Valentine tanks of the 11th Armoured Division gather near a church during an exercise in Northern Command, 16 October 1941.
The 11th Armoured Division was organized in March 1941, in Yorkshire under Northern Command, under Major-General Percy Hobart. A veteran of the Royal Tank Regiment, he had already strongly influenced the shape of the 7th Armoured Division, but his original and innovative ideas had led to his early retirement from the army. Reinstated after the disasters of the Battle of France in May–June 1940, he further realised his vision with the 11th Armoured Division. Under his leadership the division adopted the "Charging Bull" as its emblem.[3]
Originally composed of the 29th and 30th Armoured Brigade, together with the 11th Support Group, it was reorganised in late May and early June 1942 on the standard armoured division establishment of the time, of a single armoured brigade and an infantry brigade, along with supporting units. As a result, the 11th Support Group was disbanded and the 30th Armoured Brigade left the division, to be replaced by the 159th Infantry Brigade, transferred from the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. After this reorganisation, for the next two years it conducted intensive training while gradually receiving new, more modern equipment.[4] In November 1942, as the Allies invaded French North Africa as part of Operation Torch the division, then serving in Scotland and now commanded by Major-General Brocas Burrows after Hobart was deemed too old, at 57, for active service, was warned to prepare for overseas service to join the British First Army, soon to be engaged in hard fighting in Tunisia, and began embarking when the order was cancelled, as it was felt that less armour and more infantry were needed in the difficult terrain in that country.[5]
Training continued throughout the remainder of 1942 and the whole of 1943; Major-General Philip Roberts, an experienced armoured commander, took command in December 1943.[6]
History
Normandy
An ammunition carrier of the 11th Armoured Division explodes after being hit by a mortar round during Operation Epsom on 26 June 1944.
Most of the 11th Armoured Division landed on Juno Beach on 13 June 1944 (D+7),[7] seven days after the 3rd Canadian Division had landed on D-Day. It was deployed in all major operations of the British Second Army, including Operations Epsom, Goodwood, and Bluecoat, and the battles around the Falaise Gap.[8]
The 11th Armoured Division, as part of the VIII Corps, was committed to action on 26 June 1944 as part of Operation Epsom. It entered the Scottish 'corridor', opened beforehand by the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division. Despite mistakes in navigation, which slowed down the 159th Infantry Brigade in Mouen, the 11th managed to seize the bridges at Grainville and Colleville. It then progressed southward to Hill 112 (a dominant feature in the Normandy landscape near the village of Baron) and succeeded in capturing and holding this high ground against increasingly intense German counter-attacks. However, a renewed attack by fresh SS-Panzerdivisions transformed what was intended as a breakthrough into a battle for position. Before the German reinforcements could attack, General Bernard Montgomery ordered a withdrawal from the hilltop.[9]
The 11th Armoured was then moved to the east of Caen to spearhead Operation Goodwood.[10] Planning and execution errors, coupled with strong German defences, led to a tactical British defeat. Goodwood was cancelled on 20 July, with the 11th Armoured being withdrawn from the front line to rest and refit. In only two days of fighting, it had lost 126 tanks.[11]
The 11th Armoured was directed again to the west, to take part in Operation Bluecoat. Beginning on 30 July 1944 it seized Saint-Martin-des-Besaces. The division spotted an intact bridge on the Souleuvre river, which enabled it to drive the Germans back. In what became the famous "Charge of the Bull", the division liberated Le Bény-Bocage on 1 August and quickly progressed southward. Although severely weakened at that time, the German army remained ever-present and dangerous. From 5 August, The 11th Armoured worked with the Guards Armoured Division and 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division to push back a counter-attack of the 9th SS Panzer Division.[13]
After being replaced by the 3rd Infantry Division, the 11th Armoured was attached to XXX Corps. It progressed eastward hard on the heels of the Germans, who were retreating after the failure of the Mortain counteroffensive. The sole memorial to the fallen of the division is at Pont de Vère, the location of a battle on 16 August against a German rearguard.[14] The 11th Armoured seized Flers on 17 August.[15] Once the battle for the Falaise gap was over, the 11th Armoured liberated L'Aigle on 23 August and crossed the Seine on 30 August.[16]
