Royal Tank Regiment

 

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.

 

Officer in full dress uniform of the Royal Tank Regiment.