During exercise Tallinn Dawn, the U.K. Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) has been preparing for a deployment to Estonia at the British Army’s Sennelager Training Centre in northern Germany. 750 soldiers are involved in the rehearsals ahead of the next British-led NATO Battlegroup to go to Estonia in September.  The Battlegroup comprises of RTR’s Dreadnought Squadron, equipped with Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, C Company of the Royal Welsh, equipped with Warrior armoured infantry fighting vehicles in addition to elements of the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Royal Army Medical Corps and the Royal Logistic Corps.
Lieutenant Colonel Simon Worth, Commanding Officer RTR said: “The real value of Sennelager is that it closely reflects the operating environment that we would expect to operate on in Estonia and therefore, for us, it provides an excellent kind of dry run rehearsal that will take us to where we need to be.”
Sgt Richard ‘Jonno’ Johnson: “Training has been demanding but we are looking after each other, keeping up morale. Everybody understands what is expected of them and looking forward to the deployment.”
BG Paddy Ginn, Commander 20 Armoured Infantry Brigade said: “My Brigade is also the Force Generation Headquarters for Operation CABRIT (Op CABRIT) deployments. The British contribution to Op CABRIT has just got better and better as time has gone on. We are now on the seventh rotation and preparing the eighth protection package. The beauty of this exercise is that we have the ability to stop, reset, go again. That’s what training in combined arms manoeuvre warfare gives you. That’s when the real mastery will come, Brigadier Ginn concluded.”
The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army’s 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Corps, it is part of the Royal Armoured Corps. The regiment is equipped with Challenger 2 tanks and based at Tidworth coming under 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade following the Army 2020 refine. Unlike the other Type 56 Challenger 2 Regiments, the RTR has an integrated CBRN reconnaissance squadron operating the Fuchs reconnaissance vehicle.
