British armoured car regiment organisation

Discussion in 'Higher Formations' started by 312, Aug 19, 2021.

  1. 312

    312 Member

    Hello, i'm trying to find if the Inns of Court armoured car regiment had a different squadron organisation during the Northwest Europe campaign.
    Here is the link of the website talking about the different organisation : Hobby
    Hope you got serious info, thanks !!
     
  2. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    I do recall hearing of the sawn-off Daimlers a long time ago, and thinking it would need the War Diary to put their use into perspective. The authorised org for an Armoured Car Regiment (WE III/236/2 of Nov43) was based on RHQ, HQ Squadron and four Squadrons. Each of the four Squadrons was built around five Troops, each of two Daimler armoured cars and two Daimler scout cars. Also in the Squadron was a Support Troop (a small rifle element for dismounted duties), a Heavy Troop (two AEC armoured cars or two halftracks mounting 75-mm guns), with both of these Troops also having a scout car. Squadron HQ was to have four armoured cars (one Daimler and three Staghounds) and a scout car.

    The outline given in the FOW blurb suggests a shift to six pairs of scout cars and three pairs of armoured cars, the latter also with a scout car per pair. Assuming all other elements of the Squadron were left unaltered, that would need 15 scout cars and 6 armoured cars, against a WE of 10 scout cars and 10 armoured cars. It would be interesting to know if this was a temporary change in unit org, or whether it was continued after Normandy.

    If anyone can have a look in the War Diary without needing a trip to Kew, they probably post here...

    Gary
     
  3. MarkN

    MarkN Banned

    I trust you had your serious face on when you wrote that Gary. ;)
     
  4. 312

    312 Member

    I think this organisation was the same from Normandy to Berlin, the first unit to do this was the Inns of Court Regiment (Ist Corps armoured car regiment) but I don't now if other units used the turretless Daimler
     
  5. Wg Cdr Luddite

    Wg Cdr Luddite Well-Known Member

    I have a number of SODs in my 44-45 British force. I don't think they were limited to any particular Regiment. As the campaign progressed Recce units began to value concealment rather than firepower. Rather than aquire large numbers of Dingos the simplest expedient was the Sawn-Off Daimler.
     
  6. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    There is some discussion of Inns of Court and turretless Daimlers including a relevant page from their war diary in July 1944 on the Missing Lynx modeling site

    Oddities on Op Goodwood film:
     
    Gary Kennedy likes this.
  7. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    This is from the war diary regarding Inns of Court Regiment organization. Dated 11 July 1944 in diary:

    IOC 39.jpeg
     
  8. Gary Kennedy

    Gary Kennedy Member

    Good links above, thanks for posting them.

    I had a quick look around last night, and most references to SOD conversions seem to be related to tabletop gaming and model making. There's a brief reference on the www.daimler-fighting-vehicles.co.uk site in the PDF documents on the Daimler armoured car, with the seemingly universally repeated photo of a SOD on page 12;

    http://daimler-fighting-vehicles.co.uk/DFV-File Part Af - DAC Design & Development.pdf

    Same one over on www.warwheels.net

    WarWheels.Net-Daimler Mark 2 Armored Car Index

    And a bit of background by Peter Brown in a post on missing lynx;

    Inns Of Court

    Gary
     

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