THE STORY OF BRITAIN'S ROYAL TANK REGIMENT IS ONE OF STRUGGLE, TRIUMPH AND ACHIEVEMENT
Its origins may be a mere three-quarters of a century old, but those years have seen the stalemate of trench warfare overcome, the restoration of battlefield mobility and the establishment of armoured and mechanised forces as a dominant factor in battle.
In the Great War the 1st Battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment fought in all the key Western Front battles and won 2 Victoria Crosses.
During WW2 1 RTR saw action in the North African desert, in Italy and in NW Europe, forming the spearhead of 7th Armoured Division in the campaigns of 1944 and 1945. Following service with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940 and later in North Africa, 2 RTR fought a heroic rearguard action in Burma and then took part in the Italian campaign before ending its war in Austria.
Patrick Delaforce has interviewed some forty veteran officers and men of both battalions to tell the inspiring story of Britain's two premier tank battalions at war. His narrative is interwoven with extensive interviews with these veterans and is illustrated with a selection of maps and archive photographs.