The British Motor Battalion
The first Motor Battalions formed part of the experimental pre-war Mobile Division, which would go on to become the British Army’s first Armoured Division. Unlike its Infantry Battalion counterpart, the Motor Battalion was fully motorised and was provided with sufficient transport to lift all of its personnel. Throughout the war, the Motor Battalions provided close support to the Armoured Brigades of the Armoured Divisions, and on the Western Front from 1944 also to several independent Armoured Brigades.
The below links lead to descriptions of the Motor Battalion
organisations used during the campaigns in France in 1940, North Africa from
1941 through to early 1943 and the Mediterranean and Western Europe from mid
1943 to the end of the war. It
should not be confused with the Lorried Battalions of the Infantry Brigade of an
Armoured Division from 1942 onwards, which were normal infantry units who were
transported by vehicles of the Royal Army Service Corps.
The British Motor Battalion 1940
Derived from the following War Establishment tables –
A Motor Battalion, ref I/1931/8D/2, notified in Army Council Instructions 21st February 1940.
The British Motor Battalion 1941 to 1942
Derived from the following War Establishment tables –
A Motor Battalion, ref I/1931/8D/2, notified in Army
Council Instructions 21st
February 1940 (amended).
A Motor Battalion, Middle East, ref VI/559/1, notified in
Army Council Instructions 23rd September 1942, effective 15th
August 1942.
A Motor Battalion, Middle East, ref VI/559/2, notified in
Army Council Instructions 28th July 1943, effective 16th
October 1942.
The British Motor Battalion 1943 to 1945
Derived from the following War Establishment tables –
A Motor Battalion, ref II/231/2, notified in Army Council
Instructions 23rd June 1943, effective 4th June 1943.
A Motor Battalion, ref II/231/3, notified in Army Council
Instructions 9th February 1944, effective 19th January
1944.
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The British Infantry Battalion