The 7th Royal Tank Regiment (7th RTR) was an armoured

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 ...

from 1917 until disbandment in 1959.

History

The 7th Royal Tank Regiment was 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 ...

. The regiment originally saw action as G Battalion, Tank Corps in 1917. Part of the 1st Army Tank Brigade, 7th RTR saw service in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in May 1940, alongside the 4th Royal Tank Regiment and the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division during the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk () was fought around the French Third Republic, French port of Dunkirk, Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies of World War II, Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle ...

and was soon evacuated at Dunkirk, and abandoning most of their vehicles. The 7th RTR returned to England and was sent overseas later in the year. 7th Royal Tank Regiment supporting 8th Royal Scots 28-06-1944

7th Royal Tank Regiment supporting 8th Royal Scots 28-06-1944

In December 1940, as part of the British Western Desert Force in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, the 7th RTR contained Matilda

infantry tanks The infantry tank was a tank classification, tank concept developed by the United Kingdom and French Third Republic, France in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were designed to support infantrymen in an attack. To achieve thi ...

and supported the 11th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 4th Indian Infantry Division. The regiment attacked and destroyed the Italian " Maletti Group" at the Nibeiwa Camp. The 7th RTR also supported the attack of the 11th Brigade on Italian positions at the Tummar camps. These attacks were accomplished during the opening stages of

Operation Compass Operation Compass (also ) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British metropolitan, Imperial and Commonwealth forces attacked the Italian and Libyan forces of ...

. The regiment also participated in the successful attacks on Italian-held

Bardia Bardia, also El Burdi or Bardiyah ( or ) is a Mediterranean seaport in the Butnan District of eastern Libya, located near the border with Egypt. It is also occasionally called ''Bórdi Slemán''. The name Bardia is deeply rooted in the ancient ...

during the same campaign. In mid-1942, the 7th RTR was captured at

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

during the

Battle of Gazala The Battle of Gazala, also the Gazala Offensive (Italian language, Italian: ''Battaglia di Ain el-Gazala'') was fought near the village of Gazala during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, f ...

, part of the First Battle of El Alamein. Tobruk was surrendered to Italian and German forces on 21 June 1942. The regiment was reconstituted in 1943 by re-designation of the 10th Royal Tank Regiment, a hostilities-only unit raised in late 1940. The new 7th RTR joined the 31st Tank Brigade in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

on 18 June 1944 and subsequently took part in heavy fighting in Operation Epsom. It participated in the capture of Le Havre and, while detached from its Brigade, it played an active part in the early days of the containment of Dunkirk. In November 1950, The 7th RTR took part in

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 ...

. In 1959, the 7th RTR was amalgamated with 4th Royal Tank Regiment. The regiment lives on as G Squadron, 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1RTR).

References

7th Royal Tank Regiment at regiments.org

Merseyside RTR
Brian Gills website) * http://www.4and7royaltankregiment.com Royal Tank Regiment Royal Tank Regiment 007 Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Korean War {{UK-mil-unit-stub

History

See also

References