6th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)

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.

The division was formed in the United Kingdom under Northern Command on 12 September 1940, commanded by Major General John Crocker, an officer of the Royal Tank Regiment who had recently fought in the Battle of France. The division initially had the 20th and 26th Armoured Brigades under command, as well as the 6th Support Group. In late April 1942, the 20th Armoured Brigade was transferred from the division and replaced by the 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade and the 6th Support Group was disbanded in June. The 6th Armoured Division, now commanded by Major General Charles Keightley, taking over from Major General Charles Gairdner, soon began intensive training in preparation for service overseas. In October 1940, armoured regiments within the Division, such as the 2nd Lothian and Border Horse, were supplied with Matilda MkI. I tanks, then in May 1942 Crusader MkII tanks, in August 1942 Valentine Mk. V tanks and in October Crusader MKIIIs. In North Africa tankers were finally put on an almost equal footing to their Panzer counterparts when the M4A2 Sherman medium tank was added to their inventory by March 1943. In November/December 1942 The division participated in the Operation Torch assault landings in Bone, closest to the Axis Forces in all the Torch landings that stretched from Morocco to the Tunisian border. In November 1942 they saw their first action as part of V Corps of the British First Army, First Allied Army in the Tunisia Campaign. In March 1943, around the same time when most of the units had been supplied with American M4A2 Shermans, the 6th Division came under IX Corps. After Tunisia, the Division participated in the Italian Campaign as part of the British Eighth Army and ended the war in Austria, again under the command of V Corps.

On 30 January 1943, the German 21st Panzer Division (veterans of the Afrika Korps under Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel) and three Italian divisions met elements of the French forces near Faïd, the main pass from the eastern arm of the mountains into the coastal plains. The French were overrun and two US units near them were surrounded. On 19 February 1943, Rommel launched what would become the Battle of Kasserine Pass. After two days of advances through the American defences, the Afrika Korps and the Italians had suffered few casualties, while the American forces lost 16,000 men and two thirds of their tanks. During the battle the Italian 131st Centauro Armoured Division captured more than 3,000 American soldiers. On the night of 21 February 1943, the 6th Armoured and 46th Infantry Divisions, arrived to bolster the American defence, having been pulled from the British lines facing the Germans at Sbiba. Counter attacks by Italian troops were also ordered on the British and Americans. Two battalions of experienced Bersaglieri soldiers are recorded by the 23rd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery as having made a daylight counter attack through the Ousseltia Plain, which was repelled. Next day opened with another German counter attack against the Americans, until the arrival of four US artillery battalions made offensive operations difficult. Faced with stiffening defences and the news that the Eighth Army had reached Medenine, only a few kilometres from the Mareth Line, Rommel decided to call off the attack and withdraw on the night of 22 February 1943 to support the Mareth defences, hoping that the Kasserine attack had caused enough damage to deter any offensive action from the west for the moment. The Axis forces from Kasserine reached the Mareth line on 25 February. It was after the battle of Kasserine Pass that the 6th Armoured Division was reorganised and equipped with the M4 Sherman tank. In March 1943 the division was assigned to the recently arrived IX Corps (Lieutenant General John Crocker) the former first GOC of the division, who was later wounded in a training accident and replaced by Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks. The division was the spearhead of the final assault by the First Army in May 1943, breaking through to Tunis. The 6th Armoured Division went on to take the surrender of the famous 90th Light Division and participated in the round up and capitulation of all Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943.

Italy was to prove different from North Africa. There was no more mobile warfare in wide open spaces. The division would spend much of its time supporting the infantry as the Allies came across defensive line after defensive line. The 6th Armoured Division, now under Major General Gerald Templer (replaced by Major General Horatius Murray after Templer was injured in early August), was now part of XIII Corps, which had been assigned to the US Fifth Army (Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark) to form its right flank and fight in the high Apennine Mountains during Operation Olive in August and September 1944. The Gothic Line, also known as Linea Gotica, formed Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence in the final stages of the Second World War during the fighting retreat of the German forces in Italy. The 6th Armoured Division captured the San Godenzo Pass on Route 67 to Forlì on 18 September.

By 19 April, the Argenta Gap had been forced and 6th Armoured was released through the left wing of the advancing 78th Infantry Division, to swing left to race north west along the line of the river Reno to Bondeno and link up with units of the Fifth Army advancing north from west of Bologna, to complete the encirclement of the German divisions defending Bologna. On all fronts the German defence continued to be determined and effective but Bondeno was captured on 23 April. The 6th Armoured Division linked with the 10th Mountain Division (US IV Corps) the next day at Finale. The IV Corps had broken through onto the plains on 19 April, bypassing Bologna on their right. Bologna was entered by the Poles advancing up the line of Route 9 on 21 April, followed two hours later by the US II Corps from the south.

The division moved to the Trieste area, at the time within the boundary of the Kingdom of Italy. In July 1946, the division was redesignated as the 1st Armoured Division and the mailed fist was retained. During 1947, the now 1st Armoured Division was transferred to Palestine and was disbanded in September 1947. A new 6th Armoured Division was formed in May 1951 in the UK and later assigned to the British Army of the Rhine in Germany. It consisted of the 20th Armoured Brigade and 61st Lorried Infantry Brigade. It was disbanded in June 1958.