After a night move, and an unprecedented advance of 60 miles in one day, the division liberated Amiens on 1 September. The same day, it captured General Heinrich Eberbach, commander of the Wehrmacht's German 7th Army. Advancing to Lens, then Tournai, the division was then committed to the fight for Antwerp, which it liberated on 4 September. Two days later, it tried to establish a bridgehead over the Albert Canal, but the attempt, due to intense enemy fire, was not successful.[17] After this failure, 11th Armoured had to cross much further to the east, at Beringen.[18]
The division was not directly committed to Operation Market Garden. Instead, it was tasked with securing the right flank of the operation. Attached to VIII Corps, it began moving on 18 September. Advancing in two columns, it managed to reach the US 101st Airborne Division at Nuenen, while on the 22nd, its engineers established a bridge over the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal. The division could then make an encircling move around Helmond, forcing the Germans to withdraw on 25 September.[19]
At the beginning of October, the division was employed in clearing pockets of German resistance remaining west of the Maas. The operation developed promisingly with 159th Infantry Brigade, battling its way across the Deurne canal. Unfortunately, the attack was quickly stopped by obstinate German resistance. Further delay was imposed by the growing supply shortage and the launching of an enemy counter-attack in the south. There was also a skillful German defence which postponed clearing of the Maas for several weeks. During this period the division came into contact with troops from the United States and the divisional sign was referred to as "the Swell Bison". On 16 October Sergeant George Harold Eardley of the 4th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry (from 159th Brigade) was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery.[20]
Preparations for a new crossing attempt were delayed until the second half of November. On the 22nd, 159th Brigade managed to cross and to seize the village of America. It progressed to Horst, before being relieved by units of the 15th (Scottish) Division. On 30 November, it attacked a fortress defended by German parachutists at the Battle of Broekhuizen.[21] The enemy inflicted heavy losses, before capitulating on 5 December.[22]
Ardennes to the Rhine
At the beginning of December 1944 units of the 11th Armoured Division were placed in reserve around Ypres. The start of the Battle of the Bulge modified British ambitions. Being one of few formations in reserve, the 11th Armoured was urgently recalled to active service with its old tanks and directed to hold a defensive line along the Meuse, between Namur and Givet. 29th Armoured Brigade played a significant role stopping the progress of German Battlegroup Böhm on 25 and 26 December 1944. Battlegroup Böhm had penetrated the furthest during the last German offensive in the West.[23]
Lower Rhine
On 17 February 1945 the 159th Brigade was recalled to the front, to add its weight to the reinforce XXX Corps fighting in Operation Veritable (Lower Rhine region).[24] The fights lasted longer and were more difficult than expected and, despite fairly limited involvement, suffered the highest exhaustion rates of any British or Canadian units involved. At the same time the 4th Armoured Brigade, under Brigadier Michael Carver, came under command of the division[25] and left 8 March.[26]
The infantry of the 11th Armoured later received orders to seize Gochfortzberg, south of Üdem, then to break the Schlieffen line and capture Sonsbeck, in order to support the II Canadian Corps which progressed towards Hochwald from the north (→ Operation Blockbuster). The brigade attack started on 26 February.[27] Under challenging conditions, Gochfortzberg was seized on 28 February, Sonsbeck on 3 March.[28]
The 11th Armoured Division was held in reserve until 28 March 1945[29] when it crossed the Rhine at Wesel, heading for the river Weser. Despite sporadic pockets of resistance, it reached Gescher on the evening of 30 March. During the next few weeks the division worked closely with the British 6th Airborne Division, both of which were under command of Lieutenant-General Evelyn Barker's VIII Corps.[30] 3 RTR arrived at the river Ems in Emsdetten; they then reached the Dortmund-Ems canal the following day.[31]
