The 43rd (6th (City) Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) Royal Tank Regiment (43 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the ...

that tested and demonstrated specialised

Armoured Fighting Vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured ca ...

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Origin and training

As part of the rearmament of the British Army before World War II, the 6th Battalion

Royal Northumberland Fusiliers The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution an ...

, a Territorial Army infantry battalion, was converted to the armoured role on 1 November 1938, under the designation 43rd (6th City) Battalion, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Tank Regiment, or '43 RTR' for short. During 1939, it also formed 49th Royal Tank Regiment as a duplicate regiment. The regiments shared St George's Drill Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne as their depot. Both regiments were part of

25th Army Tank Brigade The 25th Army Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army that was active before and during the Second World War. It served with the British First Army and the British Eighth Army during the battles in North Africa and It ...

. At the end of May 1940, with the British Expeditionary Force being evacuated from

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label= French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.2nd Motor Machine Gun Brigade and its regiments reorganised accordingly. Each MMG squadron consisted of three troops, each with six Austin Utility ('Tilly') two-seat cars, two carrying medium machine guns, two

Bren light machine gun The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used ...

s and two

Boys anti-tank rifle The Boys anti-tank rifle (officially Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys, and sometimes incorrectly spelled "Boyes"), is a British anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War. It was often nicknamed the " elephant gun" by its users due to its s ...

s. In July 1940, volunteers from the units of 25th Army Tank Brigade formed No. 5 Troop of No. 5 Commando at Bridlington. In November 1940, 43 RTR moved south and was attached to

21st Army Tank Brigade The 21st Army Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army active during the Second World War. The brigade served with the British First Army and the British Eighth Army during the fighting in Tunisia and Italy. History ...

. Although still organised as an MMG battalion, it did begin to receive a few

Matilda II The Infantry Tank Mark II, best known as the Matilda, was a British infantry tank of the Second World War.Jentz, p. 11. The design began as the A12 specification in 1936, as a gun-armed counterpart to the first British infantry tank, the mach ...

tanks and Light Dragons (tracked artillery tractors) for training, later followed by a mixture of Vickers Medium Mark Is and Mk IIs, Matilda Mk IIAs and Vickers Light Mk VIBs. By the end of March 1941, 43 RTR had reached its full establishment of 50 tanks and rejoined 25th Army Tank Brigade, now reconverted from the MMG role to train in the

infantry tank The infantry tank was a concept developed by the United Kingdom and France in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were designed to support infantrymen in an attack. To achieve this, the vehicles were generally heavily armoured to ...

role on the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the ea ...

. The battalion's operational assignment was to cooperate with 125 Infantry Brigade, which in turn was converted to a tank brigade later in the year. In October 1941, 43 RTR was transferred to 33rd Tank Brigade, which was being formed in the Dukeries area of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

to supervise the training of infantry battalions converting to tanks. 43 RTR was stationed at

Welbeck Abbey Welbeck Abbey in the Dukeries in North Nottinghamshire was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order in England and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house residence of the Dukes of Portland. It is on ...

, where it provided training courses for the other battalions in the brigade: 144th and 148th Regiments Royal Armoured Corps. The brigade was equipped with

Churchill tank The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, ...

s, replacing 43 RTR's Matildas. Throughout 1942, training continued, first at Welbeck, later at

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new tow ...

. In November 1942, 43 RTR formed a special squadron ('X' Sqn) equipped with modified Churchills, to take part in Exercise Trent II, testing the practicalities of disembarking from Landing Craft Tank LCTs on Pendine Sands on the South Wales coast.

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 tank } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It ...

s. 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 The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. 43 RTR was made responsible for training Armoured Assault Regiments of the Royal Engineers (RE) on Matilda and

Valentine A valentine is a card or gift given on Valentine's Day, or one's sweetheart. Valentine or Valentines may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Valentine (name), a given name and a surname, including a list of people and fictional char ...

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 Matilda 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 Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

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 The 21st Army Group was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established ...

. 43 RTR was placed on a lower establishment and given the role of collective training for recruits and rehabilitation training for returning wounded.

To India

In January 1945, 43 RTR was told that it was to re-train in the Canal Defence Light (CDL) role for deployment to

South East Asia Command South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during the Second World War. History Organisation The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir Ar ...

. CDLs were tanks equipped with powerful searchlights and the crews were trained in night fighting. In the early part of 1945, the regiment was stationed at Lowther Castle, near Penrith, the CDL training centre. It sailed for India on 10 July, arriving at Bombay Docks on 1 August. However, news of the Japanese surrender arrived while the regiment was settling into camp at Bolarum, before its

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States *Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

CDL tanks had arrived from the docks.43 RTR War Diary July–August 1945, The National Archives file WO 172/7341. As a result, 43 RTR never saw active service.

Postwar

After the end of World War II, 43 RTR remained a Territorial Army unit of the Royal Tank Regiment, based at Newcastle, until 1956 when it converted back to infantry under its old designation of 6th Bn Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. In 1951 the regiment formed a band, which continues in the modern-era as the

Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers is an Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve military band part of the 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. History In 1951 the Band of the 43rd ...

Notes

References

* * L. V. Scull, ''49th Unparalleled: The Story of the 49th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment, later designated as an Armoured Personnel Carrier Regiment, 1939-1945'', 2002.

External links

Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth Merseyside RTR
Brian Gill`s website) {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Military units and formations established in 1938 Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Royal Tank Regiment Royal Tank Regiment 043