163rd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps

Last updated
163rd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps
Royal20Armd20Corps.gif
Active1942–1944
Disbanded1 December 1944
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
BranchFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
Type Armoured
Size Regiment
Part of Royal Armoured Corps
Engagements World War II

The 163rd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (163 RAC) was a short-lived armoured regiment of the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps that served in India during World War II.

Armoured fighting vehicle Combat vehicle with both armament and armour

An armored fighting vehicle (AFV) or armored fighting vehicle is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Main battle tanks, armoured cars, armoured self-propelled guns, and armoured personnel carriers are all examples of AFVs.

Regiment Military unit

A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country and the arm of service.

British Army land warfare branch of the British Armed Forces of the United Kingdom

The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of British Armed Forces. As of 2018, the British Army comprises just over 81,500 trained regular (full-time) personnel and just over 27,000 trained reserve (part-time) personnel.

Contents

Origin

163 RAC was formed by the conversion to the armoured role of the 13th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, a hostilities-only battalion raised in 1940, on 30 July 1942, the day after it arrived in India. [1] In common with other infantry battalions transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, the personnel of 163 RAC would have continued to wear their Foresters cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps. [2]

Sherwood Foresters infantry regiment of the British Army

The Sherwood Foresters was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to form the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, which in 2007 was amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and the Staffordshire Regiment to form the present Mercian Regiment. The lineage of the Sherwood Foresters is now continued by The Mercian Regiment.

British Raj British rule on the Indian subcontinent, 1858–1947

The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India. The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage, and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom, which were collectively called British India, and those ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British tutelage or paramountcy, and called the princely states. The whole was also more formally called the Indian Empire. As India, it was a founding member of the League of Nations, a participating nation in the Summer Olympics in 1900, 1920, 1928, 1932, and 1936, and a founding member of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945.

Service

163 RAC was stationed at Rawalpindi under command of 267th Indian Armoured Brigade. However, there was a change of policy, and on 1 December 1944 (also reported as 1 December 1943) the regiment was re-converted to infantry, reverting to its previous title of 13th Foresters and coming under command of 67 Indian Training Brigade. [3]

Rawalpindi Metropolis City in Punjab, Pakistan

Rawalpindi, commonly known as Pindi, is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Rawalpindi is adjacent to Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, and the two are jointly known as the "twin cities" on account of strong social and economic links between the cities. Rawalpindi is the fourth-largest city in Pakistan by population, while the larger Islamabad Rawalpindi metropolitan area is the country's third-largest metropolitan area.

The 267th Indian Tank Brigade was a short lived armoured brigade of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It was reconstituted as 72nd Indian Infantry Brigade.

Notes

  1. ↑ Joslen p. 497.
  2. ↑ Forty pp. 50–51.
  3. ↑ Joslen pp. 497, 543.

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References

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