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| Corps Insignia (from Dullaway) Preamble
This will be the first of a rather large series of posts I'll be intermittently be posting up on the Reconnaissance Corps, but I'll primarily focus on their equipment, background and deployment in Europe. This is not an exhaustive history or guide by any stretch of the imagination, Richard Doherty's book 'Only the Enemy in Front' is highly recommended for this area, with the relevant original Regimental and Divisional Histories to expand the subject matter.
Background |
Whilst researching British forces in North-West Europe (henceforth referred to as NWE), I had to get to grips with the units that made up the British Liberation Army (BLA), from Army to Battalion level. One of the key elements available to Infantry Division's was their Reconnaissance Regiment (unofficially 'Recce Regt'), which represented the eyes and ears of the Division. They were equipped with Armoured Cars and half-tracks and tasked with making contact with the enemy, close observation, pursuit, acting as specialist line infantry... all the way to traffic control duties!
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| 15th (Scottish) Recce in Normandy. Consisting of Humber A/Cs, Bren Carriers and Half-tracks. |
Recce units had to undertake a myriad of tasks and duties which called for a unique sort of soldier, indeed in official paperwork for recruiters it asked them to find men for the Recce Corps who were considered 'dashing'! In addition the Corps was subject to stringent intelligence tests, in a concerted effort to find men of the highest calibre, they were trained exceptionally hard and it was felt within the Corps to be an extension of the Commandos in terms of discipline, skill, grit and determination. Simply put they did not feel like they were men to be trifled with.
When the Corps was created in January 1st 1941, it came at at terribly turbulent time for the British Army. The disastrous 1940 campaign in France had been thoroughly analysed and the Bartholomew Committee concluded that British reconnaissance assets were critically flawed compared to their German counterparts. After much wrangling it was decided to form a new separate Corps - not under the Royal Armoured Corps - and that the Regiments that would comprise the Reconnaissance Corps would primarily be drawn from the infantry.
Initially titled 'Reconnaissance Battalions' these units would be equipped with armoured cars, motorcycles, Carriers and a variety of locally improvised 'Heath-Robinson' styled contraptions based on soft-skinned transport. These units would replace the Divisional Cavalry, horsed reconnaissance units actually lingered on in the British Army well into 1940 (notions that the Army was fully motorised by then are a myth, despite the majority of these units were TA) owing to massive shortages of Light Tanks for the Divisional Cavalry.
The following period footage illustrates the shift from mounted reconnaissance to Armoured Cars, motorcycle combinations (removed from the Regiments long before 44), from the traditional mounted approach.
Humber Armoured Car: Part I
This also features a piece on the evolution of Reconnaissance.
Humber Armoured Car: Part II
Despite many advanced Armoured Car designs would soon begin to enter the Corps it started life awkwardly. The huge loss of transport in France saw many fledgling units born into a confused mishmash, and faced an uncertain future - the Battle of Britain had won Britain time but it was feared that the Germans may still try to launch a major knock out blow against Britain before she could fully prepare for the onslaught.
As to what the first units resembled in detail... we'll look at that in Part II.
Additional Information
Dullaway Family History
Where I acquired Recce Corps Insignia from, and photograph of a member of 59 Recce.
http://www.dullaway.co.uk/
Wartime Memories Project
Many accounts and scraps of information from the excellent Wartime Memories Project.
http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/allied/reconnaissancecorps.php
