Thread by @ReassessHistory

So what tanks did 2 Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, divisional cavalry regiment, have before fully upgrading to Vickers Mk VI before going to Northern Ireland in June 1940?

Well...

It's another dive into Invasion Summer: 1940!* /1
*Memes and pics.
#WW2 #SWW #History

2 FFY formed from 1 FFY's B Sqn in March 1939 when Chamberlain made the fundamentally bloody bonkers decision mega-belated decision to double the TA.

A recruiting frenzy followed and within 14 days they hit full establishment of 32 officers and 403 ORs ./2

Lt-Col Alexander 'Sandy' McIntosh commanded the regt, having served as B Sqn's OC prior to duplication. Educated at Merchiston Castle School, he became a director of a furniture manufacturing business in Kirkcaldy, damned competent in leadership, direction and overseeing men.* /3

* Sound familiar? He commands GHQ Regt, Phantom in Normandy. /4

B Squadron formed the core with most men core from Kirkcaldy and farms around there, with much of the new intake coming from 300 men from around Fife.

This helped retain their fiercely Scottish identity & 2/Lt Jo Grimond* joined, "We were not at all keen on incomers." /5

* Jo Grimond may sound familiar as well, as y'know future liberal leader.

[Seriously need to get onto tanks but... some right important peeps in 2 FFY] /6

The only notable shift was a comb out of all under-19s before deployment to Northern Ireland, seeing the character shift a bit and no longer consist solely of those from Kirk/Dundee/Fife as English drafts made good numbers, who integrated pretty well. /7

Sandy oversaw 2 FFY adopt an aggressive ethos and focused on building up morale. He clearly felt aggression would be core to their success in action, but what kit did they have? /8

They had three Squadrons, A, B and C.

On paper to be fully equipped with Vickers Mk VIB light tanks and Scout Carriers (taken in Northern Ireland in March 1941).

But... there weren't enough about. /9

Their sister Regt was 1 FFY and was in France with 51st Highland. Here's how a standardised divisional cavalry regiment looked (about a squadron featured), plenty of Scout Carriers and VI B.

Nice. /10

So 2 FFY was not standardised. Sandy did the best with, some VIBs, but also... Vickers Mk II armed with a .303 MG.

One officer, Gill, said "We were aware they were very out of date... in so far... practically speaking 14 - 18 War types of vehicles rather than modern ones." /11

They also had Bren gun carriers, not quite right but pretty close. /12

And they had... I shit you not, 'Daimler Steyr' armoured cars.

What was this? Well... it's a mystery beasty.

These were most likely Steyr-Daimler-Puch armoured rejected by the Army having lost out to the Guy Armoured Car in 1938!*

*Pic of the winning Guy. /12

So what did the SDP armoured car look like?

It's actually rather hard to find out.

It appears, probably ADSK mods with Morris engines. Either way they were temperamental and hated by The Fifes. /13

The Fifes' IO, 2/Lt Allan cursed, "No more temperamental vehicles exist. When it is particularly necessary that a Daimler Steyr should function it invariably produces from it's engine, not power but a series of explosions of no propulsive value."

One key thing to remember is that ammunition shortages were not resolved by the time they went to France, nor small arms shortages, with just a smattering of revolvers and handful of rounds in some cases. /15

Of course 2 FFY went on to have a bloody lively war with 11th Armoured Division, but how they got from rustbuckets to Shermans well...

That's another story.

This is just a snapshot of a 'well' equipped div cav regt in 1939 - 1940. /thread