), mechanized in 1938, initial RAC service as a tank regiment in The Western Desert.

3rd Carabiniers (The Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards), converted from horsed to a light tank regiment in 1938, served in Burma.

4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, converted to armour in 1938, served in France in The BEF, the first mechanized cavalry regiment to land, & was the first to land in France on D-Day.

5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, mechanized in 1938, saw service in North West Europe.

3rd The King’s Own Hussars, served in the Western Desert & Italy.

4th Queen’s Own Hussars, served in the Western Desert & Italy.

7th Queen’s Own Hussars, served in Burma & Italy.

8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, served in the Western Desert & North West Europe.

9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, converted to armour as a light tank regiment in 1935, served in France with the BEF in 1940, Egypt, the Western Desert & Italy.

10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own), served with the BEF in France, & in the Western Desert & Italy.

11th Royal Hussars (Prince Albert’s Own), converted to armour in 1928, served in the Western Desert, Italy, North West Europe – the first British armoured unit to enter Berlin.

12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s Own), converted from horse to an armoured car regiment in 1926, served with the BEF in France, North Africa & Italy.

13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own), served with the BEF, landed in France on D-Day.

14th/20th King’s Hussars, served in India, invasion of Persia, remained in the Middle East until the end of 1944, when it went to Italy.

15th/19th The King’s Royal Hussars, served with the BEF, & in North West Europe.

16th/5th Lancers, mechanized in 1939, served in Tunisia, & Italy.

17th/21st Lancers, served in Tunisia & Italy.

[leigh kitchen]

The Royal Tank Regiment, whose black beret was adopted for wear by virtually all of the units of The RAC, had expanded from 6 to 8 battalions during the late 1930’s, the 7th Bn being formed in 1937 & the 8th Bn in 1938. During WWII it expanded to 20 battalions.
12 of them, numbered from 40th – 51st Battalions, were converted infantry battalions, all of which adopted The RTR badge:
40th (previously 7th Bn The King's (Liverpool) Regiment)
41st (previously 10th Bn The Manchester Regiment),
42nd,
43rd (previously 6th Bn The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers),
44th (previously 6th Bn The Gloucestershire Regiment, converting to RTC in early 1938 & rebadging as RTR in 1939)
45th (previously 7th Bn Leeds Rifles, The West Yorkshire Regiment which had been combined with 8th Bn & converted to The 96th (Leeds Rifles) Anti-Aircraft Brigade Royal Artillery in 1936, resumed a separate identity in 1938, converted to RAC in 1940).
The remainder were similarly activated & converted ti aRAC in 1939:
46th,
47th,
48th,
49th, (a duplicate of 6th Bn RNF, in 1944 becoming 49th Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment RAC)
50th
51st.

[leigh kitchen]

The 8 Yeomanry Armoured Car Companies of the RTR were all activated & expanded to regiments, transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps & ceased to have any connection with The RTR, other than that they & The RTR were now units of The RAC.
Between December 1940 – February 1941, 6 new cavalry regiments were formed as part of The RAC:

22nd Dragoons, raised on 1/12/1940, served in North West Europe, disbanded 1/12/1945.

23rd Hussars, raised December 1940, served in North West Europe, disbanded January 1946.

24th Lancers, raised in December 1940, took part in The Normandy Landings, disbanded in July 1944 due to heavy casualties, its personnel transferring to 23rd Hussars.

25th Dragoons, raised in India in January 1941, served in the Arakan & Burma, India, again Burma.

26th Hussars, raised in India, never saw active service & was withdrawn from active duty in December 1943.

27th Lancers, formed as an armoured car regiment, served in Egypt, The Western Desert, Italy & Austria
In 1941 The 1st The Royal Dragoons joined The RAC, having been mechanized as an armoured car regiment in 1940 & seeing service in the Western Desert, Syria, Italy & North West Europe.

In 1942 The Royal Scots Greys joined The RAC, having been converted to an armoured unit in Palestine in 1941. As a tank regiment it served in the Western Desert, Sicily, & North West Europe.

[leigh kitchen]

In November 1941 & July 1942 a number of infantry battalions were converted to armoured units of The RAC, some adopting the insignia of The RAC, others merely its black beret.

By 1942 year The RAC comprised 104 active regiments (33 of which were converted from infantry & 15 additional yeomanry regiments to the original 8) & 11 training regiments.

During the war the following infantry battalions were converted to RAC regiments:

107th Regiment previously 5th Bn The King's Own Royal Regiment

108th Regiment 1/5 Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

109th Regiment 1/6 Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

110th Regiment 5th Bn The Border Regiment (converted to armour in September 1941, retaining its Border Regiment cap badge until disbanded in 1943).

