1st Armoured Car Squadron | |
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![]() Members of the 1st Armoured Car Squadron in Tokyo in late 1947 | |
Active | January 1946 –July 1949 |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | |
Type | Armoured |
Part of | 34th Brigade |
Engagements | Occupation of Japan |
The Australian 1st Armoured Car Squadron was an Australian Army unit formed as part of Australia's contribution to the occupation of Japan. Upon its return to Australia in 1948 the Squadron was expanded and re-equipped to form the 1st Armoured Regiment.
The 1st Armoured Car Squadron was raised at Puckapunyal, Victoria in January 1946 to form part of the Australian 34th Brigade which was forming at Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies prior to its deployment to Japan. The Squadron was manned by volunteers from the 4th Armoured Brigade and was equipped with 18 Staghound armoured cars and 8 Canadian Scout Cars. After a brief period of training the Squadron embarked for Japan in late March 1946, arriving at Hiroshima on 12 April 1946. [1]
Following the arrival of its armoured cars in early June the 1st Armoured Car Squadron began conducting patrols across the 34th Brigade's area of responsibility. These patrols were generally uneventful and, like almost all of the Allied occupation force, the Squadron did not experience combat. Due to the unsuitability of the Staghounds for Japan's roads the Squadron was completely equipped with Canadian Scout Cars in 1947. [2]
The 1st Armoured Car Squadron returned to Australia in December 1948. In July 1949 the Squadron was expanded and re-equipped with Churchill tanks to form the 1st Armoured Regiment. [3]
The 1st Armoured Division was an armoured formation of the Australian Army, raised in 1941 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War II. While the Division was originally to be deployed to North Africa in late 1941, it was retained in Australia following the outbreak of the Pacific War. The 1st Armoured Division formed a key element of Australia's defences against a feared Japanese invasion and was disbanded in Western Australia in September 1943.
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952.
1st Armoured Regiment is an armoured regiment of the Australian Army and is the senior regiment of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps. Formed as a tank unit in the new Australian Regular Army on 7 July 1949, the regiment subsequently saw service during the Vietnam War operating Centurion tanks. Currently the unit is based in Edinburgh, South Australia as part of the 9th Brigade. As part of the Plan Beersheba reorganisation, the unit has become one of three Armoured Cavalry Regiments (ACRs) assigned to the Army's multirole combat brigades in Brisbane, Darwin and Townsville. Each ACR is equipped with M1A1 tanks and ASLAV light armoured vehicles.
The 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse is a cavalry regiment of the Australian Army. The regiment in its current composition was formed in 1948 when the Citizens Military Force (CMF) was re-raised after the completion of the demobilisation process following the end of the Second World War and it was formed through the amalgamation of three previously existing regiments. Through these predecessor units, 4/19 PWLH can trace its lineage back to the 19th century and today it is the custodian of the battle honours earned by these units. The regiment had a Regular squadron, 1 Troop 4th/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse Regiment, which was posted to South Vietnam in 1965 where it was attached to 1 RAR operating out of Bien Hoa Province. It returned to Australia on 28 May 1966 and became part of the Regular cavalry units that continue to exist in the Australian Army today. These units subsequently served during the Vietnam War and many of their personnel continued to wear regimental accoutrements while in South Vietnam.
The 4th Armoured Brigade was an armoured formation of the Australian Army established during the Second World War. It was formed in February 1943 to provide armoured support for infantry units operating in the South West Pacific Area. Its composition varied over time, but usually comprised several armoured regiments equipped with Matilda II or M3 Grant tanks as well as some support units.
The 2nd Armoured Division was an armoured formation of the Australian Army during World War II. Originally raised in 1921 as the 2nd Cavalry Division, based in Victoria and South Australia, the formation had been converted into a motor division in early 1942, before adopting the armoured designation later in the year. A Militia formation, the division undertook garrison duties in Australia and did not see combat before being disbanded in mid-1943.
Armoured units made a relatively small, but important, contribution to Australia’s war effort during World War II. While Australia formed three armoured divisions and two independent armoured brigades during the war, Australian armoured units only saw action as independent regiments and companies supporting larger infantry formations. Early actions were fought in the Middle East by the divisional carrier regiments that supported the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions, fighting in Libya, Egypt and Syria in 1941–42, before the Australian divisions returned to Australia in 1942–43. During the early fighting in the Pacific, there was a limited role for armoured formations, although one armoured regiment – the 2/6th – took part in the fighting around Buna–Gona in late 1942. Later in the war, though, during the Huon Peninsula, Bougainville and Borneo campaigns of 1943–45, several armoured units were used by Australian forces in the infantry support role.
The Australian 34th Brigade was an Australian Army brigade. The brigade was formed in late 1945 following the end of World War II as part of the Australian contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan. In late 1948 it was renamed the 1st Brigade.
