of the Guards Armoured Division cross the road bridge at
Nijmegen during its capture in
Operation Market Garden, September 1944. s of the
Irish Guards, part of the
5th Guards Armoured Brigade, in Southern England, March 1942. Brainchild of
General Sir Alan Brooke, then the
Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, the Guards Armoured Division, commanded by
Major General Oliver Leese, was formed in May 1941 as a result of the shortage of armoured troops in England to face a
German invasion. There was opposition to this move, as it was felt by the establishment that the height of the Guards—selected for height, amongst other criteria, as elite soldiers—would make them poor tank crew. The division originally consisted of two armoured brigades, the
5th and the
6th. These consisted of three tank regiments of
Covenanter V tanks and a motor infantry battalion. A certain level of common sense was applied to these changes, with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards being assigned as the motor battalion, due to the presence of King's Company. This group of men were all at least 6 feet tall and were expected to struggle to fit into tanks. Uniquely the Guards Armoured Division also kept its infantry
company structure, with the tanks organised into companies and
battalions, rather than
squadrons and
regiments. At the end of 1942, the division, now under the command of Major General
Allan Adair, was split in line with all armoured divisions at this time, with one armoured brigade replaced with a brigade of lorried infantry. At this point the 6th and 5th Guards Armoured Brigades were separated. During this period the division re-equipped with
Crusader III tanks, which were again replaced with
Sherman Vs by 1944.
Normandy preserved at the
Bovington Tank Museum. The Guards Armoured Division
landed in Normandy at the end of June, and went into battle around
Carpiquet Airfield soon after, with the infantry of the
32nd Guards Brigade skirmishing with the
12th SS Hitlerjugend. However this was only to last a couple of weeks before the armour arrived and the division was deployed further south to participate in
Operation Goodwood. The aim of this attack has been debated many times, but whether an attempt at a breakout or a more limited effort, it had the effect of drawing most of the German reserves towards
Caen, aiding the
Cobra offensive. Originally intended as a combined attack, it was changed to an armoured assault as the British Army in France had suffered heavy infantry casualties and were struggling to find replacements. As a result, the attack was changed to one largely of armoured divisions, as lost tanks would be easier to replace. The Guards Armoured Division joined with the
7th and
11th Armoured Divisions for this attack. The aim was to strike south out of the
Orne bridgehead on 18 July. The Guards Armoured Division was to advance south-east to capture
Vimont and
Argences. Prior to this attack the German defences were heavily bombed by the
Royal Air Force. Unfortunately this was less effective than hoped against the dug-in defenders, both in the south of Caen and in
Cagny and
Emieville. All three of these areas were in the path of the Guards advance. The attack quickly bogged down and losses became heavy, the guards losing 60 tanks to a single battery of four Luftwaffe
88mm AA guns. In addition to this, a group of
Tiger I tanks of the 503, which had been completely knocked out in the bombardment, recovered enough over the course of the morning to stiffen the resistance against the Guards. In addition, the Guards were checked by a
Schwere Panzerabteilung and a counterattack by the 12 SS
Hilterjugend. Novel tactics had to be employed to deal with the more heavily gunned and armoured Tiger, with one being rammed by a Sherman of the
Irish Guards. , and the Sherman tank that knocked it out by ramming, July 1944. Whilst taking part in Operation Goodwood east of Cagny,
Lt John Gorman who was a Troop Commander in the 2nd (Armoured) Battalion Irish Guards was probing forward in his Sherman tank
Ballyragget when suddenly he found himself broadside to a German
Tiger II, the German heavy tank that no-one had yet seen. He fired his 75mm gun but the shot bounced off German tank. He was unable to fire again as the Sherman's gun was jammed. By now, the Tiger Tank was traversing its gun towards Gorman's Sherman so he ordered his driver L/Cpl James Brown to ram the German Tank. The collision disabled the Tiger and caused its crew to bail out. After seeing his own crew to safety, Lt Gorman commandeered a
Firefly,
Ballymena, whose commander had been killed and continued to fire at the Tiger tank with the Firefly's
17-pounder gun until the Tiger's destruction was complete. For this action Gorman was awarded the Military Cross and his driver, L/Cpl James Brown, was awarded the Military Medal, being the first members of the Allied Expeditionary Forces to knock out a Tiger II. However, the German account is rather different. The Tiger II gunner, Hans-Joachim Thaysen, insisted he never even saw Gorman's Sherman and was instead concentrating on firing ahead of him. Thaysen also said that it was a German anti-tank gun friendly fire incident which was likely trying to fire at Gorman's Sherman that destroyed his Tiger II, which caused the crew to bail out. The
75mm PaK hit the Tiger II on the left side between the track and running gear. Thaysen said the round penetrated and just missed him under his backside. The next day enough progress was made to allow the Guards to reach Bourgebus Ridge and support the 7th and 11th Armoured Divisions, German reinforcements started to arrive and the attack ground to a halt. Fighting continued until 20 July, when the gains were consolidated by infantry and the attack died off. The battle, while not a success from the operational point of view, was a battle in which the Guards acquitted themselves satisfactorily. The operation also drew off most of the German mechanised reserves, being convinced that the allies planned to break out from Caen. This left little for reinforcements, when the Americans began Operation Cobra on 25 July. After Goodwood the Guards Armoured Division was reorganized into unofficial battlegroups. Goodwood had shown the undesirable effects of not having supporting infantry with the tanks. Consequently, the two
