42nd Armoured Division (United Kingdom)

The 42nd Armoured Division was a First Line Territorial Army formation during the Second World War. It was formed by converting an infantry division into an armoured role. It was never deployed overseas and was disbanded before seeing combat.

The division was formed by converting the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division, a First Line Territorial Army infantry formation, on 1 November 1941 into an Armoured Division. The division was not posted overseas and its divisional headquarters was disbanded on 17 October 1943; the division's infantry was assigned to the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division and its armour to the 79th Armoured Division.

General Officer Commanding
Two men served as the General Officer Commanding of the 42nd Armoured Division:
 * Major-General Miles Dempsey
 * Major-General John Aldam Aizlewood

Component Units
(on Formation in 1941)
 * 112th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (Foresters) (armoured car regiment)

10th Armoured Brigade
On 1 November 1941, the 10th Armoured Brigade was converted from the 125th Infantry Brigade and was attached to the 42nd Armoured Division. It comprised the 108th Regt Royal Armoured Corps and the 145th Regt RAC. On 25 July 1942, the brigade was converted again into the 10th Tank Brigade and finally disbanded on 25 November 1943. The 10th Armoured Brigade did not see active service as a unit.

11th Armoured Brigade

 * 107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (King's Own)
 * 110th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (Border Regiment)
 * 111th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (Manchester Regiment)
 * 1st Bn. The Highland Light Infantry

42nd Support Group

 * 1st Bn. The East Lancashire Regiment
 * 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt. Royal Artillery
 * 53rd (Worcestershire and Oxfordshire Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regt. RA
 * 42nd Armoured Division Signal Regiment

In the early days of the Second World War the support group (or Pivot Group as it was sometimes known) was what its name suggested. It provided whatever support the armoured brigades needed to the operation in hand, being able to provide motorised infantry, field artillery, anti-tank artillery or light anti-aircraft artillery as needed.