The 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) was an

armoured Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. It is part of the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the World War I, First World War. Today, it is an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks ...

, itself part of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

and operationally under

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

History

Formation

The regiment was originally formed as A Company, Heavy Section,

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

in May 1916 during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(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 The Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918) was a series of massive Allied offensives that ended the First World War. Beginning with the Battle of Amiens (8–12 August) on the Western Front, the Allies pushed the Imperial Germa ...

. Remaining active in the army during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, in 1939 it was renamed the 1st Royal Tank Regiment.

Second World War

Cruiser tank Mk I Egypt May 1940 IWM E 101

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1939–1945) the regiment took part in the

Siege of Tobruk The siege of Tobruk () took place between 10 April and 27 November 1941, during the Western Desert campaign (1940–1943) of the World War II, Second World War. An Allies of World War II, Allied force, consisting mostly of the 9th Division ...

in the summer of 1941 and the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, the advance up Italy in late 1943, the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

in June 1944 and the

Western Allied invasion of Germany The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Allies of World War II, Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied ...

in 1945. 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.

Post war

After a period based in Germany, 1 RTR fought Communist forces during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. The regiment was in the

Suez Canal Zone The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest of Egypt). The c ...

as part of 25 Armoured Brigade to protect British interests in the Zone from in January 1954 to August 1955.1st Royal Tank Regiment post 1945 history
/www.royaltankregiment.com In 1957 the regiment was posted to Hong Kong as part of the 48th Gurkha Infantry Brigade. When it left Hong Kong in 1960 it replaced the Comet tanks with Centurions at Hohne, West Germany.

Amalgamation

In 1993, it amalgamated with the 4th Royal Tank Regiment without change of title. It incorporated both of the original regiments' traditional recruiting areas of

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. In 1999, two squadrons were split off as part of the Joint NBC Regiment with No. 27 Squadron RAF Regiment. In December 2011 the Regiment handed over its responsibility for CBRN to the RAF Regiment. On 25 June 2008 at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

, both 1RTR and 2 RTR were presented with their new Standard by The Queen, which included the new Battle Honour of Al Basrah 2003. On 2 August 2014 the regiment merged with 2RTR to form the single battalion

(RTR), based at Aliwal Barracks, Tidworth and is one of three armoured regiments equipped with the

Challenger 2 The FV4034 Challenger 2 (MoD designation "CR2") is a third generation British main battle tank (MBT) in service with the armies of the United Kingdom, Oman, and Ukraine. It was designed by Vickers Defence Systems (now Rheinmetall BAE Systems ...

tank. The history and traditions of 1 RTR are preserved by 'Ajax" Squadron of the RTR.

Commanding Officers

The Commanding Officers have been: , style="text-align:left; width:50%; vertical-align:top;", *1959–1961: Lt.-Col. Tresham D. Gregg *1961–1963: Lt.-Col. John D. Masters *1963–1966: Lt.-Col. Richard E. Simpkin *1966–1967: Lt.-Col. Laurie W.G. Gingell *1967–1969: Lt.-Col. Ian H. Baker *1969–1972: Lt.-Col. Simon J. Beardsworth *1972–1974: Lt.-Col. John P. Maxwel *1974–1976: Lt.-Col. Antony K.F. Walker *1976–1979: Lt.-Col. David L. Lewis *1979–1981: Lt.-Col. A.S. Jeremy Blacker *1981–1984: Lt.-Col. Michael Seymour *1984–1986: Lt.-Col. Michael I. Keun *1986–1989: Lt.-Col. Mark J.H. Goodson *1989–1991: Lt.-Col. Timothy E. Hall , style="text-align:left; width:50%; vertical-align:top;", *1991–1993: Lt.-Col. Adrian G.R. Carroll *1993–1995: Lt.-Col. Peter Gilchrist *1995–1997: Lt.-Col. Ian J. Rodley *1997–2000: Lt.-Col. David C. Eccles *2000–2002: Lt.-Col. Christopher M. Deverell *2002–2004: Lt.-Col. Patrick J. Kidd *2004–2006: Lt.-Col. Hamish S. De Bretton-Gordon *2006–2009: Lt.-Col. Ian J. Gibb *2009–2011: Lt.-Col. Gavin J. Thompson *2011–2013: Lt.-Col. Andrew M. Britton *2013–2016: Lt.-Col. Nicholas J. Cowey *2016–2018: Lt.-Col. Simon A. Ridgway *2018–present: Lt.-Col. James R. Howard

Associated Cadet Forces

*Mildenhall Detachment, Suffolk Army Cadet Force *Cadbury Heath Detachment, Bristol Army Cadet Force *

Ainsdale Ainsdale is a village near Southport, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Sefton district, in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lanca ...

Detachment, Merseyside Army Cadet Force *Westbury Detachment, Wiltshire Army Cadet Force *Oldham Detachment, Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force *131 (Battersea) Detachment, South West London Army Cadet Force *Bovington and Purbeck Detachment, Dorset Army Cadet Force

References

External links

Official Army site

History of 1 RTR
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 1-001 Royal Tank Regiment 1917 establishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1917 Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Korean War