The other day it struck me that given the British order of battle for an Armoured division, the mechanized infantry unit for the 26th Armoured Brigade should have been the 10th Bn of the Rifle Bde. However I dont have any evidence that in in 1942-1943 (tunisia) the battalion was actually equipped as a proper mechanized or even motorized batallion, I suspect that it started life as a normal bn and graduated to halftracks and MMgs later on in the war, but dont have any proof of the sort of Bn it was in north africa during this period. Rather then get the WO 175/518 war diaries of the Unit out, I was wondering if anyone on the forum had any details of the unit in their book collections.. Or if anyone knew of any sources that might give an indication of how they might have been run? I know 6th armoured was re-equipped in April 43, and might have recieved more task appropriate vehicles then, but any help proving one way or the other would be very much appreciated.
According to this seems that battalion was motorised before and during its operations in Tunisia. Thank you Sol, although in a way it just confirms some of the troubles Ive been having here. It seems clear from that that it was motorized, but also that his role was mechanized and there was a big difference in 1943. I think for now Im going to go on the assumption that the 10 RB were a motorized Bn until at least early 43, whether during this timeframe they were upgraded to US halftracks is unclear from the Carrier platoon mentioned in this extract, but I'll keep looking and this is an excellent start.
Good evening, According to Hastings book - The Rifle Brigade in the Second World War, the RB were formed as Motorised Battalions in 1937 when the 1st battalion was reorganised. The first mention of the 10th battalion in the book was when it landed with the First Army. Phillip
