145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps

Last updated
145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps
Royal20Armd20Corps.gif
Badge of the Royal Armoured Corps
Active1941–1944
DisbandedDecember 1944
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Branch Flag of the British Army.svg British Army
TypeArmoured Regiment
RoleInfantry Support
Part of Royal Armoured Corps

The 145th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (8th Duke of Wellington's Regiment) (145 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that served in North Africa, Tunisia and Italy during World War II.

Contents

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

145th Regiment RAC was formed in November 1941 by the conversion to the armoured role of 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, which had been raised in 1940 and was serving in the 203rd Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), a Home Defence formation serving in South West England. In common with other infantry units transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, all personnel continued to wear their Duke of Wellington's cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps. [1] [2] [3]

Service

145 RAC was assigned to 21st Army Tank Brigade, which sailed for North Africa in March 1943, and took part in the Tunisia Campaign, including the actions on the Medjez Plain in April and around Tunis in May, its Churchill tanks operating as part of a 'mixed division' with 4th Infantry Division. [4]

After a year out of the line in North Africa, 21st Tank Brigade was sent to join British Eighth Army in Italy in May 1944. There it took part in I Canadian Corps' operations to force the Gothic Line (August–September), the Rimini Line (September) and the Lamone Crossing (December). 145 RAC was disbanded in Italy in December 1944. [5]

Notes

  1. Joslen 2003, p. 306.
  2. Forty 1998, pp. 50–1.
  3. Melville-Brown 2005.
  4. Joslen 2003, pp. 36, 200.
  5. Joslen 2003, p. 200.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Wellington's Regiment</span> Military unit

The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)</span> British Army combat formation

The 4th Infantry Division was a regular infantry division of the British Army with a very long history, seeing active service in the Peninsular War, the Crimean War, the First World War, and during the Second World War. It was disbanded after the war and reformed in the 1950s as an armoured formation before being disbanded and reformed again and finally disbanded on 1 January 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">21st Army Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)</span> Armoured brigade formation of the British Army

The 21st Army Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army active during the Second World War. The brigade served with the British First Army and the British Eighth Army during the fighting in Tunisia and Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)</span> Inactive British Army formation

The 6th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army, created in September 1940 during the Second World War and re-formed in May 1951 in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">23rd Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

The 23rd Armoured Brigade, originally formed as the 23rd Army Tank Brigade, was an armoured brigade of the British Army that saw service during the Second World War. The brigade was a 2nd Line Territorial Army (TA) formation. It was reorganised and renamed the 23rd Armoured Brigade, when it was assigned to the 8th Armoured Division, although it never operated under command of the division.

The 10th Armoured Brigade was a short-lived armoured brigade of the British Army in the Second World War. It had been converted in November 1941 from infantry battalions, but had never seen action and was disbanded in late 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">42nd Armoured Division (United Kingdom)</span> Military unit

The 42nd Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army raised during the Second World War.

The 107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (King's Own) (107 RAC) was a tank regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The regiment served with distinction in North-west Europe from July 1944 to May 1945.

The 151st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that was raised during the Second World War.

149th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that served in the Burma Campaign during World War II.

The 108th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (The Lancashire Fusiliers) (108 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II.

109th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (The Lancashire Fusiliers) (109 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II.

The 143rd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps was a short-lived armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during World War II.

The 110th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (Border Regiment) (110 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps raised during the Second World War.

The 111th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (Manchester Regiment) (111 RAC) was an armoured regiment of the British Army, raised by the Royal Armoured Corps during the Second World War.

The 142nd (Suffolk) Regiment Royal Armoured Corps was an armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that was raised in World War II and saw active service. The regiment served in the final stages of the North African Campaign at Tunisia and later served during the Italian Campaign from 1943 until early 1945 when it was disbanded.

The 35th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army, formed during the Second World War. The brigade was never deployed in combat, remaining in the UK to act as a home defence and training unit, and provided replacements for other formations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">146th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps</span> Military unit

The 146th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps 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.

References