United
Kingdom: A Brief History of 141st Royal Armored Corps
v.1.0
August 28, 2002
#6-4
In 1941, some 33 Territorial Army infantry battalions were converted to tank units. Amongst them was the 7th Bn The Buffs. The Buffs were the infantry regiment of East Kent - formed in 1665 the regiment owes its name to the buff colored facings on their tunics -in the 17th century they were one of two regiments commanded by colonels of the same name-Howard. One regiment had buff facings and the other green-the latter evolved into the present day Green Howards who recruit from northern Yorkshire. The Buffs disappeared in 1961 and after a series of amalgamations are part of the ancestry of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.
The 7th Bn The Buffs was a war-formed unit-first formed in July 1940 for home defense duties. After conversion to tanks and retitled as 141 RAC.
It served with 31st Tank Brigade. In 1943, it became part of 'Hobo's Funnies' - the specialized armored units created for the invasion of Europe. Until late 1944 141 RAC was the only regiment that operated 'Crocodiles' -they employed Churchill tanks as mobile flame throwers-each tank towed a fuel trailer and the flame gun mounted on the tank had a maximum range of 90 yards. The American Army scorned most of the specialized armor developed by the British except for the Crocodile-to their cost at Omaha Beach! But they were dangerous weapons. I have visited a spot in Holland where British tanks - equipped with a more sophisticated flame weapon-called Conger - ignited in a massive fireball when preparing to attack the Germans. The unit lost over 50 men - we stopped using nitroglycerine after that episode. The men were Canadian truck drivers who were delivering the nitro and the tank crews were sappers from Wales!