The Royal Tank Regiment [UK]

Authors and Contributors this page: T.F. Mills

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Page created 1 August 2000. Corrected and updated 15.07.2006

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	The Royal Tank Regiment
crest and tie by A. Melville-Brown	United Kingdom

Titles & Lineage

History

Battle Honours

Colours, Standards & Guidons

Uniforms & Badges

Colonels-in-Chief

Colonels

Biography & Gallantry Awards
Traditions
Alliances
Associations, Forums, Re-Enactors
Museums, Monuments, Memorials
Bibliography

How to find information about individuals who served in this corps


	1916.02.16	Tank Detachment, Machine Gun Corps
	1916.03	Armoured Car Section, Motor Machine Gun Service, Machine Gun Corps
	1916.05	Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps
	1916.11.16	Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps
	1917.07.28	Tank Corps formed by withdrawal of Heavy Branch from Machine Gun Corps
	1923.10.18	Royal Tank Corps
	1939.04.04	Royal Tank Regiment became a wing of Royal Armoured Corps

	*Note:*	Tank Corps units were called battalions. When the RTC became RTR in 1939, battalions were called regiments when part of an armoured formation. From 19 Sep. 1945 all battalions were termed regiments.


		Royal Tank Regiment (Regimental site)
		Royal Tank Regiment, by Glenvil Roberts.
		The First Armoured Fighting Vehicles and the Creation of the Royal Tank Regiment, by Gerry Chester.
		British Armoured Forces of the First World War, by Stuart Groombridge.
		The Tanks in 1914-1918, by Chris Baker (The British Army in the Great War)

	*RHQ and Depot:*
		RHQ: 1 Elverton Street, London SW1 (1961- ); Horseferry Road, London (1985?- ); Stanley Barracks, Bovington (1995?-present)
		Depot:
		Recruiting Area: Merseyside, Blackburn, Burnley, Oldham, Leeds, Halifax, Wakefield (1RTR, 1961-1993); Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Greater London (2RTR, 1961-1992); Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Avon (3RTR, 1961-1992); Scotland (4RTR, 1961-1993); Scotland, Merseyside (1RTR, 1992-present); SE London, Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall (2RTR, 1993-present)

	*Regular Battalions:*
		1st Battalion [1916-1925]
		1st Royal Tank Regiment [1934-present]
		1st Royal Tank Regiment (Army site) First Royal Tank Regiment (Regimental site) 1st Royal Tank Regiment (Regimental site) 1st Royal Tank Regiment History (Army site) History - 1 RTR, by Mike Kemble
		2nd Royal Tank Regiment [1916-present]
		2nd Royal Tank Regiment (Army site) 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (Regimental site) 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (Regimental site) 2nd Royal Tank Regiment History (Army site)
		3rd Royal Tank Regiment [1916-1992]
		3rd Royal Tank Regiment 1939-1945, by Geysels
		4th Royal Tank Regiment [1916-1993]
		4th Royal Tank Regiment (Scottish Military Historical Society)
		5th Royal Tank Regiment [1916-1969]
		6th Royal Tank Regiment [1916-1918, 1933-1959]
		7th Royal Tank Regiment [1916-1919, 1937-1959]
		8th Royal Tank Regiment [1916-1919, 1938-1960]

	*Regular Squadrons:*
		1st Independent Squadron [1951-1965]

	Regular Armoured Car Companies [1920-1939]


	*Territorial Battalions:*
		40th (The King's) Royal Tank Regiment [1938-1956]
		40th/41st Royal Tank Regiment [1956-1967]
		41st (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment [1938-1956]
		42nd (7th (23rd London) Bn, The East Surrey Regiment) Royal Tank Regiment [1938-1956]
		43rd (6th (City) Bn, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1956]
		44th Royal Tank Regiment [1938-1947]
		44th/50th Royal Tank Regiment [1947-1956]
		45th (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment [1938-1947]
		45th/51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment [1947-1961]
		46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1947]
		47th (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1947]
		48th Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1947]
		49th Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1947]
		50th Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1947]
		51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiment [1939-1947]

	*Territorial Armoured Car Companies:*
		19th (Lothians and Border Horse) Armoured Car Company [1920-1939]
		20th (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company [1920-1939]
		21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company [1921-1939]
		22nd Battalion (Westminster Dragoons) [1920-1939]
		23rd (London) Armoured Car Company (Sharpshooters) [1920-1939]
		24th (Derbyshire Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company [1921-1939]
		25th (Northamptonshire Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company [1922-1939]
		26th (East Riding of York Yeomanry) Armoured Car Company [1920-1939]

