page_title: 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade
section_title: Siege of Dunkirk
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade / Siege of Dunkirk
caption_attribution_description: English: Czechoslovak soldiers in the end of the War in La Panne (Belgium) near Dunkerque in 1945 Čeština: Českoslovenští tankisté ze samostatné obrněné brigády na konci války v La Panne (Belgie), nedaleko Dunkerque, 1945
context_page_description: The 1st Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group was an armoured unit of expatriate Czechoslovaks organised and equipped by the United Kingdom during the Second World War in 1943.
  The brigade landed in Normandy in August 1944 and was given the mission of containing the German-held port of Dunkirk for the rest of the war in Europe. In May 1945, the brigade moved to Czechoslovakia and was absorbed into the Czechoslovak Army.
context_section_description: The formation continued to train in the UK until the summer of 1944 when, with some 4,000 troops under command, it moved to Normandy, joining 21st Army Group at Falaise on 30 August. On 6 October, the brigade advanced to Dunkirk, northern France, and relieved the 154 (Highland) Infantry Brigade on the eastern side of fortress Dunkirk. The brigade was subordinated to the First Canadian Army, which was responsible for the conduct of the siege.
  The brigade's tank units were primarily equipped with the Cromwell tank and a number of 17-pounder Sherman tanks (Sherman Firefly), Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tanks and M5 Stuart light tanks. Crusader AA tanks were dispatched with the brigade but believed not to have been used. They were supported by a Motor Battalion in M5 Half-tracks and Universal Carriers, an anti-tank battery of 12 Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank guns and a Field Artillery Regiment of two batteries of Ordnance QF 25 pounder gun-howitzers. The unit was supported by a Reconnaissance Squadron that used Humber Light Reconnaissance Cars, M5 Stuarts, Humber Scout Cars and Cromwell tanks.
  1st Brigade spent the remainder of the war at Dunkirk, alternately attacking and being attacked by the energetic German garrison, including a successful major raid on German positions on 28 October 1944, Czechoslovak Independence Day. During that time, the brigade was reinforced by French units formed from local French Forces of the Interior (FFI) troops; on 15 October, these were amalgamated into the 110th FFI Infantry Regiment with two battalions allocated for the Siege of Dunkirk. On 24 January 1945, the 110th FFI Regiment was disbanded, with two its battalions and two other FFI battalions used to re-form the French 51st Infantry Regiment, a unit of the regular army. Various British and Canadian formations also supported the siege at one time or another.
  In November, the brigade passed from the First Canadian Army to the 21st Army Group. In the spring of 1945, the 1st Armoured Brigade Group was expanded to 5,900 Czechoslovak officers and men, some of whom came from nationals recruited in liberated France and a significant group of a tank battalion, an artillery regiment, a motor transport company and a company of engineers from Czechs and Slovaks forced to serve in the Wehrmacht and who were captured by the Allies in Normandy.
caption: A Cromwell tank of the Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade at De Panne, Belgium in 1945
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