Aldershot Command was a formation of the British Army at the start of the Second World War in September 1939. It had been re-formed in 1905, when the army established a series of geographical military districts, known as "commands", to replace six army corps that had existed for a short period. The purpose of the commands was to administer all units and formations located within their geographical borders, and if needed could be further subdivided into "areas". In 1939, it was one of the army's six regional commands, which existed within the British Isles, on the outbreak of the Second World War.[1][2][3] Its geographical area encompassed parts of the following four counties: Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex.[4]
A command was placed under the control of a general officer commanding who was assisted by an assortment of staff officers, which were subdivided between the General Staff, the Adjutant-General, the Quartermaster-General, as well as the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Royal Corps of Signals, Royal Army Medical Corps, and various other branches of the army. On the outbreak of the war, the general officer commanding of Aldershot Command was Lieutenant-General Sir John Dill.[4][5] Within the British Army's hierarchy, the command's general officer commanding would receive orders from General Headquarters, Home Forces and would then disseminate those instructions to the units under its charge. In the event of an invasion of the UK, it was intended that each command could form the basis for a field army.[2] However, on the outbreak of the war, Aldershot Command was used to form I Corps and then became responsible for providing drafts for British Expeditionary Force.[6][7] Following defeat during the Battle of France, the British Army reorganised their forces based in the UK. For Aldershot Command, this resulted in being downgraded into Aldershot Area within the new South Eastern Command on 15 February 1941. The new formation was formed by the splitting of Eastern Command and absorbing Aldershot's geographical area.[8]
Aldershot Command, outbreak of the Second World War, September 1939
At the start of the war, the Royal Tank Regiment utilized 'infantry' terminology and called their units battalions. In May 1940, the Royal Armoured Corps (the parent organisation that administered all armoured units) standardised nomenclature around the 'cavalry' tradition and thereafter, the term battalion was dropped, and the units were then known only as regiments.[10]
Both battalions were located in Aldershot. While they were subordinate to Aldershot Command, they were both administered by brigades of the 1st Infantry Division.[14]
Dear, Ian; Foot, Michael (1995). The Oxford Companion to the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19214-168-2.
Dunlop, John K. (1938). The Development of the British Army 1899–1914. London: Methuen. OCLC59826361.
Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield, East Sussex: Naval and Military Press. ISBN978-1-84342-474-1.
Ironside, Edmund (2018). Ironside: The Authorised Biography of Field Marshal Lord Ironside. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN978-0-75098-740-0.
The Tank. Vol.Issue 498–509. London: Royal Tank Regimental Publications Committee. 1960. OCLC25275667.{{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
U.S. War Department (1943). Technical Manual: Handbook on the British Army with Supplements on the Royal Air Force and Civilian Defense Organizations. Washington: U.S Government Printing Office. OCLC19930228.