I agree that regimental identity is important and every effort will be made to maintain it.
I actually did a brief write up of 7th Armoured a while back - if you do a search you will find it.
I'm still working on expanding the British MBT article but here is the (expanded) organizational part.
Organisation
British tank units come from three main sources, the Royal Tank Regiment, the cavalry and the yeomanry. In addition there was also the small Household Cavalry which in addition to it's horsed ceremonial role also formed two recce units. Whilst all (excepting the Household Cavalry) were theoretically part of the (administrative) Royal Armoured Corps, all units placed the emphasis on their regimental identity. The Household Cavalry is technically a Corps in its own right but for all practical purposes acted as part of the Royal Armoured Corps in wartime).
The Royal Tank Regiment was the youngest of the armoured units being established from the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War. The Royal Tank Regiment battalions are composed only of heavy tank units and there were no Territorial Army units. 1RTR is unique among non-Scottish, Gurkha and Irish units in the British Army for having a pipe band.
The cavalry regiments made up a substantial part of the British tank unit strength. These were horsed cavalry that had converted to a mechanised role (completing this during World War Two). These could be found operating either as heavy tank units or in a reconnaissance role using light tanks (often but not always based around historical roles). In the 1980s and 1990s many swapped between these roles on a seemingly arbitrary series of re-rollings.
The yeomanry units were composed of Territorial Army cavalry units. These operated only in a reconnaissance role with most being equipped with wheeled vehicles such as the Fox or Land Rover.
As the war progressed it was planned that a number of infantry units were to be re-rolled as tank units. These plans were only ever implemented in a limited way with 2nd Bn Coldstream Guards and 2nd Bn Scots Guards, both of whom converted to armoured battalions using Chieftain tanks drawn from war reserves. These both adopted the all seeing eye of the Guards Armoured Brigade of World War Two. This often causes confusion on identifying vehicles. Infantry insignia was retained. Despite being deeply unpopular with the units concerned, plans were made to convert further battalions. These plans to increase the armoured strength using infantry conversions were stopped as numbers of vehicles held in storage were rapidly being depleted as battlefield replacements.
In BAOR prior to the start of the war, the organisation of the heavier tank units was based around the Type 57 organisation introduced in 1984. In this a regiment (full strength 44 officers and 539 other ranks) was made up as follows:
Regimental HQ
Regimental HQ section
1 x MBT
3 x Sultan
1 x Spartan
3 x Ferret
1 x Land Rover FFR
Recce troop
8 x Scorpion (some replaced by Sabre from 1994-1995 and Scimitar from 1995)
Tank destroyer troop
2 x Ferret
9 x Striker
2 x 4ton truck
2 x Land Rover (REME)
HQ Squadron
6 x Land Rover FFR
2 x Land Rover
1 x 1 ton Land Rover
10 x 4 ton trucks
2 x stalwart or 4 ton trucks
1 x FV432 Ambulance
Light Aid (LAD) Detachment – REME
1 x armoured recovery vehicle
1 x FV432
1 x Land Rover
1 x Sampson
4 x Tank squadrons each
HQ Section
2 x MBT
1 x Ferret
1 x Land Rover
Admin troop
1 x Land Rover FFR
1 x Land Rover
3 x Stalwart or 4 ton trucks
1 x 4 ton truck
FV432 Ambulance
REME Section
1 x FV432
1 x FV434
1 x Recovery vehicle
4 troops each with
3 x MBT
As the Challenger I came into service, these were initially assigned to Type 43 units that had an identical organisation except there were only 3 tank squadrons. Most of the Type 43 units in BAOR were upgraded in the build up to war to Type 57 at least initially until loses resulted in the Type 43 becoming the standard from 1st January 1998 (even then few units reached this level of equipment). From 7th November 1998 the following organisation (Type 20) became the official structure of a British armoured regiment:
Regimental HQ
Regimental HQ section
2 x Sultan
1 x Spartan (defence section)
2 x Ferret
2 x Land Rover FFR
Tank destroyer troop
1 x Land Rover FFR – occasionally Ferret or Spartan
6 x Striker – sometimes replaced with Spartan with Milan or dismount-able Milan teams
2 x 4ton truck
HQ Squadron
6 x Land Rover FFR
2 x Land Rover
1 x 1 ton Land Rover
10 x 4 ton trucks
2 x stalwart or 4 ton trucks
3 x Land Rover Ambulance
Light Aid (LAD) Detachment – REME
1 x armoured recovery vehicle
3 x FV434 or Sampson (minimum 1 FV434)
2 x Land Rover
2 x Tank squadrons each
HQ Section
1 x MBT
1 x Land Rover or Spartan or Sultan
Admin troop
1 x Land Rover FFR
1 x Land Rover
3 x Stalwart or 4 ton trucks
3 troops each with
3 x MBT
1 x Recce tank squadron – often the troops were dispersed to the tank squadrons with each squadron reinforcing another squadron. Some units instead had two Scimitars/Scorpions/Sabres with 1 Spartan in each troop.
HQ Section
1 x Land Rover or Spartan or Sultan
Admin troop
1 x Land Rover FFR
1 x Land Rover
2 x Stalwart or 4 ton trucks
2 troops each with
3 x Scorpion/Scimitar/Sabre (occasionally Fox) – often mixed types
1 troops
3 x Spartan
From 1st January 2002 the organisation changed again depending on type. Challenger units were equipped as follows (on paper at least):
Regimental HQ
Regimental HQ section
2 x Sultan
1 x Spartan (defence section)
2 x Land Rover FFR
HQ Squadron
4 x Land Rover FFR
4 x Land Rover
1 x 1 ton Land Rover
10 x 4 ton trucks
2 x stalwart or 4 ton trucks
3 x Land Rover Ambulance
Light Aid (LAD) Detachment – REME
1 x armoured recovery vehicle
3 x FV434 or Sampson (minimum 1 FV434)
2 x Land Rover
2 x Heavy tank squadrons each
HQ Section
2 x MBT
1 x Land Rover or Spartan or Sultan
Admin troop
1 x Land Rover FFR
1 x Land Rover
3 x Stalwart or 4 ton trucks
3 troops each with
4 x MBT
1 x Light tank squadron
HQ Section
1 x Land Rover or Spartan or Sultan
Admin troop
1 x Land Rover FFR
1 x Land Rover
2 x Stalwart or 4 ton trucks
3 troops each with
3 x Scorpion/Scimitar/Sabre (occasionally Fox) – often mixed
1 x Recce squadron
HQ Section
1 x Land Rover or Spartan or Sultan (usually Land Rover)
Admin troop
1 x Land Rover FFR
1 x Land Rover
2 x Stalwart or 4 ton trucks
2 light recce troops each with
4 x Land Rover
1 light recce troops each with
4 x Spartan
Occasionally the light armour or recce squadrons were replaced by cavalry but this was usually restricted to the light role regiments.
In many ways this organisation reflected what was already happening with the shortage of tanks. Chieftain units usually retained the Type 20 organisation but reduced the number of tank squadrons to one.
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