	*Hostilities-Only Units:*
		9th Battalion, The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR site)
		9th Battalion, The Royal Tank Regiment, by Peter Beale


	The Great War: Somme 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Cambrai 1917, St. Quentin 1918, Villers Bretonneux, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Selle, France and Flanders 1916-18, Gaza The Second World War: Arras Counter Attack, Calais 1940, St. Omer-La Bassée, Somme 1940, Odon, Caen, Bourguébus Ridge, Mont Pincon, Falaise, Nederrijn, Scheldt, Venlo Pocket, Rhineland, Rhine, Bremen, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Abyssinia 1940, Sidi Barrani, Beda Fomm, Sidi Suleiman, Tobruk 1941, Sidi Rezegh 1941, Belhamed, Gazala, Cauldron, Knightsbridge, Defence of Alamein Line, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Mareth, Akarit, Fondouk, El Kourzia, Medjez Plain, Tunis, North Africa 1940-43, Primosole Bridge, Gerbini, Adrano, Sicily 1943, Sangro, Salerno, Volturno Crossing, Garigliano Crossing, Anzio, Advance to Florence, Gothic Line, Coriano, Lamone Crossing, Rimini Line, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943-45, Greece 1941, Burma 1942 Korea 1951-53, Al Basrah, Iraq 2003

Badges:

Uniform:

tartan: Rose (pipers' & drummers' kilts & plaids, pipe ribbons)

The Black Beret, by Mike Kemble


	1918.11	F.M. HM King George V
	1936.12.10	F.M. HM King George VI
	1953.06.02	HM Queen Elizabeth II


Director General:
1917	Maj-Gen. Sir John Edward Capper, KCB, KCVO
Colonels Commandant:		Representative
(one; increased ca. 1934 to three concurrently with one as Representative Colonel Commandant for four years; reorganised 1994 as one Col Cmdt and two Deputy Cols Cmdt)
1923.09.12	Maj-Gen. Sir John Edward Capper, KCB, KCVO [to 1934]
1934.12.07	F.M. Sir Archibald Armar Montgomery-Massingberd, GCB, KCMG [to 1939; also RA, 1927-1941, Royal Tank Corps, 1934-1939, 20 Burma Rifles, 1935, Royal Malta Artillery, 1937-1941; Hon. Col, 46 (Lincoln Regt) Anti-Aircraft Bn, 1937]
1934.12.07	Gen. Sir Hugh Jamieson Elles, KCB, KCMG, KCVO, DSO [to 1945]	1939
1934.12.07	Hon. Maj-Gen. Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, KBE, CB, DSO [to 1938]	1935-1938
1938.10.20	Maj-Gen. George Mackintosh Lindsay, CB, CMG, DSO [to 1947]	1940-1943
1939.01.14	Lt-Gen. Charles Noel Frank Broad, KCB, DSO [to 1949]	1944-1947
1945.07.12	F.M. The Rt Hon Bernard Law (Montgomery), 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO [also R Warwickshire Regt, RAC, Para, APTC; Cmdr 8th Army; C-in-C 21st Army Gp; CIGS]	1955
1947.05.01	Maj-Gen. Sir Percy Hobart, KBE, CB, DSO, MC [to 1951]	1948-1951
1949.01.14	Gen. Sir John T. Crocker, GCB, KBE, DSO, MC [to 1961]
1952.01.01	Maj-Gen. Nigel William Duncan, CB, CBE, DSO [to 1959]	1952-1957
1957.05.01	Maj-Gen. Henry Robert Bowreman Foote, VC, CB, DSO [to 1964]	1958-1961
1959.01.01	Gen. Sir Harold English Pyman, KCB, CBE, DSO [to 1965; also Hon. Col. Westminster Dgns, Berks&WD]
1961.03.01	Maj-Gen. H.M. Liardet, CB, CBE, DSO [to 1968]	1962-1967
1964.05.01	Gen. Sir Alan Jolly, GCB, CBE, DSO [to 1969]
1965.10.01	Maj-Gen. John Reid Holden, CB, CBE, DSO [to 1968]
1968.01.01	F.M. The Rt Hon Richard Michael Power (Carver), The Baron Carver of Shackleford, GCB, CBE, DSO, MC [to 1973; also REME]	1970-1971
1968.09.01	Maj-Gen. Patrick Robert Chamier Hobart, CB, DSO, OBE [to 1978]	1971-1974
1970.01.01	Maj-Gen. Richard Erskine Ward, GBE, CB, DSO, MC [to 1976]	1974-1976
1973.01.01	Lt-Gen. Sir Allan M. Taylor, KBE, MC [to 1980]
1976.01.01	Maj-Gen. John Geoffrey Robyn Allen, CB [to 1981; also Hon. Col. RYR, Westminster Dgns]	1977-1980
1978.09.01	Maj-Gen. Roy Laurence Cayley Dixon, CB, MC [to 1983]	1982-1983
1980.01.01	Maj-Gen. Sir Richard George Lawson, KCB, DSO, OBE [to 1982]	1980-1982
1981.01.01	Maj-Gen. Ian Helstrip Baker, CBE [to 1986]	1982
1982.06.01	Maj-Gen. Richard Martyn Jerram, CB, MBE [to 1988]	1983-1985
1983.12.12	Gen. Sir Anthony Kenneth Frederick Walker, KCB [to 1994]	1985-1991
1986.01.01	Maj-Gen. Laurence Anthony Wallis New, CB, CBE [to 1995]
1988.06.01	Gen. Anthony Stephen Jeremy Blacker, KCB, CBE [to 1995; also RTR, REME; Hon. Col. RYR, Westminster Dgns]	1992-1994
1993	Maj-Gen. Robert William Montgomery McAfee, CB [single Col Cmdt from 30 June 1995]
1999.07.16	Lt-Gen. Andrew Peter Ridgway, CB, CBE
2006.08.21	Maj-Gen. A.D. Leakey, CMG, CBE

