The 2nd Armoured Brigade was a regular British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 unit during the Second World War, originally titled 2nd Light Armoured Brigade.

History

The 2nd Armoured Brigade was part of the 1st Armoured Division when it was sent as part of the British Expeditionary Force

British Expeditionary Force (World War II)

The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....

 to France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

 in 1940. It was evacuated from Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 without its heavy equipment.

After being reformed it was sent in November 1941 to North Africa

Western Desert Campaign

The Western Desert Campaign, also known as the Desert War, was the initial stage of the North African Campaign during the Second World War. The campaign was heavily influenced by the availability of supplies and transport. The ability of the Allied forces, operating from besieged Malta, to...

 where it served with the 7th Armoured Division at Gazala

Battle of Gazala

The Battle of Gazala was an important battle of the Second World War Western Desert Campaign, fought around the port of Tobruk in Libya from 26 May-21 June 1942...

, El Alamein

Second Battle of El Alamein

The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...

 and with the 1st Armoured Division in Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 and Italy

Italian Campaign (World War II)

The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...

.

Commanders

• Brig. F. Thornton
• Brig. Sir Richard McCreery
  Richard McCreery
  General Sir Richard Loudon McCreery GCB, KBE, DSO, MC , was a British career soldier, who was Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, at the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein and later commanded the British Eighth Army in Northern Italy during...
  
  
• Brig. Raymond Briggs
  Raymond Briggs (British Army officer)
  Major-General Raymond Briggs CB DSO was a British Army officer who led 2nd Armoured Brigade at the Second Battle of El Alamein.-Military career:...
  
  
• Brig. A.F. Fisher
• Brig. R. Peake
• Brig. G.W. Goodbody
  Richard Goodbody
  General Sir Richard Wakefield Goodbody GCB KBE DSO was a senior British Army officer and a former Adjutant-General to the Forces.-Military career:...
  
  
• Brig. J.F.B. Combe
  John Frederick Boyce Combe
  Major-General John Frederick Boyce Combe CB DSO & Bar was a British Army officer before and during World War II. He was twice awarded the DSO for his service in the Western Desert Campaign before being captured in April 1941 and spending nearly two and a half years as a prisoner of war in Italy...
  
  

Component Units during the Second World War

• The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards)
• 9th Queen's Royal Lancers
  9th Queen's Royal Lancers
  The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers, or the Delhi Spearmen, were a cavalry regiment of the British Army. They are best known for their roles in the Indian mutiny of 1857 and for their part in the North African campaign of World War II including the retreat to and the battle of El Alamein in 1942.-Early...
  
  
• 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own)
  10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own)
  The 10th Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1715 to 1969.-Early history:In response to the Jacobite Rebellion, the regiment was raised in 1715 as Humphrey Gore's Regiment of Dragoons...
  
  
• 1st Bn. The Rifle Brigade
• 9th Bn. The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

See also

• British Armoured formations of the Second World War
  British Armoured formations of the Second World War
  The British Armoured formations of the Second World War refers to the Armoured Divisions and Independent Armoured and Tank Brigades deployed by the British Army during the Second World War. They had two types of armoured vehicle. The Infantry tank which was heavily armoured and slow, designed to...