The 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers is an active Australian Army Reserve Cavalry regiment. The regiment has its headquarters at Lancer Barracks in Parramatta, a suburb in Western Sydney, New South Wales. Lancer Barracks is the oldest Military Barracks on mainland Australia and dates from 1819.
The 2/4th Armoured Regiment was an armoured regiment of the Australian Army, which served during World War II. The regiment was formed in November 1942 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force by amalgamating a number of previously existing armoured units and was disbanded in September 1946 after seeing action in New Guinea and Bougainville Island, where it provided individual squadron-group sized elements which operated in support of infantry operations against the Japanese. During its service the regiment received 10 battle honours.
The 2/11th Armoured Car Regiment was an Australian Army armoured reconnaissance regiment of World War II. The regiment was formed in mid-1941 and was intended to be deployed to the Middle East. In late 1941, in response to the growing threat posed by Japan's entry into the war in the Pacific, it was employed in a defensive role to guard against a possible invasion of mainland Australia. It was disbanded in early 1944 without seeing action as part of the reduction of Australia's armoured forces and the reallocation of manpower to other formations more suited to jungle warfare.
The Rhodesian Armoured Corps, nicknamed the "Black Devils" — was the only standing armoured battalion of the Rhodesian Security Forces. During World War II, it took part in the Allied Spring 1945 offensive and the Battle of Monte Cassino as part of South Africa's 6th Armoured Division. The unit was among the first to enter a liberated Florence in July 1944. Prior to 1963, its crews were trained in the United Kingdom or Aden Colony and were known as the "Selous Scouts" under the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, maintaining the armoured vehicle fleet became a responsibility of the Rhodesian Light Infantry until Major Bruce Rooken-Smith reactivated the former Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment in 1972. During the Rhodesian Bush War, the regiment fought in several major campaigns and battles, particularly Operation Miracle in September 1979. It was superseded by the new Zimbabwe Armoured Corps between 1980 and 1981.
The 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers is an Australian Army Reserve cavalry regiment. It was formed on 1 May 1948, although it draws its lineage from units that were originally formed in the 1880s. It is currently a Light Cavalry unit equipped with Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles. The regiment forms part of the 11th Brigade, attached to the 2nd Division and draws its members from regional centres in northern New South Wales, hence the reference to the Hunter River. Since 2000 the regiment has provided individuals as reinforcements to round-out Regular Army units deploying overseas on peacekeeping operations and in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Armoured Car Regiments were reconnaissance units employed by the British Army during the 20th century. The primary equipment of these units was the armoured car with many different types of armoured cars serving in the regiments during the Second World War and the Cold War. An armoured car regiment typically numbered several hundred men and several tens of armoured cars. By the end of the 20th century, armoured cars as front-line reconnaissance vehicles had been supplanted by tracked vehicles in the British Army and the surviving regiments converted to other organisational forms.
Armoured reconnaissance is the combination of terrestrial reconnaissance with armoured warfare by soldiers using tanks and wheeled or tracked armoured reconnaissance vehicles. While the mission of reconnaissance is to gather intelligence about the enemy with the use of reconnaissance vehicles, armoured reconnaissance adds the ability to fight for information, and to have an effect on and to shape the enemy through the performance of traditional armoured tasks.
The 1st Armoured Brigade was a formation of the Australian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in July 1941, at Greta, New South Wales from volunteers for the Second Australian Imperial Force and was assigned to the 1st Armoured Division. Raised initially for service in the Middle East, following Japan's entry into the war, the brigade was assigned to the defence of Australia in case of an invasion. After garrison duties in New South Wales and Western Australia, it was disbanded in November 1944 without seeing active service, although some of its former units saw action later with other formations.
The 2nd Armoured Brigade was a formation of the Australian Army during World War II. The brigade was formed in July 1941, at Puckapunyal, Victoria, from Second Australian Imperial Force volunteers. It was assigned to the 1st Armoured Division in July 1941, with the intention of deploying it to the Middle East. However, it was reassigned to home defence following Japan's entry into the war, and was then transferred to the 3rd Armoured Division in October 1942. The brigade remained in Australia, undertaking defensive duties in Victoria and Queensland before being disbanded in January 1944. While it did not see any active service as a formation, some of its constituent units eventually took part in the campaigns on Tarakan, Labuan, Bougainville and around Aitape–Wewak in 1944–1945 after transferring to other brigades.
The 3rd/9th Light Horse is a Reserve light cavalry regiment of the Australian Army based in Smithfield, South Australia. Part of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC), the regiment is attached to the 9th Brigade, 2nd Division and currently operates G-Wagon SRV 6x6 and Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles. On 26 October 2022, 9th Brigade transitioned as a Direct Command to Forces Command (FORCOMD) as part of an Army wide transformation. 3rd/9th Light Horse, 1st Armoured Regiment officially commenced on 1 November 2022.
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