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 an armouredregiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks and structured under 12th Armoured Brigade.

The regiment started in the First World War with the companies of the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps which were expanded to battalion size and given separate identify as the Tank Corps. At the end of the war, the corps was reduced to four battalions and in 1923 given the "Royal" title. The corps expanded again in the lead up to the Second World War and was renamed the Royal Tank Regiment in 1939; the RTR being one part of the newly created Royal Armoured Corps.

After the Second World War, the number of battalions in the regiment was reduced again by amalgamation. In 1992 the number of battalions was reduced again and in 2014 the last two battalions were merged into a single battalion of six squadrons.