British 11th Armoured Division, 1944

M5A1 half-track of a divisional motorized infantry battalion.

M5A1 half-track and infantry of the Motor Battalion attached to the Armoured Brigade. Motorized infantry travelled in lightly armoured half-tracked vehicles which allowed them to accompany the tanks into battle. When infantry battalions of the divisional infantry brigade were cross-attached with armoured regiments to form battlegroups, they typically rode the tanks into battle. Vehicles carried numbered and colour-coded Tac Signs on the right fender. The two-coloured tac signs shown below were actually arranged with the first colour above the second colour, not adjacent to each other.

11th Armoured Division 1944

  • Divisional Headquarters (white tactical signs) 40
  • Divisional Troops (white tactical signs)
    • 2nd Northhamptonshire Yeomanry, Armoured Recce Regiment, 41
      Similarly organised as the armoured regiments of the division, but with the main difference that the unit was equipped with one A.30 Challenger and three A.27M Cromwell tanks per troop. Later in the campaign the Challengers were gradually replaced by Firefly tanks. The 2nd Northants Yeomanry was relieved on 8 August 1944, and the 15/19th King’s Royal Hussars took its place as the Amoured Recce Regiment of the division.
    • Royal Artillery
      • Headquarters 40
      • 13th Royal Horse Artillery
      • 151st Field Regiment
      • 75th Anti-Tank Regiment
      • 58th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
    • Royal Engineers
      • Headquarters
      • 13th Field Squadron
      • 612th Field Squadron RE
      • 147th Field Park Squadron
      • 10th Bridging Troop
  • Armoured Brigade
    • Brigade Headquarters 50
    • 23rd Hussars, Armoured Regiment, (red tactical signs) 51
    • 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (yellow tactical signs) 52
    • 2nd Battalion The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (blue tactical signs) 53
    • 8th Rifle Brigade, Motor Battalion (green tactical signs) 54
      • Battalion Headquarters
      • Support Company
      • 3 Motor Companies (Infantry in half-tracks)
        • Company Headquarters
        • 3 Motor Platoons
        • 1 Scout Platoon (mounted in 13 Bren Carriers)
  • 159th Infantry Brigade
    • Brigade Headquarters 60
    • 2nd Independent Machine Gun Company (Northumberland Fusiliers) 64
    • 3rd Battalion The Monmouthshire Regiment 61
    • 4th Battalion The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry 62
    • 1st Battalion The Herefordshire Regiment 63
      • Battalion Headquarters
      • Headquarters Company
        • Motor Platoon
        • Carrier Platoon (mounted in 13 Bren Carriers)
        • Anti-tank Platoon
        • Engineer Platoon
      • 4 Rifle Companies
        • Company Headquarters
        • 3 Infantry Platoons

Troop and vehicle numbers were normally displayed inside the colourcoded squadron tactical sign. Some vehicles carried only the squadron tactical sign, others displayed the troop/vehicle numbers on the rear of the turret stowage bins.

Francis Liew

British Miniatures of World War Two