Specialised Armour
In February 1943 43 RTR was ordered to mobilise for overseas service and received new Churchill tanks.Next the orders were changed to mobilisation for a tropical climate with Sherman tanks. Then the orders were changed again, and 43 RTR was earmarked for 'very special training' with 79th Armoured Division, which was developing all kinds of specialised armoured vehicles for use in the Normandy Landings. 43 RTR was made responsible for training Armoured Assault Regiments of the Royal Engineers (RE) on Mathilda and Valentine tanks. When 33 Tank Bde moved to Scotland, 43 RTR remained behind at the Orford Battle Range directly under 79 Division HQ as a trials and demonstration unit, with A Sqn experimenting with Wasps (Universal Carriers equipped with flamethrowers), B Sqn with Mathilda Barons (turretless tanks equipped with mine flails), and C Sqn with Valentines. More advanced vehicles arrived as time went on: Churchill Crocodile flamethrowers; Valentine Scorpion and Sherman Crab flail tanks; Canal Defence Lights; Snake Mine-clearing line charges etc. By the end of 1943 the joint RE/RAC assault training wing disappeared, and 43 RTR was organised as a 'breaching team', to demonstrate using all these specialised vehicles in tactical combination.
However, all this experimental and demonstration work meant that 43 RTR did not go to Normandy with the rest of 79 Armoured in June 1944. Instead, it was transferred to 35th Tank Brigade, a training brigade under GHQ Home Forces, providing reinforcements to 21st Army Group. 43 RTR was placed on a lower establishment and given the role of collective training for recruits and rehabilitation training for returning wounded.
Read more about this topic: 43rd Royal Tank Regiment
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