146th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps

146th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps

Active| From 1941
Country|  United Kingdom
Branch|  British Army
Type| Armoured Regiment
Role| Infantry Support
Part of| Royal Armoured Corps

Military unit

The 146th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (9th Duke of Wellington's Regiment) (146 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that served in India, Burma, and Sumatra during and after World War II. 146 RAC survived the war, and was still active in early 1947.

The Duke of Wellington's Regiment's two junior battalions, the 8th Battalion (8 DWR) and the 9th Battalion (9 DWR) were both simultaneously converted into armoured regiments, becoming respectively 145 RAC and 146 RAC.

## Origin

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146th Regiment RAC was formed on 1 November 1941 by the conversion to the armoured role of 9th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, which had left Liverpool on 28 August 1941 and arrived in Bombay on 25 October 1941, for immediate conversion to the armoured role. In common with other infantry units transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, all personnel would have continued to wear their Duke of Wellington's cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps.[1][2][3]

## Service

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146 RAC was assigned to 50th Indian Tank Brigade and initially based at Kirkee Barracks in Poona, later moving to Dhond until 13 July 1942, and then Lohardaya (under XV Indian Corps) until 1 January 1943, when the regiment moved to the Ratu-Ranchi area. The various squadrons of the regiment were then split and assigned to different fighting forces across the Burma campaign. The regiment's constituent squadrons had largely regrouped into a regimental formation again by early 1944.

During July 1945 the 254th Indian Tank Brigade, having returned from Burma, became established at Ahmednagar, in Maharashtra State. One of the brigade's constituent units, the 7th Light Cavalry needed to be relieved, and 146 RAC was assigned as the replacement unit.[4]

## Equipment

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The regiment was assigned Valentine tanks for training purposes, and also used them in combat in its earliest days. By May 1943 the regiment's C squadron had been equipped with the superior M3 Lee tanks[5] and subsequently absorbed B squadron which therefore moved onto M3 Lee tanks as well. By 1944 the M3 Lee was the primary equipment of the regiment, save for A squadron which was then equipped as a light armoured vehicle squadron.

The regiment's 1945 reassignment to 254 Brigade led to the introduction of the Sherman tank,[4] though a report of June 1945 shows that 146 RAC was not considered battle-ready at that stage, having received only 12 Shermans for the entire regiment, and with three quarters of its manpower being new recruits with insufficient training on the vehicles.[4]

## Battles

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146 RAC was an active participant in the Arakan Campaign, and one of the key combatants of the Battle of Ramree Island in 1945.[5]

## Notable Soldiers

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Captain Sir Tom Moore served with the regiment from 1941-1945.

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Joslen 2003, p. 306.
2. ^ Forty 1998, pp. 50–1.
3. ^ Melville-Brown 2005.
4. ^ a b c "Churchill Tanks in Burma and India". The Burma Campaign. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
5. ^ a b Whiting, Charles; Taylor, Eric (2008). The Fighting Tykes: An Informal History of the Yorkshire Regiments in the Second World War. Pen & Sword Military. p. 132\. ISBN 978-1844156450.

## References

[edit]

* Forty, George (1998), British Army Handbook 1939-1945, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-1403-3.
* Joslen, Lt-Col H.F. (2003), 'Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/Uckfield: Naval & Military, ISBN 1843424746.
* Melville-Brown, A. (15 December 2005) [15 July 2000], The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), archived from the original on 3 January 2006, retrieved 22 August 2016

* v
* t
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RAC armoured regiments of the Second World War

Regular|

| Dragoons|

* 1st King's Dragoon Guards
* 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays)
* 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales Dragoon Guards)
* 4th/7th Dragoon Guards
* 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
* 22nd Dragoons
* 25th Dragoons
* Royal Scots Greys

|

Hussars|

* 3rd The King's Own Hussars
* 4th Queen's Own Hussars
* 7th Queen's Own Hussars
* 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
* 10th Royal Hussars
* 11th Hussars (Prince Alberts Own)
* 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Marys Own)
* 14th/20th King's Hussars
* 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars
* 23rd Hussars
* 26th Hussars

Lancers|

* 9th Queen's Royal Lancers
* 12th Royal Lancers
* 16th/5th Lancers
* 17th/21st Lancers
* 24th Lancers
* 27th Lancers

Royal Tank
Regiments|

* 1st RTR
* 2nd RTR
* 3rd RTR
* 4th RTR
* 5th RTR
* 6th RTR
* 7th RTR
* 8th RTR
* 9th RTR
* 10th RTR
* 11th RTR
* 12th RTR
* 39th RTR
* 40th RTR
* 40th/41st RTR
* 41st RTR
* 42nd (7th East Surrey) RTR
* 43rd (6th Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) RTR
* 44th RTR
* 45th RTR
* 46th RTR
* 47th RTR
* 48th RTR
* 49th RTR
* 50th RTR
* 51st RTR
* 61st RTR
* 62nd RTR
* 65th RTR
* 101st RTR
* 102nd RTR

Regiments
RAC|

* 46 RAC
* 107 (King's Own) RAC
* 108 (Lancashire Fusiliers) RAC
* 109 RAC
* 110 (Border) RAC
* 111 RAC
* 112 RAC
* 113 RAC
* 114 RAC
* 115 RAC
* 116 RAC
* 141 RAC
* 142 RAC
* 143 RAC
* 144 (East Lancashire) RAC
* 145 RAC
* 146 RAC
* 147 RAC
* 148 RAC
* 149 RAC
* 150 RAC
* 151 RAC
* 152 RAC
* 153 RAC
* 154 RAC
* 155 RAC
* 156 RAC
* 157 RAC
* 158 RAC
* 159 RAC
* 160 RAC
* 161 RAC
* 162 RAC
* 163 RAC

Reserve|

* 1st Derbyshire Yeomanry
* 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry
* 1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
* 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
* 1st Lothians and Border Horse
* 2nd Lothians and Border Horse
* 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry
* 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry
* 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
* 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters)
* 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry
* 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry
* 1st East Riding Yeomanry
* 2nd East Riding Yeomanry
* Cheshire Yeomanry
* Inns of Court Regiment
* North Irish Horse
* North Somerset Yeomanry
* Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons
* Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry
* Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry
* Staffordshire Yeomanry
* Warwickshire Yeomanry
* Westminster Dragoons (2nd County of London Yeomanry)
* Yorkshire Hussars

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