8 January 1942. Redlynch, England.
Redlynch House had become the home of the Headquarters of the Guards Armoured Division, though some HQ elements were at Wincanton. The whole Division was being assembled around Salisbury Plain. The 5th Guards Armoured Brigade (GAB) were grouped around Warminster and Shaftsbury, 6th GAB was at Codford, the Support Group was at Castle Cary, Frome and Midsomer Norton. The Divisional Reconnaissance Regiment, 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment were based at Bulford.
Since the formation of the Division the previous summer a large number of Guards Officers had passed through training courses at Bovington and Lulworth, where the Royal Armoured Corps had instructed them on the practical mechanical, gunnery and wireless knowledge that they’d need.
The decision had been made that every Guardsman of the rank of full corporal and above was to be trained in gunnery, driving, maintenance and wireless. The guardsmen below the rank of Corporal would be trained in just one of those skills. The flow of NCOs returning from the courses had been increasing as the weather had been worsening. The threat of imminent invasion was ever more remote, but the training regime for all in the Division was unrelenting.
The delivery of tanks had hampered this process. There were a great many calls on new tanks, not least to the Russians and the 8th Armoured Division, which was about to sail from Capetown on its journey to foreign parts. Major-General Oliver Leese had got his way and the tanks that had started appearing were Vickers Valiant II* cruiser tanks. The tank had a petrol engine and were equipped with the 6-pdr main tank gun. There were weekly deliveries fresh from the factories, and as each Battalion received more tanks, more exercises were being programmed.
Leese, with his Brigade Commanders (Allan Adair [6th GAB], William For-Pitt [5th GAB] and Lionel Manners-Smith [Support Group]), along with other senior staff officers had gathered to consider the lessons learned from the Armoured Divisions in North Africa. General O’Connor (GOC 8th Army) had overseen the writing up of lessons learned, both positive and negative about the handling of tank formations. This was a very complete document that had contributions from all the main actors, from O’Connor himself, to the Corps, Division, Brigade, Regiment commanding officers. In addition, there were reports from quartermasters, engineers, the Light Aid Detachments, all those elements which made a Division tick. O’Connor had also made sure that the learning was from the ground up. There were detailed reports from members of tank crews, Troop and Squadron Leaders, all of which tried to communicate what they had experienced, what had worked and what had failed.
It was expected that General O’Connor himself would be coming back to Britain for some leave and to present his report to the senior commanders of the Army. Leese was looking forward to hearing it all ‘from the horse’s mouth’, but reading the lengthy written report had taken up quite a bit of the Christmas and New Year leave.
Leese had always had in mind that the creation of the Guards Armoured Division was not just to be like the rest of the Royal Armoured Corps Divisions. As a Guards Division it would have the look and feel of the elite soldiers the Guards embodied. He had spent some considerable time working at the insignia of the Division. During the Great War, the Guards Division had used an ‘Eye’ as its insignia, and Leese had asked the officers and men of the Division to make suggestions of how have something that kept the glorious traditions of their forebears. Eventually the artist Rex Whistler, a Lieutenant in the Welsh Guards, had been commissioned to paint a variety of the ‘Eye’ on various vehicles. These had been presented to Leese and a chosen group of officers to choose which best kept the tradition of the past, but showed also the fighting characteristics of a modern armoured formation. Once chosen, it wasn’t long before every vehicle in the Division was painted with the ‘Eye’.
There were quite a few things that the staff of the Armoured Division disagreed upon, sometimes quite strenuously. Manners-Smith, whose Support Group was an odd assortment of one Infantry Battalion (1st Bn Welsh Guards), and one regiment each of artillery, anti-tank and light AA, felt that a more balanced force, one Armoured Brigade and one Motorised Infantry Brigade, with the artillery and engineers under Divisional control made more sense. That was the way the short lived 22nd Armoured Division had operated, and it certainly seemed a better model than the current one. Manners-Smith, as an artillery man, was particularly worried about how light the artillery support was for an Armoured Division.
The two Armoured Brigade commanders also were unsure of having one motorised battalion attached to their Brigades. Having four Battalions (three armoured and one infantry) in a Brigade wasn’t the normal British Army way of doing things. There were some lessons that Lt General Pope had noted from his experience in XXX Corps. Having an Armoured and Infantry Brigade working together, almost as three ‘battlegroups’ seemed to be fairly balanced. The other armoured Brigade tended to be used more in the Tank Brigade model of supporting an Infantry Division. Whether that was because the Valiant tanks that 2nd Armoured Division was equipped with lent themselves to that model, or it made more tactical sense was the cause of some debate.
