The 2nd Armoured Division was a division of the British Army that was active during the early stages of the Second World War. The division's creation had been discussed since the beginning of 1939, with the intent to form it by splitting the 1st Armoured Division. A lack of tanks delayed this until December 1939. For a short period after its creation, the division had no assigned units until the 1st Light Armoured Brigade was assigned to it from the 1st Armoured Division, and the 22nd Heavy Armoured Brigade from Southern Command.

In early 1940, 1st Armoured Division was given priority for equipment, leaving the 2nd Armoured Division understrength and equipped largely with light tanks. After the Battle of France, with the threat of a German invasion of the United Kingdom, priority for equipment shifted to the 2nd Armoured Division, which was brought up to strength. The plan was to use the division to counter-attack the flanks of a feared German invasion force. In August 1940, an armoured regiment from the division was transported to Egypt and transferred to the 7th Armoured Division, but it was replaced by another. In October, it was decided to transfer the rest of the division to Egypt, as reinforcements for Middle East Command.

Before leaving for Egypt, the division exchanged brigades with the 1st Armoured Division. Since the brigade received in exchange consisted of only one armoured regiment, division strength was reduced to three armoured regiments. Upon arriving in Egypt in December 1940, the division was further reduced in order to provide support for Operation Lustre, an expeditionary force to Greece. The detached units included two-thirds of the division's tanks, a battalion of infantry, and artillery support. The remnants of the division then moved to the province of Cyrenaica in Italian Libya, which had been conquered during Operation Compass. The division's remaining tanks were worn-out; they were supplemented by captured Italian models that were equally decrepit. In March, a German-Italian counter-attack led to the destruction of the division, and the ejection of the British from Cyrenaica, except for Tobruk. The consensus of historians is that there was little the division could have done to prevent this, given the circumstances of its being under equipped, poorly supplied, lacking proper training, and having inadequate communications and an unclear chain of command.

Background During the interwar period, the British Army examined the lessons learnt from the First World War; and a need was seen for experimentation with and development of theories of manoeuvre and armoured warfare, as well as the creation of the short-lived Experimental Mechanized Force. The long-term impact was for the army to start to move towards mechanisation, to enhance battlefield mobility. By the 1930s, the army had established three types of divisions: the infantry division, the mobile division (later called an armoured division), and the motor division (a motorised infantry division). The primary role of the infantry division was to penetrate the enemy's defensive line, with the support of infantry tanks. Any gap created would then be exploited by mobile divisions, and the territory thus captured would be secured by the fast-moving motor divisions. These tactics would transform the attack into a break-through, while maintaining mobility.

The Mobile Division was created in October 1937; it included six light tank regiments, three medium tank regiments, two motorized infantry battalions, and two artillery regiments. The light-tank units were intended for reconnaissance only. General John Burnett-Stuart, who was responsible for training the Mobile Division, stated that the infantry were not "to be put on to a position by tanks and told to hold it, and they are not meant to fight side by side with your tanks in the forefront"; the infantry's role was simply to protect the tanks when they were stationary. Burnett-Stuart's tactics did not conform with British doctrine, which promoted combined-arms co-operation to win battles, as did German armoured warfare doctrine, which held that tanks by themselves would not be a decisive weapon. However, Burnett-Stuart's thinking predominated within the British armoured forces until the doctrine was reformed in 1942.

In the 1930s, tensions increased between Germany and the United Kingdom. During 1937 and 1938, German demands for the annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia led to an international crisis. This was resolved in September 1938 by the Munich Agreement, which allowed for German annexation. Tensions did not subside, and the British government debated how best to prepare the army for war. In January 1939, the Secretary of State for War Leslie Hore-Belisha proposed splitting the Mobile Division into two smaller formations but found no support for this move. The issue was broached again a month later, and was accepted in principle by the cabinet. Shortly after, the French were informed of a preliminary timetable for the arrival of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the event of war: "One Regular Armoured Division will become available about the middle of 1940, the second would not be available 'till a later date. The formation of a second division during this period was complicated by the slow pace of British tank production.

Formation and home service

The 2nd Armoured Division was activated on 15 December 1939, with Major-General Frederick Hotblack as the first general officer commanding (GOC). Hotblack had joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1916, and by 1918 he had become the army's expert on German tanks. During the 1930s, he had been posted to Germany, where he witnessed and reported on the development of German armoured forces. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939, he was the BEF's senior advisor on armoured vehicles.