Deputy Colonel Commandant:
(two concurrently from 1994)
1994.04.02	Brig. Andrew Charles Ian Gadsby [to 2000]
1994	Maj-Gen. Robert William Montgomery McAfee, CB [to 1995]
1995.06.30	Lt-Gen. Andrew Peter Ridgway, CB, CBE [to 1999]
1999.07.16	Maj-Gen. Arundell David Leakey, CBE
2000.04.02	Maj-Gen. Peter Gilchrist, CB
2006.08.21	Brig. C.M. Deverell, MBE


		Victoria Crosses [7th RTR], by Mike Chapman (VC Reference).
		Victoria Crosses [Royal Tank Regiment], by Mike Chapman (VC Reference).
		Victoria Crosses [Tank Corps], by Mike Chapman (VC Reference).
		VCs in the Royal Tank Regiment Museum, by Iain Stewart.
		Diary of Peter Dungey, 44th RTR,1942 (prisoner of war), by Bill Dungey.


	Motto:	Fear naught
	Nicknames:
	Anniversaries:	Cambrai (20 Nov.)
	Freedoms:
	Marches:	quick: My Boy Willie (chosen to commemorate British tanks in WW1, "Big Willie" and "Little Willie"; Cadet Roussel appended ca. 1940 by J.L. Wallace) slow: The Royal Tank Regiment Slow March (arr. Bill Lemon, based on My Boy Willie + Waltzing Matilda) quick (1RTR): Lippe Detmold quick (2RTR): Saffron quick (3RTR): On the Quarterdeck quick (4RTR): Blue Flash
	Musicians:	Pipes & Drums transferred 1993 from 4th RTR to 1st RTR. RTR Cambrai Band amalgamated 2006 with the The Band of the Dragoon Guards to form The Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band.
	The Royal Tank Regiment Cambrai Band (Army site) [Internet Archive] The Royal Tank Regiment Cambrai Band (Band site)
	*Mascot:*
	*Miscellaneous Tradition Links:*
	Distinctions and Traditions (2 RTR Regimental site)


	The Essex Regiment (Tank)	1938-1946?
	The Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicles Training Centre
	Royal Canadian Armoured Corps
	12e Régiment blindé du Canada, RCAC	1963-present
	Australian Tank Corps
	1st Armoured Regiment, RAAC	1959-present
	Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps	1968?-
	2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse), IAC
	13th Lancers, PAC