Leese tended towards Manners-Smith position and wondered about asking the War Office to allow either 32nd or 33rd Brigade (Guards) to work with his Division to experiment on the model of 22nd Armoured Division. Fox-Pitt wondered if that model was to work, whether it would be better for 5th and 6th GAB to break into two Divisions, otherwise, one of the two Brigades might have to become a Tank Brigade. Adair thought that having two Guards Armoured Divisions would be problematic to get enough artillery and engineering units, as well as all the other necessary units to support a Division.
The next item that was discussed at length was the report’s estimation of both the Italian and German armoured Divisions, written by a senior Intelligence Corps officer. The Italian Divisions were dismissed primarily because of their poor quality tanks. The information on the Afrika Korps was fascinating. With the capture of some many of its men and equipment a much stronger picture was emerging of the way in which the Germans had adapted to the experience in France and Flanders.
The Panzer Division in North Africa had consisted of only two battalions of tanks and three Battalions of an Infantry Regiment. Each battalion of tanks had one ‘heavy’ and two ‘light’ Companies. The Panzer IV was much the same as that captured before Dunkirk. The Panzer III’s improved 50mm main gun, like the 75mm gun in the Panzer IV was short barrelled. If they produced a long barrelled version, it was likely to be as good as the new 6-pdr. The Germans had also improved their tanks’ armour, by adding extra armour plates. The expectation was that new build tanks would have thicker armour as standard.
In addition to the panzers there was another battalion which was known as the Panzerjāger (tank hunter) which consisted of what might be thought of as mobile armoured anti-tank guns. Based on Panzer I hulls, with the Czech 47mm anti-tank gun, the assessment wasn’t very complimentary, but noted that the crews were better protected (and mobile) that the British 2-pdr crews, including those which had been put on the back of lorries as portées. The reports from the fighting in Greece suggested there was a better version developed, and it was noted in the report that it would be helpful to get some intelligence from the Soviets about what they were encountering.
The report noted that as well as the two infantry Battalions, the Panzer Division had a very effective Reconnaissance Battalion, considered by many to be better armed and trained than the British reconnaissance battalions. The CO of 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment begged to disagree, but the armoured cars that his men were getting used to, compared with the various German vehicles were certainly outmatched, though his colleagues did agree about his men being highly trained. The fact that they were only recently moving from horses to armoured cars did leave the question open about what exactly they were highly trained for.
The Panzer Division’s three 3 artillery regiments, with Pioneers, Signals and other Divisional support units rounded out the Division. The report noted that there seemed to be some adaptation of the Panzer Division to North Africa, which may mean that it was a smaller formation than facing the Soviets. Currently the Guards Armoured Division only had one field artillery regiment (the other two were anti-tank and anti-aircraft). Using the model of one Armoured Brigade and one Motorised Brigade, instead of the Support Group, would mean that there would be three Field Regiments, preferably of Royal Horse Artillery, especially if equipped with the self-propelled Birch Gun.
Knowing the enemy was a crucial part of any chance of defeating them. The growing emphasis on signals within the Division was a direct result of the encounters with the German army so far in the war. Their command and control seemed to be excellent, an excellence that the Guards Armoured Division would need to emulate.
As well as receiving the Valiant II* tanks, the Guards Armoured Division were also being issued with the latest marks of anti-aircraft tanks (Vanguard), self-propelled guns (Birch), and the Viking personnel carrier. Their engineers would also have some of the ‘funnies’ being developed, for bridge laying and armoured recovery. All of these vehicles would take time to get used to and work out how best to use them.
Brigadier Adair noted that fighting in the deserts of North Africa would be different from fighting an invader of England, or even if the fighting was in France. He wondered if some of the lessons of desert warfare might not be applicable to the probable type of fighting that the Guards Armoured Division might be involved in.
Major-General Leese noted that it was time for lunch in the Officers’ Mess, so be brought the first part of the formal meeting to an end, but a visit to the War Office to talk over with the new CIGs (General Alan Brooke) was becoming a necessity. Given time, and equipment Leese knew that there would be a lot of experimentation to get things right in exercises, and then apply that experience to combat when the time was right.