Indian Armored Divisions in World War II
v.1.1 August 25, 2002
[The information below is taken mainly from Mr. Todd Mills' Regiments.org and is the work of an American historian, Mr. David Ryan.]
While four armored divisions were raised during World War II in the British-Indian Army, only one saw service.� The rest were broken up before they could serve overseas.
31 Armored Division was raised in September 1940 as 1 Armored Division, and was redesignated 31 Armored Division in December 1941.� It was redesignated 1 Armored Division on September 1, 1945.� The division served in Iraq, Persia, Palestine, and North Africa.� It had two armored brigades, 1st and 2nd, the designations of which were changed to 251 and 252 Armored Brigades.� 31 Division had the 252 Armored and 43 Lorry Brigades.� 1 Division had 1 Armored and 43 Lorry Brigade, a scheme it retained till after the 1971 War, when armored divisions were changed to a three-brigade layout, and 43 Lorry Brigade became 43 Armored Brigade.
Three Indian cavalry regiments served with 31 Division: 4 Horse (Hodson's) then known as 4 Duke of Connought's Own Lancers, 14 Horse (Scinde) then known as 14 Prince of Wales' Cavalry, and the 13 Duke of Connought's Lancers, which went to Pakistan.� One Indian infantry battalion served with the division, the 1/14 Bombay Grenadiers (Motorized).� The three other battalions in the division, under 43 Lorry Brigade, were 2/6, 2/8 and 2/10 Gurkha Rifles, all three of which were retained by the Crown on Independence.
32 Armored Division was raised as 2 Armored Division in 1940, redesignated 32 Armored Division in 1942, disbanded in 1943 and merged with 43 Armored Division to form 44 Armored Division.� This division had as its sign a white rhino on a red background.
43 Armored Division was raised in 1942 and disbanded in 1943 to be merged with 44 Armored Division.� Its sign was a charging longhorn buffalo.
44 Armored Division was raised in 1943, but disbanded in 1944.� The divisional HQ fought as HQ 44 Airborne Division in the Northeast.
It needs noting that these divisions were fully raised with all constituent units before being disbanded, representing a colossal waste of time and effort.� Even 31 Division was used only in an auxiliary role for protecting oil wells and maintaining internal security in Palestine.� Readers with information as to why this happened are welcome to comment - click on Questions.