The division had no assigned fighting sub-units until the following month, when the 1st Light Armoured Brigade was transferred from the 1st Armoured Division (previously the Mobile Division), and the 22nd Heavy Armoured Brigade was transferred from Southern Command. On assignment to the division, the 1st Light Armoured Brigade comprised three armoured regiments: the 1st King's Dragoon Guards (KDG), the 3rd The King's Own Hussars (3H), and the 4th Queen's Own Hussars (4H). The 22nd Heavy Brigade consisted of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, and the 3rd and the 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).

The 2nd Support Group, which would comprise the division's supporting arms, was formed in February. It did not have sub-units allocated until March; it was then composed of the 3rd Field Squadron, Royal Engineers; the 12th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (12 RHA); the 102nd (Northumberland Hussars) Light-Anti-aircraft/Anti-tank Regiment; and two motorised infantry units – the 1st Battalion, The Rangers, King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the 1st Battalion, Tower Hamlets Rifles, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own).

The war establishment – the nominal full wartime strength – for a light armoured brigade was 108 light tanks and 66 cruiser tanks. A heavy armoured brigade's war establishment was 157 cruiser tanks. British doctrine defined light tanks as reconnaissance vehicles armed only with machine guns. Cruiser tanks were swift moving, more heavily armoured, and equipped with both a machine gun and an anti-tank gun. The primary role of the cruiser tank was to engage and destroy opposing armoured forces. Its main weapon, a 2-pounder anti-tank gun, was only supplied with armour-piercing rounds. This meant that cruiser tanks were ineffective against entrenched infantry, or in suppressing hostile artillery. Despite its war establishment, the division comprised a total of only 77 Vickers light tanks in January 1940.

In early 1940, to bring it up to full strength, the 1st Armoured Division was given priority for equipment, ready to go to France. The 2nd Armoured Division strength only increased slowly and it was not immediately issued with cruiser tanks. On 14 April, the 1st Light Armoured Brigade became the 1st Armoured Brigade, and the 22nd Heavy Armoured Brigade was renamed the 22nd Armoured Brigade. The renaming followed a change in the war establishment of an armoured regiment. The armament of regiments and brigades was to be homogeneous, with each brigade having 166 cruiser tanks. In total, including tanks assigned to headquarters units, an armoured division now had an establishment of 340 tanks, sixteen 25-pounder field gun-howitzers, and twenty-four 2-pounder anti-tank guns. By May, the division had 31 light tanks in the 1st Armoured Brigade. The 22nd Armoured Brigade had no serviceable tanks and made do with lorries. The division had two 25-pounders, supplemented by four First World War–vintage 18-pounder field guns, four QF howitzers of similar vintage and two anti-tank guns. On 10 May, Major-General Justice Tilly took command after Hotblack was removed following an apparent stroke. Tilly had been an armoured warfare instructor and commander of the 1st Tank Brigade before the war.

The division was held in reserve in the Lincolnshire area. In June, the number of serviceable tanks fluctuated between 178 and 197. After the Battle of France, the division was moved to a position between Northampton, Northamptonshire, and Newmarket, Suffolk to strike into the flanks or the rear of any potential German landing in East Anglia or north of The Wash. During July, the division was given equipment priority and received new 25-pounders. By 4 August, the division had 17 new cruiser tanks and the number of light tanks had increased to 226. During August, despite the threat of invasion, the War Office decided to reinforce Middle East Command. The 3rd Hussars was transferred to Egypt to reinforce the 7th Armoured Division; it was replaced by the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (3rd RTR). The division had a steady increase in tank strength and at the end of September it had 256 light tanks and 54 cruisers.

By October, the threat of a German invasion had receded. The British could spare additional forces for the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre, including the 2nd Armoured Division. Prior to being dispatched, the 22nd Armoured Brigade was exchanged for the 3rd Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division. The 3rd Armoured Brigade consisted of only one regiment, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment (5th RTR). The division departed Liverpool in late October, on Convoy W.S. 4a.

Overseas service Arrival in the Middle East The convoy sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and arrived at Suez at the end of December. The division arrived in Egypt with just three armoured regiments: the 4H, the 3RTR, and the 5RTR. The KDG, which had previously been equipped with light tanks, had been made the division's armoured-car regiment. This had been intended as a stop-gap measure while the 1st The Royal Dragoons, based in Palestine, was mechanised to take on the role. In January 1941, after the division's arrival in Egypt, the KDG were outfitted with Marmon-Herrington Armoured Cars. On arrival, Tilly reported to General Archibald Wavell (in command of Middle East Command and all British land forces in the Middle East) that "the mechanical state of his two Cruiser regiments" was in question, with "the tracks ... practically worn out" and "engines [that] had already done a considerable mileage" without overhaul before being transported. The intention had been to replace the tracks once the tanks arrived in Egypt, but the available spare parts were found to be useless.