1st Royal Tank Regiment

1st Royal Tank Regiment

Cap badge of the Royal Tank Regiment.
Active 28 July 1917–August 2014
Country  United Kingdom
Branch  British Army
Type Armoured
Role Div Troops/Land Warfare training
Size One regiment
Part of Royal Armoured Corps
Garrison/HQ Warminster, Wiltshire.
RAF Honington
Motto(s) Fear Naught
March Lippe Detmold
Quick: My Boy Willie
Slow: The Royal Tank Regiment Slow March
Anniversaries Cambrai, 20 November
Battle honours see Battle Honours
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief HM The Queen
Notable
commanders		 Hugh Elles
Michael Carver, Baron Carver
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
Tartan Hunting Rose (Pipers kilts and plaids)

The 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps and operationally under 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade.

History

Cruiser tank Mk I of 1 RTR at Abbasia, Egypt, 30 May 1940.

The regiment was originally formed as A Company, Heavy Section, Heavy Machine Gun Corps in May 1916 during the First World War (1914–1918). It took part in the first ever tank offensive in 1916 and saw action on the Western Front again in the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 and later in the Hundred Days Offensive. Remaining active in the army during the interwar period, in 1939 it was renamed the 1st Royal Tank Regiment.

During the Second World War (1939–1945) the regiment took part in the Siege of Tobruk in the summer of 1941 and the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, the advance up Italy in late 1943, the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the Western Allied invasion of Germany in 1945.[1] From the Battle of El Alamein the regiment was part of the 22nd Armoured Brigade, itself part of the 7th Armoured Division, for the rest of the war.

After a period based in Germany, 1 RTR helped repelled Communist forces during the Korean War. In 1993, it amalgamated with the 4th Royal Tank Regiment without change of title.[1] It incorporated both the original regiments' traditional recruiting areas of Merseyside and Scotland.[2]

In 1999, two squadrons were split off as part of the Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Regiment (CBRN) amalgamating with No. 27 Squadron, RAF Regiment.[1] In December 2011 the Regiment handed over its responsibility for CBRN to the RAF Regiment.[3] On 25 June 2008 at Buckingham Palace, both 1RTR and 2 RTR were presented with their new Standard by The Queen, which included the new Battle Honour of Al Basrah 2003.[4]

On 2 August 2014 the regiment merged with 2RTR to form "The Royal Tank Regiment" (RTR). The new (single battalion) regiment is based at Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth and is one of three armoured regiments equipped with the Challenger II tank.[5]

The history and traditions of 1 RTR will be kept alive in the new regiment by 'Ajax" Squadron.

Associated Cadet Forces

References

  1. 1 2 3 "1st Royal Tank Regiment: History". Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "1st Royal Tank Regiment takes part in homecoming parade in Glasgow". Ministry of Defence. 11 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Future of 1 RTR". 5 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "Battle Honour Awards (Operation Telic)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 10 November 2005. col. 21WS–22WS.
  5. ↑ "Regular Army Basing Matrix by Formation and Unit" (PDF). Army Families Federation (AFF). 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.

External links

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