AA SPECIAL
CAPTAIN TOM MOORE
it had been fully equipped with Valentines and had an
armoured car troop in Ford Indian Pattern Carriers. Six
Universal Carriers were added as part of the mortar troop
in November 1942.
A photograph from this period shows a youthful
Lieutenant Moore, along with a brother officer, siting on
the front deck of a Valentine surrounded by the crew.
The two officers are wearing the black RAC berret with
regimental cap badge.
In Bombay, Moore, who went on to win trophies in
competitive motorcycling after the war, was instructed
to set up a motorcycling course for the regiment. The
regiment then moved east to Calcutta, a road trip
that took three weeks through the driving rain of the
monsoon. 146 RAC was assigned to the 50 Indian Tank
Brigade and initially based at Kirkee Barracks in Poona,
later moving to Dhond until July 13, 1942.
On 1st October 1942, Tom Moore was promoted to
war-substantive Lieutenant and to temporary Captain
on October 11, 1944. With this rank he was probably
Second in Command of a tank squadron and responsible
for the administration and re-supply. The regiment then
moved to Lohardaya (under XV Indian Corps) until January
1, 1943 and then to the Ratu-Ranchi area.
The various squadrons were then split off and assigned
to different fighting forces across Burma. ‘A’ Squadron
was attached to the 72 Indian Infantry Brigade, ‘B’ to the
29 Infantry Brigade and ‘C’ Squadron as the divisional
reserve. ‘A’ Squadron was located at Madh Island, Bombay
with its brigade. When the order of battle of the 36 Indian
Infantry Division changed, the division was allotted only
two squadrons. It returned before entering the Arakan
and the regiment was located during the first six months
of 1944 at Pashau Camp in Poona, where they gradually
converted from Valentines to M3 Lee tanks. By May 1943,
the Regiment’s ‘C’ Squadron had been fully equipped with
M3 Lees and subsequently absorbed ‘B’ Squadron which,
therefore, moved onto M3 Lee tanks as well.
The Lee had a hull-mounted 75mm gun with restricted
traverse but this matched the limited visibility of the
jungle, while the turret-mounted 37mm gun now had a
canister shot that was ideal for infantry support. The crews
worked out an effective method of bunker busting, using
their HE shells to clear away any camouflage and their AP
shells to break up the bunkers.
The regiment’s constituent squadrons had largely
regrouped into a regimental formation again by early
1944. By 1944 the Lee was the primary equipment of
the regiment, except for ‘A’ Squadron which was then
equipped as a light armoured vehicle squadron. 146 RAC
was an active participant in the Second Arakan campaign
and A Squadron, supported 26 Indian Division in landing
and later fighting on Ramree Island, (Operation Matador)
in January and February 1945.
On May 9th, Tom and his comrades heard that the war
in Europe was over and VE Day was being celebrated but
they knew that for the 14th Army the war was far from
over.
During July 1945 the 254 Indian Tank Brigade, having
returned from Burma, became established at Ahmednagar,
in Maharashtra State. One of the brigade’s constituent
units, 7 Light Cavalry needed to be relieved, and 146 RAC
was assigned as its replacement. The regiment’s 1945
reassignment to 254 Brigade led to the introduction of the
M4 Sherman tank, though a report of June 1945 shows
that 146 RAC was not considered battle-ready at that
stage, having received only 12 Shermans for the entire
regiment and, with three quarters of its manpower being
made up of new recruits, it had insufficient training on the
vehicles
In 1945 Tom Moore moved further south with the
regiment, reaching Rangoon where they linked up
with amphibious forces who had landed in “Operation
Dracula”. The war in the Far East ended on August 15,
1945 and the regiment was sent to Sumatara in the
Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) to ensure stability
following the Japanese surrender.
On his return to Britain, Tom Moore served as an
instructor at the Armoured Fighting Vehicle School in
Bovington, Dorset until the troops were demobilised and
returned home. AA
Valentine Mk III Tank Tunisia 1943
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