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Welcome
to The Royal Tank Regiment website
The story of The Royal Tank Regiment is one of struggle, triumph and
achievement. Its origins are a mere three-quarters of a century old, but
those years have seen the stalemate of trench warfare overcome, the restoration
of mobility and the establishment of the tank and mechanised forces, as
a dominant factor in battle. The tank reaffirmed its position as the decisive
weapon on the battlefield during the Gulf War.
The present Royal Tank Regiment, composed of two regular regiments, is
the direct heir to the original armoured car pioneers of 1914, the Naval
Brigade and the RNAS squadron which augmented the British Expeditionary
Forces for the defence of Antwerp in August of that year.
The 1st Royal Tank Regiment is based at RAF Honington in Suffolk with
A Squadron being posted to Warminster. The Honington based soldiers form
an integral element of the Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance
Regiment. Equipped with Fuchs Reconnaissance Vehicles and specialist vehicles
mounted NBC detection equipment, they are trained and prepared to move
at short notice to any potential trouble spot. Currently they have soldiers
permanently located in Kuwait. Soldiers from A Squadron are equipped with
Challenger 2 and form part of the Combined Arms Training Centre.
1 RTR recruits from Scotland and the North West of England, giving the
regiment a very distinct character, unlike any other in the Royal Armoured
Corps. With the majority of their soldiers coming from Liverpool and Glasgow,
football is a passion!
To reflect their Scottish links they have a Pipes and Drums. The Pipes
and Drums are primarily tank soldiers who decide that they would like
to try their hand at something different. This summer they were seen performing
at the Edinburgh Festival and Military Tattoo.
A Company, Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps, the forerunner of the First,
was formed under Major C M Tippetts, South Wales Borderers, at Elvesdon,
Norfolk and moved under his command to France in October 1916. At the
end of the year the expanded Company became 'A' Battalion. For his gallantry
at Ypres in October 1917 Captain C Robertson was posthumously awarded
the first Victoria Cross for the Tank Corps. In the following month the
Battalion took part in the Battle of Cambrai with the other eight original
Battalions of the Corps, and Captain R Wain won the Battalion's second
Victoria Cross. On 24 April 1918 the victor of the first tank versus tank
engagement at Cachy was Lieutenant F Mitchell's tank No 1 of A Company.
Later in the year on 8 August the Battalion took part in the Battle of
Amiens in which over 600 tanks were involved and during which an advance
of up to 20 miles was achieved. Unfortunately, the cost to the Battalion
was high; nine out of ten tanks in 'A' Company of the Battalion were destroyed.
After the Armistice the Battalion moved to Bovington to become the 1st
(Depot) Battalion which was renamed the Royal Tank Corps Depot in 1925.
It was not until April 1934 that the 1st (Light) Battalion re-appeared
at Perham Down as part of the 1st Tank Brigade. It was equipped with Vickers
Light Tanks and had the role of reconnaissance. 18 months later it was
rushed out to Egypt to reinforce the garrison at the time of the Italian
invasion of Abyssinia. It returned to Perham Down after a year but in
March 1938 moved again to Egypt to be part of the Mobile Division, the
forerunners of the 7th Armoured Brigade.
At the end of the war, the Regiment concentrated in Gluckstadt and after
a refit with Comet Tanks in Belgium returned to Schleswig before moving
to Berlin to rejoin the 7th Armoured Division. In March 1946, the Regiment
returned to Schleswig Holstein, and shortly afterwards moved to Hobart
Barracks, Detmold where it remained for eight years. During this period
it was the first regiment to be equipped with the Mark 3 Centurion and
was the first to receive National Servicemen. In September 1952, the Regiment
moved to Tidworth where it prepared for embarkation to Korea and sailed
from Liverpool on 27 October aboard the 'Empire Halladale'. The First
landed in Korea on 6 December 1952, and within 24 hours of arrival at
the front had taken over in the line from the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon
Guards. Because of the static nature of the war, all the tanks were dug
into pits to protect their suspension and lower parts from enemy fire.
Their main task was to dominate 'No Mans Land' by engaging every movement,
observation post and occupied trench. The tanks also supported raids carried
out by the infantry. During the six months that the Regiment was in the
line, the crews fired nearly 26,000 rounds of HE. Supply was no mean feat
either in the snow and sub-zero of winter or the mud of the Summer wet
season. The Commonwealth division, of which the First was a part, did
not yield any ground in spite of the most determined efforts by the enemy.
The Regiment handed over to the 5th Royal Tank Regiment and embarked for
the Canal Zone on 15 December 1953.
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