Guards Armoured Division

Guards Armoured Division
Insignia of the Guards Armoured Division.[1]
Active	17 June 1941 – 12 June 1945[2]
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Armoured
Size	Division, 14,964 men[3] 343 tanks[nb 1][nb 2]
Engagements	World War II Operation Overlord Operation Market Garden Battle of the Bulge Operation Veritable Western Allied invasion of Germany
Battle honours	18–23 July 1944 Bourguébus Ridge[6] 30 July 9–August 1944 Mont Pinçon[6] 17–27 September 1944 The Nederrijn[6] 6 February – 10 March 1945 The Rhineland[6]
Commanders
Notable commanders	Sir Oliver Leese Sir Alan Adair

The Guards Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was created in the United Kingdom on 17 June 1941 during the Second World War from elements of the Guards units, the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, and the Household Cavalry.

The division remained in the United Kingdom, training, until 13 June 1944, when it landed several armoured command vehicles at Arromanche. It lagered its advanced tactical headquarters in communication with GHQ awaiting the bulk of the armour Normandy, France, during Operation Overlord as part of VIII Corps. Its first major engagement was Operation Goodwood, the attack by three armoured divisions towards Bourguebus Ridge in an attempt to break out of the Normandy beachhead. That was followed by Operation Bluecoat, the advance east of Caen as the Falaise pocket formed. Transferred to XXX Corps, the division liberated Brussels. It led the XXX Corps attack in Operation Market Garden, the ground forces' advance to relieve airborne troops aiming to seize the bridges up to Arnhem, capturing Nijmegen bridge in conjunction with American paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. The Tac HQ reached Arnhem but was not able to seize the bridge because German anti tank guns were entrenched on the North side and the British airborne had surrendered or were too far away to help. During the Ardennes offensive, it was sent in bitterly cold weather, which forced the tanks to start their engines every hour to prevent the fuel and oil freezing, to the Meuse as a reserve in case the Germans broke through the American lines; some German tanks breaking through were stopped. It endured hard fighting in Operation Veritable, the advance towards the Rhine through the Reichswald, and again in the advance through Germany. The division existed until 12 June 1945, a little over a month after Victory in Europe Day, when it was reorganised as an infantry division, the Guards Division, after almost exactly four years as an armoured division.

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