page_title: 51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment
section_title: Italy
hierarchical_section_title: 51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment / World War II / Italy
caption_attribution_description: English: IWM caption&#160;: Churchill tank crews HQ Troop, 51st Royal Tank Regiment, 25th Tank Brigade, share out rations near their camouflaged vehicles before going into action in support of 1st Canadian Division, Italy.
context_page_description: The 51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment was an armoured regiment of the British Territorial Army that fought in the Tunisian and Italian campaigns during World War II and continued to serve during the 1950s.
context_section_description: The brigade distinguished itself in support of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in the assault on the Hitler Line in May 1944. At the request of the Canadians, its regiments adopted the Maple leaf as an additional badge, later worn by 51 RTR's successors, the Leeds Detachment (Leeds Rifles), Imphal (PWO) Company, East and West Riding Regiment. Brigadier Tetley, formerly of the Leeds Rifles himself, was the only TA RTR officer to command a brigade on active service. 51 RTR went on to fight in the Gothic Line battles of August–September 1944.
  To deal with the successive enemy lines of defences anticipated in the later stages of the campaign, it was decided in late 1944 to convert the brigade into the 25th Assault Engineer Brigade, equipped with the specialized tanks known as Hobart's Funnies. Organised on 5 January 1945, this was primarily a Royal Engineers formation, but 51 RTR remained in the brigade, although converted to specialised armour. 'B' Squadron received 15 Crab Mark II flail tanks, while 'A' and 'C' sqns had a total of 32 Churchill Crocodile flamethrowing tanks. Each squadron in the brigade was self-administering, so that they could be detached where required.
  25 Armoured Assault Brigade first went into action at the crossing of the Senio on 9 April 1945. 51 RTR was attached to the 2nd New Zealand and 8th Indian Divisions. The flamethrowing tanks crept forward during the preliminary bombardment and positioned themselves close to the floodbank as possible. One minute before the infantry assault started, the positions were flamed. Most of the Crocodiles had to be 60 feet behind the bank to be able to direct their flame over the bank. World War II in Europe ended shortly after this operation.
caption: Churchill tank crews of HQ Troop, 51 RTR share out rations near their camouflaged vehicles before going into action in support of the 1st Canadian Division, Italy, 17 May 1944.
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