Colour patch : 2/10th Armoured Regiment

Embroided colour patch of the 2/10th Armoured Regiment featuring a centrally placed left facing rhomboidal shaped tank motif superimposed over a diagonally split black over yellow background. The entire five sided colour patch has a light grey surround.

The Royal Australian Armoured Corps (RAAC) during the Second World War adopted the distinctive rhomboidal shape of a British First World War tank as their primary identification feature on their colour patches. Worn with pride on their upper sleeves, these patches clearly indicated to all nearby that the particular soldier was serving in the RAAC.

This colour patch is of the type worn by members of the 2/10th Armoured Regiment of the Australian Imperial Force during the Second World War. As Australian Imperial Force units in North Africa had no dedicated tank units (Divisional Cavalry units being Reconnaissance units armed with light/medium tanks) and the open terrain encouraged faster, more armoured units it was decided to form and send Australian Armoured units equipped with tanks to the Middle East. The 2/10th Armoured Regiment was formed in Western Australia as a result of this requirement in July 1941 with the intent to serve in the Middle East against the Fascist Italians and famous German Afrika Korps.

The unit was originally part of the 2nd Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division. The unit was equipped with the US designed and made M3 Stuart and M3 Grant tanks. The Regiment was transferred to the 1st Armoured Brigade in November 1942, following the reorganisation of the 1st Armoured Division, due to the deployment of the 2/6th Armoured Regiment to the north coast of New Guinea to fight the Imperial Japanese.

Due to severe manpower shortages in the Australian Army and the evolving situation for the Allies in the South West Pacific Area in January 1943, also due to the lack of suitability for large armoured units to fight in the jungle, many Australian Army armoured formations were dissolved. Due to a perceived threat of a Japanese landing in Western Australia in 1943, the unit deployed there on garrison duties. The 1st Armoured Division was disbanded in September 1943, leaving the 2/10th Armoured Regiment to become part of the independent 1st Armoured Brigade Group. The 2/10th Armoured Regiment was eventually disbanded in September 1944 along with the headquarters of the Brigade Group. Members of the unit were then reallocated to other units within the Australian Army. The 2/10th Armoured Regiment never saw operational service overseas during the Second World War.