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

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 conscript ...

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 Gurkha ...

. 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 t ...

, 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 ...

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 (United Kingdom) Division. History Se ...

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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(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 maj ...

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 First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

, 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 opposi ...

(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 ...

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 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 Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine, a series of offen ...

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 {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. 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 po ...

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 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 or ...

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

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

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 ...

. 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 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, 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 Aliwal may refer to: * Aliwal, Taran Taran, a village in the Indian state of Punjab * Aliwal, Jalandhar, a village in the Indian state of Punjab * Battle of Aliwal fought in 1846 between the British and the Sikhs * Aliwal North Aliwal North (of ...

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison, garrison town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 road, A338 about north of the A303 road, A303 primary ro ...

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 ...

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 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