*Associated Yeomanry:*
	1st RTR: 40th/41st Royal Tank Regiment	1956-1967
	2nd RTR: Berkshire and Westminster Dragoons	1961-1982?
	2nd RTR: Westminster Dragoons	1982?-
	2nd RTR: The Royal Devon Yeomanry	1992-present
	3rd RTR: The North Somerset Yeomanry/44th Royal Tank Regt	1956-1967
	3rd RTR: The Royal Devon Yeomanry	1971?-1992
	4th RTR: The Lothians and Border Horse Yeomanry	1924-1956
	4th RTR: The Queen's Own Lowland Yeomanry	1956-1967
	5th RTR: The North Somerset Yeomanry/44th Royal Tank Regt	1956-1967
	Dorset Yeomanry	1997-present


		1st Royal Tank Regiment Reunions Web Site, by Mike Kemble
		Royal Tank Regiment discussion group (Delphi)
		Royal Tank Regiment Association, Dover Branch
		Royal Tank Regiment Association, London Branch
		3rd Royal Tank Regiment
		4th Royal Tank Regiment Association, Fife Branch
		9th Royal Tank Regiment


		The Tank Museum, Bovington (Museum site)
		Royal Armoured Corps Museum & Royal Tank Regiment Museum, Bovington (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)
		East of England Tank Museum, Harwich
		Tank Museum, Bovington (Simonides listing)
		Tank Museum, Bovington (Bournemouth Tourism)
		Royal Tank Regiment Memorial, Whitehall


	Regimental Journal:
		*The Royal Tank Corps journal*.
		*The tank*. Monthly.
		*Red lanyard*. v. 1, no. 1 (April 25, 1946)-v. 6, no. 4 (Spring 1949) ; 49 nos. in 30. [Lägerdorf, Ger.] 1946-1949. [Official publication of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment]

	Full Histories:
		*A Short history of the Royal Tank Corps*. 6th ed. Aldershot : Gale & Polden, 1945.
		Liddell Hart, Basil Henry. The tanks : the history of the Royal Tank Regiment and its predecessors, Heavy Branch, Machine-Gun Corps, Tank Corps, and Royal Tank Corps, 1914-1945. London : Cassell, 1959 (2 v.) [published simultaneously in New York by Praeger]
		Chadwick, Kenneth. The Royal Tank Regiment. London : Leo Cooper, 1970. (Famous regiments) ISBN: 0858320207
		Macksey, Kenneth. The tanks : the history of the Royal Tank Regiment, 1945-1975. London : Arms and Armour Press, 1979. ISBN: 0853682933
		Forty, George. The Royal Tank Regiment : a pictorial history, 1916-1987. Tunbridge Wells, Kent : Spellmount ; New York : Hippocrene Books, 1988. ISBN: 0946771146; 0870525697 (U.S.)
		*The Royal Tank Regiment; 50th anniversary souvenir, 1917-1967. London : Royal Tank Regiment Publications, 1967. ["Special edition of The Tank*"]

	Short Histories:
		Woolnough, Frederick George. *A brief history of the Royal Tank Corps*. Aldershot : Gale & Polden, 1925.
		*A short history of the Royal Tank Corps*. Aldershot : Gale & Polden, 1930.
		*A short history of the Royal Tank Corps*. 2nd ed. Aldershot : Gale & Polden, 1931.
		Macksey, Kenneth. To the green fields beyond : a short history of the Royal Tank Regiment. London : Regimental Headquarters, Royal Tank Regiment, 1965.

	First World War:
		Fuller, J. F. C. (John Frederick Charles). Tanks in the great war, 1914-1918. London : J. Murray, 1920. [published simultaneously in the US by Dutton, New York]
		Fuller, J. F. C. (John Frederick Charles). Tanks in the great war, 1914-1918. [reprint ed.] Nashville, Tenn. : Battery Press, 2003. ISBN: 0898393256
		Williams-Ellis, Clough, Sir; Williams-Ellis, Amabel. The Tank Corps. London : Country Life, 1919. (Country life series of military histories) [published simultaneously in the US by George H. Doran Co., New York]
		Wilson, George Murray (ed.) *Fighting tanks; an account of the Royal tank corps in action, 1916-1919*. London, Seeley, Service & Co., 1929.

	Second World War:
		Foley, John. Mailed fist. Reset ed. London : Panther Books, 1966. [First published 1957]
		Foley, John. Mailed fist. [new ed.] St Albans : Mayflower, 1975. ISBN: 0583124917 (pbk)

	1st Battalion/1st RTR:
		Delaforce, Patrick. *Battles with Panzers : Monty's tank battalions 1 RTR & 2 RTR at war*. Stroud : Sutton, 2003. ISBN: 0750932449
		*The First Royal Tank Regiment in Hong Kong, 1957-58*. Hong Kong : Cathay Press, 1958.

