Australian armoured units of World War II

Later in the war, though, during the Huon Peninsula, Bougainville and Borneo campaigns of 1943–45, several armoured units were used by Australian forces in the infantry support role.

[3] As with the rest of the Australian Army, the outbreak of war in 1939 led to a dramatic expansion of Australia’s armoured force.

Each of the four divisions in the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was authorised a cavalry reconnaissance regiment equipped with light tanks and scout carriers.

The three AIF divisional cavalry regiments were:[5] These units saw action in the Middle East – fighting against the Italians in Libya, the Vichy French in Syria, and the Germans in Egypt – with their parent formations between 1941 and 1942, before returning to Australia in 1942–43.

[17] Experience in New Guinea in 1942, particularly around Buna–Gona demonstrated that, like almost all vehicles, the Universal Carrier was ill-suited to the dense jungle terrain common throughout the south-west Pacific.

For example, in April 1944, after being ferried into position by several aircraft, a platoon from the 11th Division's carrier company clashed with an isolated group of Japanese around Wantoat during the advance towards Madang.

Several anti-tank regiments were issued with 2 pounder guns mounted on modified Australian-built Universal Carriers,[21] while standard Universal Carriers were issued to the Army's armoured regiments in 1941 and early 1942 for training purposes and to provide the Army with a minimal armoured capability until the arrival of large numbers of M3 Grant and M3 Stuart tanks in April 1942.

Meanwhile, as the threat of invasion passed the need for large armoured formations had lessened, and the divisions had been broken up between mid-1943 and 1944 with only one operational brigade remaining by the end of the war.

While these regiments began forming in mid-1941 they were not issued with any tanks as it was planned to equip the division and finalise its training when it deployed to the Middle East between December 1941 and March 1942.

[32][33] These were replaced by newly arrived M3 Grant medium tanks in April and May 1942, and the division completed its training in northern New South Wales, before moving to Western Australia in 1943 where it was tasked with defending against a possible Japanese invasion.

[44] Due to the nature of their employment, casualties among Australian armoured units during World War II were limited in comparison with the infantry.