6th Guards Tank Brigade (United Kingdom)

6th Guards Armoured Brigade 6th Guards Tank Brigade 6th Guards Brigade
Insignia of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade
Active	1941–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Armoured
Size	Brigade
Part of	Guards Armoured Division 1941–1942 Independent 1942–1945

The 6th Guards Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade of the British Army during the Second World War formed from the Foot Guards in 1941 as the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade when the United Kingdom was under the threat of invasion and more armoured formations were required.

Permission was granted from King George VI and the Colonels of the Regiments involved and, over the summer of 1941, the Infantry of the Guards converted into an armoured formation and the Guards Armoured Division was formed, containing the 5th and 6th Guards Armoured Brigades, together with supporting units.

In 1942, all British armoured divisions were reorganised to have one armoured brigade and one motorised infantry brigade. The 6th Guards Armoured Brigade thus became an independent tank brigade, being renamed as the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. The brigade, now equipped with the Churchill tank, served in the North West Europe Campaign landing in Normandy on 20 July 1944.

Correspondence in Winston Churchill's The Second World War (Volume V: Closing the Ring, Annex C) in April 1944 appears to indicate there was consideration of breaking the brigade up and making its personnel available as replacements for other army formations. Churchill was opposed to this, and nothing appears to have been done.

The brigade went on to take part in the Battle of Normandy in Operation Bluecoat,Operation Veritable finally ending the war at Lübeck on the Baltic Sea where they captured a U-boat.