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

armoured Armour (British 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, or fr ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. 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 First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

, itself part of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the A ...

and operationally under

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade The 12th Armoured Brigade Combat team, formerly the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is a regular brigade of the British Army which has been in almost continuous existence since 1899 and now forms part of 3rd Division (United Kingdom), 3rd (United ...

History

Formation

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

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a 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 in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tank ...

in May 1916 during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914–1918). It took part in the first ever tank offensive in 1916 and saw action on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

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 Allies of World War I, Allied offensives that ended the First World War. Beginning with the Battle of Amiens (1918), Battle of Amiens (8–12 August) on the Wester ...

. Remaining active in the army during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

, 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1939–1945) the regiment took part in the

Siege of Tobruk The siege of Tobruk lasted for 241 days in 1941, after Axis forces advanced through Cyrenaica from El Agheila in Operation Sonnenblume against Allied forces in Libya, during the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) of the Second World War. ...

in the summer of 1941 and the

Battle of El Alamein There were two battles of El Alamein in World War II, both fought in 1942. The Battles occurred in North Africa, in Egypt, in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein. * First Battle of El Alamein: 1–27 July 1942 * Secon ...

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 Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

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 , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The regiment was in the

Suez Canal Zone The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') 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. The long canal is a popular ...

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 Hohne is a municipality in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany, east of the county town of Celle. It includes the three former parishes of Hohne, Helmerkamp and Spechtshorn. It should not be confused with the British Army camp of Hohne (German: ...

, West Germany.

Amalgamation

In 1993, it amalgamated with the

4th Royal Tank Regiment The 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4 RTR) was an armoured regiment of the British Army from its creation in 1917, during World War I, until 1993. It was part of the Royal Tank Regiment, itself part of the Royal Armoured Corps. History The regiment ori ...

without change of title. It incorporated both of the original regiments' traditional recruiting areas of

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. In 1999, two squadrons were split off as part of the

Joint NBC Regiment The Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment was a specialist expeditionary unit of the British armed forces. Personnel of the Joint CBRN Regiment were trained in the detection, identification and monitoring of nuclear, biolo ...

with

No. 27 Squadron RAF Regiment No. 27 Squadron RAF Regiment was a CBRN squadron of the RAF Regiment in the Royal Air Force with the ''Defensores Defendo'' (I defend the defenders). It disbanded in October 2021. History No. 27 Squadron RAF Regiment was formed on 3 Septem ...

. 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 London royal residence 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 royal hospitality. It ...

, both 1RTR and 2 RTR were presented with their new Standard by

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

, 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 Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south o ...

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 and Oman. It was designed and built by the British company Vickers Defence Systems (now known as ...

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 an area of Southport in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the Historic County of Lancashire, at the 2001 Census it had a population of 12,723. By the time of the 2011 census, on ...

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

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