43rd Royal Tank Regiment The 43rd ( 6th ( City ) Battalion , The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers ) Royal Tank Regiment ( 43 RTR ) was an armoured regiment of the British Army ' s Royal Armoured Corps that tested and demonstrated specialised Armoured Fighting Vehicle s during World War II . Origin and training . As part of the rearmament of the British Army before World War II , the 6th Battalion Royal Northumberland Fusiliers , 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 49 RTR 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 . At the end of May 1940 , with the British Expeditionary Force being evacuated from Dunkirk and the imminent threat of German invasion of England , 25th Army Tank Brigade was redesignated 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 s and two Boys anti - tank rifle 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 . Although still organised as an MMG battalion , it did begin to receive a few Matilda II tanks and Light Dragons ( tracked artillery tractors ) for training , later followed by a mixture of Vickers Medium Mark I s and Mk II s , Mathilda Mk IIAs and Vickers Light Mk VIB s . 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 role on the South Downs . 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 to supervise the training of infantry battalions converting to tanks . 43 RTR was stationed at Welbeck Abbey , where it provided training courses for the other battalions in the brigade : 144th and 148th Regiment s Royal Armoured Corps . The brigade was equipped with Churchill tank s , replacing 43 RTR ' s Matildas . Throughout 1942 , training continued , first at Welbeck , later at Berkhamsted . 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 LCT s 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 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 . 43 RTR was made responsible for training Armoured Assault Regiments of the Royal Engineers ( RE ) on Mathilda and Valentine 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 Carrier s equipped with flamethrowers ) , B Sqn with Mathilda Barons ( turretless tanks equipped with mine flail s ) , 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 charge s 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 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 . 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 . 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 CDL tanks had arrived from the docks . 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 .