After crossing the canal on 1 April, the 11th Armoured approached Ibbenbüren and was heavily engaged on the heights of the Teutoburger Wald. The villages of Brochterbeck and Tecklenburg were captured, albeit at a high price. Further east, the wooded hills were defended by companies of NCOs, who savagely counter-attacked the 3rd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment. The intervention of the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment of the 131st Infantry Brigade, of the 7th Armoured Division, later on, made it possible to overcome their opposition, but the battalion, already weakened during previous campaigns, had to be replaced by the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment and was transferred to the 115th Independent Infantry Brigade.[32] The battalion had suffered over 1,100 casualties throughout the campaign, including 267 killed.[33] It was during the same action the division was also awarded its second Victoria Cross of the war, belonging to Corporal Edward Thomas Chapman of the 2nd Monmouths.[34]
Divisional units continued toward the Osnabrück canal. After crossing via a captured bridge, it moved towards the Weser, reached by leading elements near Stolzenau on 5 April. A week later, the 11th Armoured liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.[35] A local agreement with German commanders designed to prevent the spread of typhus made it possible to declare the neighbourhood of the camp a neutral area, and the fighting moved northeast. The division reached the river Elbe near Lüneburg on 18 April.[36]
On 30 April 1945 the 11th Armoured Division launched their last attack. It crossed the Elbe at Artlenburg, then against little opposition, occupied Lübeck on 2 May and Neustadt on 3 May (Cap Arcona). It finished the war by patrolling the surrounding countryside, collecting 80,000 prisoners which included 27 Generals. After the German surrender, the 11th Armoured Division was used as an occupation force in the Schleswig-Holstein area. On 23 May, units of the division were employed in the capture of members of the Dönitz Government in Flensburg.[37]
The 11th Armoured Division was disbanded shortly after the end of the war at the end of January 1946. During the campaign in northwestern Europe, from June 1944 until May 1945, the division had lost almost 2,000 officers and men killed in action and more than 8,000 wounded or missing in action.[38]
Post war
The 11th Armoured Division was reformed in the autumn of 1950, but was then converted into the 4th Infantry Division in April 1956.[39]
Order of battle
11th Armoured Division was constituted as follows during the Second World War:[6]
In Episode 4 "Replacements" of the TV miniseries Band of Brothers, during the assault on Nuenen. The 11th Armoured Division's reconnaissance unit, the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars equipped with Cromwell tanks, assisted Easy Company on a forced reconnaissance northeast of Eindhoven. Although they show both Cromwell and Sherman tanks, the Hussars was historically equipped with Cromwells only. The tanks have the 11th Armoured Division formation badge, "45" for reconnaissance unit and a triangle for "A" Squadron.[45]
^Celinscak, Mark (2015). Distance from the Belsen Heap: Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Concentration Camp. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN9781442615700.
^Graves, Philip (1940), A Record of the War: the Thirteenth Quarter, October 1, 1942 – December 31, 1942, Hutchinson, p. 14
Buckley, John (2006) [2004]. British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN978-0-415-40773-1.
Copp, T. (2007) [2003]. Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN978-0-8020-3780-0.
Delaforce, Patrick (2010). The Black Bull: From Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured Division. Pen and Sword. ISBN978-1848842281.
Delaforce, Patrick (2008). Monty's Marauders: The 4th and 8th Armoured Brigades in the Second World War. Pen and Sword. ISBN978-1844156306.
Doherty, Richard (2013). British Armoured Divisions and Their Commanders, 1939–1945. Pen and Sword. ISBN978-1848848382.
Hinsley, F. H. (1994) [1993]. British Intelligence in the Second World War. Its influence on Strategy and Operations (abridged). History of the Second World War (2nd rev. pbk. ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN978-0-11-630961-7.
Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield, East Sussex: Naval and Military Press. ISBN978-1-84342-474-1.
Forczyk, Robert (2011). Walther Model (command). Osprey. ISBN978-1849083577.
Palamountain, Edgar W I (1946). Taurus Pursuant: A History of 11th Armoured Division. British Army of the Rhine.
Trew, Simon; Badsey, Stephen (2004). Battle for Caen. Battle Zone Normandy. Faber and Faber. ISBN978-0-7509-3010-9.
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