The Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps (RNZAC) is the overall umbrella grouping of Regular Force and Territorial Force units equipped with armoured vehicles in the New Zealand Army. The corps was formed in 1942 as the New Zealand Armoured Corps, before being given the Royal prefix in 1947. The RNZAC is second in seniority of corps within the New Zealand Army.
Although the RNZAC did not deploy one of its own units to the Vietnam War, from 1965-1971 RNZAC personnel served within other New Zealand and Australian units including artillery, infantry, command and support, and logistics. Several members served as tank crew with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps,[2] and 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (U.S Army.)[3] Two RNZAC pilots served with the Australian 161st (Independent) Reconnaissance Flight.[4]
During the 1990s, corps personnel contributed to the deployment of a mechanized infantry company group to Bosnia-Hercegovina for UNPROFOR as part of the NZDF Operation Radian.
Among the surviving Territorial Force units at the end of the 20th Century was the Wai/WEC Squadron, later the Waikato Mounted Rifles in Hamilton, and the fast-diminishing New Zealand Scottish Regiment, also at squadron size technically but actually dwindling into single figures, in the South Island. The New Zealand Scots were finally disbanded in 2016.[5]
The units of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps have a complicated and intermingled heritage. The following table shows the relationship between units since 1944. Titles in bold denote regiments, while non-bold titles are individual squadrons.[6][7][8]
Lineage chart
1944
New Zealand Scottish Regiment (Infantry Corps)
Waikato Regiment (Infantry Corps)
1st Armoured Regiment
2nd Armoured Regiment
3rd Armoured Regiment
1948
1st Divisional Regiment (New Zealand Scottish)
1950
1st Armoured Car Regiment (New Zealand Scottish)
1951
1st Armoured Regiment (Waikato)
1953
Divisional Regiment
1956
Suspended animation
4th Armoured Regiment
Suspended animation
1958
2nd Armoured Regiment
1958
Queen Alexandra's Armoured Regiment
1959
Waikato Regiment
Queen Alexandra's Regiment
Wellington East Coast Regiment (City of Hasting's Own)
1960
1st Armoured Regiment Waikato Squadron
1st Armoured Regiment Queen Alexandra's Squadron
1st Armoured Regiment Wellington East Coast Squadron
1963
1st Reconnaissance Squadron (New Zealand Scottish)
2nd Reconnaissance Squadron (New Zealand Scottish)
2nd Armoured Squadron (Waikato)
1st Armoured Squadron (Queen Alexandra's)
1965
Disbanded
1970
1st Squadron (New Zealand Scottish)
2nd Squadron (New Zealand Scottish)
Queen Alexandra's (Waikato/Wellington East Coast) Squadron
1982
Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Squadron
1990
Disbanded
1st Armoured Group New Zealand Scottish Squadron
1st Armoured Group Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron
1st Armoured Group A Squadron
1st Armoured Group B Squadron
1993
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles New Zealand Scottish Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles A Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles B Squadron
1999
4th Otago and Southland Battalion Group New Zealand Scottish Squadron
6th Hauraki Battalion Group Waikato/Wellington East Coast Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles A Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles B Squadron
2003
6th Hauraki Battalion Group Waikato Mounted Rifles Squadron
2004
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles
2011
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles New Zealand Scottish Squadron
Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles Wellington East Coast Squadron
Cooke, Peter; Crawford, John (2011). The Territorials: The History of the Territorial and Volunteer Forces of New Zealand. Auckland: Random House. ISBN9781869794460.
Major G.J. Clayton, The New Zealand Army, A History from the 1840s to the 1990s, New Zealand Army, Wellington, 1990
Damien Marc Fenton, A False Sense of Security?, Centre for Strategic Studies New Zealand