Grenadier battalions were formed into a battlegroup, with the
Coldstream infantry attached to the Irish Guards Tanks and the Coldstream Guards tanks split into two groups and used to support the Irish and Welsh Guards battalions. The units were not organized in any formal way at this point, but rather by who happened to be closest at the time. This organisation was not unique to the Guards, the 11th Armoured also adapted the formation for Bluecoat, apparently on
Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor's orders. After this reorganisation, the Guards Armoured Division took part in
Operation Bluecoat. Operation Bluecoat was launched on 30 July in support of the Americans taking part in Operation Cobra. Rather than continue to try to push past Caen where the majority of the German armour had redeployed after Goodwood, this attack switched back towards
Villers-Bocage to support the Americans and to capture the road junction at
Vire and the high ground at
Mont Pincon. While the opposition was initially two weak infantry divisions (
276th and
326th), they were well dug in, having prepared minefields and other defences. The terrain was
bocage, which also slowed down the speed of the attack. Initially the Guards supported the 11th Armoured Division who were the spearhead of the attack by protecting their flank, however they took over the spearhead duties themselves on 1 August, fighting in the bocage until 15 August against elements of the 276th and 326th Infantry,
21st Panzer and
1st,
9th and
10th SS-Panzer Divisions. This was to prove challenging to the Guards who were not used to short-range combat. The Germans ended up committing their tanks piecemeal, and as a result there was no defensive line as such. Instead common opposition would consist of a small mobile group of infantry supported by a few tanks or self-propelled guns. Snipers and mortars were a particular problem in this terrain, with field modifications added to the tank to try to reduce the damage. Due to the difficulty of completely clearing the enemy from a particular area and of supplying sub-units, the attack ground to a halt on 4 August. On 7 August the Guards had a short break as the Germans concentrated their forces on a counter-offensive against the Americans at Mortain. On that day the Guards were given the 11th Armoured Divisions area to defend as well, freeing up the 11th Armoured. While not actually trying to launch a major advance, attacks in the local area were fierce, particularly around Chenedolle. Support from other arms was also provided, with the Welsh infantry regiment supported by Churchill tanks of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade and the
Household Cavalry deploying as infantry in the line for a brief period. On the 15th the Germans started to withdraw but were caught in the Falaise pocket, allowing the Guards to recover for a refit. Bluecoat had been a success and the combined arms of the battlegroup concept had been proven. This would be the way the Guards Armoured Division would operate from now on. The division suffered many losses in the operation, though the Allies had enough replacements that they could lose six tanks for every German tank destroyed. Crew were a different matter and a consequence of the operation was the removal of the
Crusader AA tanks, possible due to the lack of air opposition; their crews were used to man the replacement Shermans provided to the division.
The Netherlands and Germany s of the 4th Battalion, Grenadier Guards assemble for the advance on Liesel, Netherlands 1 November 1944. The Guards Armoured Division was then withdrawn from the line to prepare for
Operation Market Garden. They formed the spearhead of the attacks into the Netherlands, with the Grenadier Guards managing to seize the
Nijmegen Bridge with the help of the
US 82nd Airborne Division. Following this they spent the winter in the Netherlands and Germany, before being moved into Belgium as a reserve against the
Battle of the Bulge. The infantry of the
Welsh Guards were also replaced by the 2nd Battalion
Scots Guards, due to a severe lack of replacements in the British Army at the time. Following this the division participated in
Operation Veritable, the operation to clear the
Reichswald forest. Due to the weather and the Germans flooding the area, only the infantry ended up playing an active part. After this the towed batteries of the Royal Artillery anti-tank guns were converted to infantry for the lack of targets. The division then supported the push over the Rhine before breaking into Germany and fighting up towards the Netherlands and along the German coast. Two
Victoria Crosses were awarded to the division for the fighting during this period; neither recipient survived the war. They were
Guardsman Edward Charlton of the 2nd Battalion,
Irish Guards and
Captain Ian Liddell of the 5th Battalion,
Coldstream Guards. After the German surrender the Guards were mostly involved in mopping up operations and occupation duties. A small detachment was used to test the new
Centurion universal tank, six of which had arrived in Germany, too late to be used in the conflict. Eventually the division was selected for conversion back to infantry, and held a "farewell to armour" parade on 9 June 1945;
Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery took the final salute. ==Composition==