6th Guards Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 6th Guards Tank Brigade was formed in 1941 as the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade when Great Britain was under the threat of invasion and more armoured formations were required, permission was granted from King George VI and the Colonels of the Regiments involved and over the summer of 1941, the Infantry of the Guards converted into an armoured formation and so the Guards Armoured Division was formed which contained the 5th Guards Armoured Brigade and the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade.

In 1942 all British armoured divisions were reorganised to have one armoured brigade and one motor brigade. The 6th Guards Armoured became an independent tank brigade being renamed as the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. The brigade now equipped with the Churchill tank, served in the North West Europe Campaign landing in Normandy on 20 July 1944.

Correspondence in Winston Churchill's The Second World War (Volume V: Closing the Ring, Annex C) in April 1944 appears to indicate there was consideration of breaking the brigade up and making its personnel available as replacements for other army formations. Churchill was opposed to this, and nothing appears to have been done.

The brigade went onto take part in Operation Bluecoat, Operation Veritable finally ending the war at Lübeck on the Baltic Sea where they captured a U-boat.

Commanders

 * 15 January 1943 – 3 August 1944 Brigadier GL Verney
 * 3 August 1944 – 16 August 1944 Brigadier Sir Walter Bartellot, Bt
 * 18 August 1944 – 2 February 1945 Brigadier WDC Greenacre

Formation

 * 4th Motor Battalion Coldstream Guards
 * 4th Armoured Battalion Grenadier Guards
 * 3rd Armoured Battalion Scots Guards
 * 2nd Armoured Battalion Welsh Guards