the event of war: "One Regular Armoured Division will become available about the middle of 1940, the second would not be available 'till a later date. The formation of a second division during this period was complicated by the slow pace of British tank production. Formation and home service The 2nd Armoured Division was activated on 15 December 1939, with Major-General Frederick Hotblack as the first general officer commanding (GOC). Hotblack had joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1916, and by 1918 he had become the army's expert on German tanks. During the 1930s, he had been posted to Germany, where he witnessed and reported on the development of German armoured forces. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939, he was the BEF's senior advisor on armoured vehicles. The division had no assigned fighting sub-units until the following month, when the 1st Light Armoured Brigade was transferred from the 1st Armoured Division (previously the Mobile Division), and the 22nd Heavy Armoured Brigade was transferred from Southern Command. On assignment to the division, the 1st Light Armoured Brigade comprised three armoured regiments: the 1st King's Dragoon Guards (KDG), the 3rd The King's Own Hussars (3H), and the 4th Queen's Own Hussars (4H). The 22nd Heavy Brigade consisted of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, and the 3rd and the 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters). The 2nd Support Group, which would comprise the division's supporting arms, was formed in February. It did not have sub-units allocated until March; it was then composed of the 3rd Field Squadron, Royal Engineers; the 12th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (12 RHA); the 102nd (Northumberland Hussars) Light-Anti-aircraft/Anti-tank Regiment; and two motorised infantry units – the 1st Battalion, The Rangers, King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the 1st Battalion, Tower Hamlets Rifles, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own). The war establishment – the nominal full wartime strength – for a light armoured brigade was 108 light tanks and 66 cruiser tanks. A heavy armoured brigade's war establishment was 157 cruiser tanks. British doctrine defined light tanks as reconnaissance vehicles armed only with machine guns. Cruiser tanks were swift moving, more heavily armoured, and equipped with both a machine gun and an anti-tank gun. The primary role of the cruiser tank was to engage and destroy opposing armoured forces. Its main weapon, a 2-pounder anti-tank gun, was only supplied with armour-piercing rounds. This meant that cruiser tanks