List of Royal Armoured Corps Regiments in World War II
This is a list of regiments within the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps during the Second World War. On the creation of the corps in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, it comprised those regular cavalry and Territorial Army Yeomanry regiments that had been mechanised, together with the Royal Tank Regiment. As the war progressed and further horsed regiments were mechanised, they joined the corps, together with new (armoured) cavalry regiments that were raised for the hostilities. The RAC created its own training and support  regiments, and in 1941 and 1942 a number of infantry battalions were converted to armoured regiments and joined the RAC. Lastly, the RAC subsumed the Reconnaissance Corps in 1944. In the list below, the date refers to the date when the regiment joined the RAC. Cavalry. Regular. 1939 1940 1941 Hostilities-only. 1940 1941 Special Reserve. 1939 Yeomanry. 1939 1940 1941 1944 Royal Tank Regiment. Royal Tank Regiment nomenclature during the Second World War: the regiments were referred to as battalions and used Bn in the title. Post-war Bn was dropped and titles used Royal Tank Regiment without Bn . Dummy tanks. The following "regiments" were formed to construct and move dummy tanks. These were intended to deceive the enemy as to the disposition and strength of British armour. The 3rd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and the 4th Northamptonshire Yeomanry were formed in a similar manner. RAC regiments. RAC regiments converted from infantry. All personnel in these units wore the black RAC beret with their own infantry regimental badge. 1941 1942 1943 1944 Reconnaissance regiments. The Reconnaissance Regiments had mainly been formed in 1941–3 from infantry battalions and/or brigade anti-tank companies. They usually took their numbers from the infantry divisions  in which they were formed, but retained them if transferred to another division. Some had been disbanded before transfer to the RAC in 1944, some had been converted from RAC regiments and consequently returned to the corps in 1944.