4 December 1941. Liverpool. England.
Another Winston Special Convoy was being prepared to sail in a few days. The ships were gathering, the equipment and stores were being loaded on. Generally, the troopships would sail from the Clyde, and many of the men were enjoying their last few days of home leave for the foreseeable future. There were however plenty of men of 8th Armoured Division working in Liverpool to make sure that their tanks were prepared for an ocean voyage and that nothing of any importance went missing in the process.
23rd and 24th Armoured Brigades had been formed originally as Army Tank Brigades, but in November 1940 had been redesignated as Armoured Brigades when 8th Armoured Division was formed. The two Brigades were made up of six battalions of the Royal Tank Regiment (23rd Brigade: 9th, 46th, 50th; 24th Brigade: 10th, 45th, 47th). Four of the Battalions were equipped with Valiant I*, the cruiser variant of the Valiant I. 9th and 11th Battalions were the first equipped with the Valiant II*, with the 6-pdr gun, to be shipped abroad.
Major-General Richard McCreery, GOC 8th Armoured Division, was aware that his orders were likely to change after they sailed. The plan originally was that 8th Armoured Division were going to relieve 7th Armoured Division in North Africa, allowing the men of that Division to rest and regroup since they had been in the thick of the action for almost two years. As well as the Valiant I* & II* tanks of his own Division, the convoy would carry another 350 tanks to re-equip 2nd and 7th Armoured Divisions, covering their losses during Operation Crusader. Nearly all the Valiant II* tanks built so far would be sailing in WS 14.
With the news coming from Tripoli, McCreery and his staff weren’t sure what the future would hold for them. He could find himself fighting the French, or working with 10th Armoured Division holding back the Germans if they broke through the Caucasus Mountains into Persia. Rumours of action in the Far East were also swilling around. The fact that the equipment issued was for the tropics meant that he knew at least that he could look forward to sunnier climes.
Changes had been made to the Support Group due to the lessons of North Africa. While the three RA regiments, 5th RHA, 73rd Anti-tank and 56th LAA were still assigned, 133rd Motorised Infantry Brigade (4th Bn Buffs, 4th & 5th Bn Royal Sussex Regiment) had been added to 8th Armoured Division. The three Battalions were equipped with the new Viking Tracked Personnel Carrier Loyd carrier, designed by Vivian Loyd, an expanded and better protected version of the Loyd Carrier. The other two Motorised Infantry Brigades of 44th Infantry Division (131st & 132nd) had been assigned to 6th and 9th Armoured Divisions to have one Motor Brigade to two Armoured Brigades.
For McCreery the power of 8th Armoured Division was breath-taking. Along with 340 excellent tanks, 2 Derby Yeomanry in a mixture of Humber Armoured Cars and Daimler Dingoes were his reconnaissance force. He had two more Royal Horse Artillery Regiments (11th and 104th) in addition to 5th RHA, all equipped with Birch SPGs, as well as 146th Field Regiment RA, with towed 25-pdrs. The Royal Engineers and Signals and all the other Administration units meant that he was going to war with a force that he could only have dreamed of when fighting as part of 1st Armoured Division in France in 1940.
McCreery had turned down the chance to command the Armoured Group of Home Forces, consisting of 1st, 6th, 9th, Armoured Divisions, along with Canadian 5th Armoured Division. Guards, 11th and 42nd Armoured Divisions were still equipping and training. Sending the 8th Armoured Division abroad earlier than planned was only because the Canadians had their own tanks built in Canada and shipped over with their men.
The opportunity to take the Division that McCreery had trained into battle was too good to miss, wherever that might take them.