Alan Brown (British Army officer)

Brigadier Alan Ward Brown (8 July 1909 – 1 September 1971) was a British Army tank officer of the Second World War.

Brown was educated at Bromsgrove School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before commissioning into the Royal Tank Corps on 30 January 1930. He served with the 5th Battalion until 1931, and then he served with the 2nd Armoured Car Company in India until 1935. He fought in the Mohmand campaign of 1935, during which he was awarded the Military Cross. Brown then served in the 2nd Battalion RTC until 1939. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Brown worked as a staff officer attached to the 79th Armoured Division until 1943, when he became Commanding Officer, 147th Battalion Royal Armoured Corps. He served in France following D-Day and until April 1945 was Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion Royal Tank Regiment. He then became commander of the 31st Armoured Brigade. In February 1945 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

From 1948 to 1949 Brown was the Commandant of the Specialised Armour Development Establishment, and between 1953 and 1956 was the commander of the 25th Armoured Brigade. In 1955 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and he retired with the rank of brigadier on 10 July 1958.