Formation The 4th New Zealand Armoured Brigade, commanded by Brigadier
Lindsay Inglis, came into being on 5 October 1942 after the
4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade was converted into an armoured brigade. Upon formation the 4th New Zealand Armoured Brigade was initially composed only of one
regiment, the
19th Armoured Regiment. Many of the 4th Armoured Brigade's personnel were drawn from the
1st New Zealand Army Tank Brigade. This brigade had been formed in New Zealand to provide armoured support for the 2nd New Zealand Division and was disbanded when a decision was made to convert the 4th Brigade. By the time it deployed to Italy in October 1943, the brigade included the
18th and
20th armoured regiments, and the
22nd Motorised Battalion, which included an anti-tank company. The armoured regiments were organized along British lines, albeit with fewer tanks than their British counterparts. A New Zealand armoured regiment consisted of 52
Sherman tanks. These composed a Regimental HQ troop of four tanks and three squadrons of 16 tanks.
Italian Campaign The brigade arrived in
Italy on 5 October 1943, over a month after the
initial invasion, landing at
Taranto and were involved in the first actions to break through the
Bernhardt Line on the
Sangro front. In 1944 they were transferred to
U.S. Fifth Army on the Italian western coast. The New Zealand Division was joined by the
4th Indian Division and the
British 78th Division, and together with units of the
U.S. 1st Armored Division formed the
New Zealand Corps and was tasked with the capture of the town of
Cassino, its skyline dominated by a
13th Century Monastery. The
2nd and
3rd Armoured Regiments were suspended, effectively disbanded, in 1956. However, in 1958 the 2nd Armoured Regiment was reactivated on 15 September 1958 as a Regular Force unit. It was then redesignated Queen Alexandra's Armoured Regiment and then The
Queen Alexandra's Regiment RNZAC on 31 August 1959. In 1956, the Divisional Regiment, RNZAC, was redesignated
4th Armoured Regiment. The date the 4th Armoured Brigade was disestablished is not immediately clear, but on 1 June 1960 the 4th New Zealand Infantry Brigade Group was established to supervise Regular Force units. ==Notes==