	2nd Battalion/2nd RTR:
		Delaforce, Patrick. *Battles with Panzers : Monty's tank battalions 1 RTR & 2 RTR at war*. Stroud : Sutton, 2003. ISBN: 0750932449
		Chadwick, Kenneth. *Seconds out! : a history of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. [s.l.* : s.n.], 1967. (2 v.)

	3rd Battalion/3rd RTR:
		Delaforce, Patrick. Taming the panzers : Monty's tank battalions : 3 RTR at war. Stroud : Sutton, 2000. ISBN: 0750925507
		Delaforce, Patrick. Taming the panzers : Monty's tank battalions : 3 RTR at war. [new ed.] Stroud : Sutton, 2003. ISBN: 0750931973
		Moore, William. Panzer bait : with the Third Royal Tank Regiment, 1939-1945. London : Leo Cooper, 1991. ISBN: 0850523281
		Close, Bill. A view from the turret : a history of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment in the Second World War. Tewkesbury : Dell & Bredon, 1998. ISBN: 0953335909
		Close, Bill. A view from the turret : a history of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment in the Second World War. [new ed.] Tewkesbury : Dell & Bredon, 2002. ISBN: 0953335917

	4th Battalion/4th RTR:
		Burges-Short, H.G.R. Historical record of the 4th Battalion Royal Tank Corps. [Aldershot] : Gale and Polden, 1925.
		Jolly, Alan, Sir. Blue flash : the story of an armoured regiment. Privately printed, 1952.
		Vaux, Peter. Voyage to the desert : an account of the voyage of 4 Royal Tank Regiment & 4 NZ Fd Arty Regiment in HMT City of London from Liverpool to Suez in the winter of 1940-41. Fleet : Vaux Publications, 1999.

	5th Battalion/5th RTR:
		Wilson, Edward. Press on regardless : the story of the Fifth Royal Tank Regiment in WWII. Staplehurst : Spellmount, 2003. ISBN: 1862272174
		Smith, Norman. Tank soldier. Lewes : Book Guild, 1989. ISBN: 0863323707 [5RTR biography]

	6th Battalion/6th RTR:
		*The war history of the Sixth tank battalion*. [Edinburgh] : Priv. print., 1919.

	7th Battalion/7th RTR:
		*Narrative history of "G" and 7th Tank Battalion, 1919. [s.l.*] : Gale & Polden), 1919.
		*"A" Squadron diary, 7th Royal Tank Regiment.* [s.l. : s.n.], 1945. [WW2]

	8th Battalion/8th RTR:
		Hamilton, Stuart. Armoured odyssey : 8th Royal Tank Regiment in the Western Desert 1941-1942, Palestine, Syria, Egypt 1943-1944, Italy 1944-1945. London : Tom Donovan, 1995. ISBN: 1871085306

	9th Battalion/9th RTR:
		*9th Battalion, Royal Tank Regiment, June 1941-May 1945*. [Germany] : Printing & Stationery Services, BAOR, 1945.
		Beale, Peter. Tank tracks : 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment at war, 1940-45. Stroud : Sutton Pub., 1995. ISBN: 0750908807
		Beale, Peter. Tank tracks : 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regiment at war, 1940-45. [new ed.] Stroud : Sutton Pub., 1997. ISBN: 0750915196

	17th Battalion:
		Operations of the 17th (Armoured Car) Tank Battalion during the battle of 1918. [s.l.] : Gale & Polden, 1920.

	24th Officer Cadet Battalion:
		*Memories, Hazeley Down camp, Winchester, Jan. 1918-May 1919*. Winchester, Eng. : Printed by Warren and son, 1919.

	Special Topics:
		Maurice, R. Fitz G. *The Tank Corps book of honour*. London : Spottiswoode : Ballantyne, 1919.
		*The Tank Corps honours & awards : 1916-1919*. Birmingham : Midland Medals, 1982. ISBN: 0907455018 (pbk)
		*A short guide to the Royal Armoured Corps Tank Museum and the Royal Tank Regiment Museum. [1st ed.] Bovington : Royal Armoured Corps Tank Museum, 1961. [many subsequent editions, including:]*
		*A short guide to the Royal Armoured Corps Tank Museum and the Royal Tank Regiment Museum*. [15th ed.] Bovington : Royal Armoured Corps Tank Museum, 1974.