Royal Tank Regiment
Officer’s Beret, c. 1961
Tanks were first employed at Flers–Courcelette
during the Battle of the Somme in September of 1916. At that time the six tank
companies were grouped as the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). That
November, the tank companies were expanded to form battalions and designated
the Heavy Branch MGC. In July of 1917, the Heavy Branch was separated from the
rest of the Corps by Royal Warrant and given official status as the Tank Corps.
After the Great War, the Tank
Corps was pared down to four battalions and on the 18th of October, 1923, became
the Royal Tank Corps with King George V as Colonel-in-Chief. In 1939 the Corps
was renamed the Royal Tank Regiment and became a wing of the newly created
Royal Armoured Corps.
