Hi Can someone enlighten me how many squadrons there were in an armoured car regiment in the Western Desert in late 41, and how they were organised? How many armoured cars would there have been? I know 8 Army had an enormous number of armoured cars that it brought to battle in Operation CRUSADER, 671 are reported in late October, and that this was very successful, German recce repeatedly complaining that they could not penetrate the thick recce screens thrown up by Commonwealth forces. Unfortunately I am sadly ignorant of the organisational aspects, in particular of the South African armoured car and recce regiments/battalions. I only have information on the Central India Horse, but since they did not have any armoured cars, they are a somewhat different outfit. Many thanks in advance! All the best Andreas
There were two differing War Establishments in force in late 1941 for Armd C Regts. Looking back I seem to have concluded that only one was in use by ME Forces, or alternatively I couldn't find out for sure so moved on to something else... Anyway, the WE dated 6th Nov 1940 allowed for 58 armoured cars and 12 scout cars, organised as - Regt HQ - 4 armd cars HQ Sqn - Intercommunication Tp with 12 scout cars; Admin Tp 3 Sqns, each - Sqn HQ with 3 armd cars; five Tps, each with 3 armd cars ME HQ didn't begin issuing its own WEs for Armd C Regts until into 1942. When they did it was based very much on the Nov 1940 version, with the same allocation of vehicles as above. The Intercommunication Tp was deleted from the table issued in late 1942. I've never been able to track down South African estabs sadly, however I understand they used their own organisation which was quite different to the above. Hope that helps some, Gary
Attached is a TOE for Aug '42. The details would have changed c.f. late '41, but it should be reasonably good.
Okay, after two months I am now in contact with the relevant authorities, and hope to get a good bit of info soon. All the best Andreas