111st Regiment 5th Bn The Manchester Regiment (reformed as armour after returning to England following the fall of France in 1940, resumed the infantry role & the wear of The Manchester Regiment cap badge in 1943

112th Regiment 5th Bn The Sherwood Foresters (converted to armour in 1941, continued to wear the cap badge of The Sherwood Foresters, disbanded in 1944).

113th Regiment 2/5th Bn The West Yorkshire Regiment

114th Regiment 2/6th Bn The Duke of Wellington's Regiment

115th Regiment 2/7th Bn The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (served in the infantry role in France in 1940, converted to RAC in 1942, resumed the infantry role in 1944 & rebadged as 12th Bn The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment).

116th Regiment 9th Bn The Gordon Highlanders

141st Regiment 7th Bn The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)

142nd Regiment 7th Bn The Suffolk Regiment

143rd Regiment 9th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

144th Regiment 8th Bn The East Lancashire Regiment (later redesignated 44th Royal Tank Regiment)

145th Regiment 8th Bn The Duke of Wellington's Regiment

146th Regiment 9th Bn The Duke of Wellington's Regiment

147th Regiment 10th Bn The Hampshire Regiment (raised in 1940, converted to armour in 1941, continued to wear The Hants Regt cap badge).

148th Regiment 9th Bn The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire)

149th Regiment 7th Bn The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (converted to armour in October 1941).

150th Regiment 10th Bn The York and Lancaster Regiment (converted to armour in 1940, adopting the RAC cap badge, but resuming The North Staffs cap badge in 1944 although still remaining in The RAC).

151st Regiment 10th Bn The King's Own Royal Regiment – in December 1943 retitled 107th Regiment RAC, & discarding the RAC cap badge for that of The KORR).

152nd Regiment 11th Bn The King's Regiment

153rd Regiment 8th Bn The Essex Regiment (converted to armour in 1941, retaining the cap badge of The Essex Regiment).

154th Regiment 9th Bn The North Staffordshire Regiment (converted to armour in January 1942).

155th Regiment 15th Bn The Durham Light Infantry (raised in 1940, converted to armour in 1942, wearing the RAC cap badge in the beret but the Band & Bugles the cap badge of The DLI, all ranks wearing the badge of The DLI when walking out in the Field Service Cap).


156th Regiment 11th Bn The Highland Light Infantry.

157th Regiment 9th Bn The Hampshire Regiment (formed in 1940, transferred to RAC in November 1941).

158th Regiment 6th Bn The South Wales Borderers (reverted to infantry in 1943, resuming the SWB cap badge).

159th Regiment 10th Bn The Gloucestershire Regiment (converted to RAC in July 1942 & wearing The RAC cap badge, reverted to the infantry role in April 1943 & resumed its original designation & front & back cap badges).

160th Regiment 9th Bn The Royal Sussex Regiment

161st Regiment 12th Bn The Green Howards (returned to an infantry role in October 1943 as 161st (Green Howards) Regiment, The Reconnaissance Corps, wearing The Recce Corps cap badge).

162nd Regiment 9th Bn The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment

163rd Regiment 13th Bn The Sherwood Foresters
The converted infantry battalions which retained their old badges were:

107th Regiment, previously 5th Bn The King’s Own Royal Regiment (which wore The King’s Own cap badge but in chromed metal instead of gilding metal & without the red backing). The regiment was disbanded in 1943, & in December the 151st Regiment RAC (previously 10th Bn KORR) was renamed 107th Regiment RAC & changed its RAC cap badge to that of The KORR.

108th Regiment 1/5th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

109th Regiment 1/6th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

110th Regiment 6th Bn The Border Regiment (converted to RAC in September 1941, disbanded in 1943).

112th Regiment 9th Bn The Sherwood Foresters (converted to RAC in 1941, disbanded in 1944).

141st Regiment 7th Bn The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)

142nd Regiment 7th Bn The Suffolk Regiment


143rd Regiment 9th Bn The Lancashire Fusiliers

144th Regiment 8th Bn The East Lancashire Regiment (converted to RAC in 1942, later redesignated 44th Royal Tank Regiment, it retained its East Lancs cap badge for a time prior to adopting that of The RTR).

147th Regiment 10th Bn The Hampshire Regiment

153rd Regiment 8th Bn The Essex Regiment (converted to armour in 1941).

155th Regiment 15th Bn The Durham Light Infantry
(which wore The RTR badge on the black beret, but The DLI
badge on the khaki Field Service Cap)

156th Regiment 11th Bn The Highland Light Infantry

160th Regiment 9th Bn The Royal Sussex Regiment

162nd Regiment 9th Bn The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment (wore the RWK badge but with the wording on the title scroll removed).

163rd Regiment 13th Bn The Sherwood Foresters