A FORMER Lieutenant Governor has completed an electronic illustrated history of two important tank regiments from the First and Second World War.
Major General Sir Laurence New, who was educated in the Isle of Man and who occupied Government House from 1985 to 1990, has compiled, with the assistance of isleofman.com, a website which tells the story of the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments.
Sir Laurence, who served in both of the regiments during his extensive military career, explained: "This is the history of two remarkable regiments whose story is inextricably linked since the very beginning of tank warfare at the Battle of Flers in 1916 to their memorable final reunion at Arras in 2010.
"They fought side by side many times and were both totally destroyed twice. They each won the only VCs (Victoria Cross) awarded to armoured regiments in the Second World War."
As well as a comprehensive history of the two tank regiments the website contains eye witness accounts, a wealth of photographs, the actual typed battle orders from the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 and details of the fighting in every campaign since 1916.
Sir Laurence continued: "With the help of one of the corporals of the regiment, an enthusiast who was always gathering bits and pieces and photographs and so on, and with the assistance of a retired brigadier who had actually fought in the regiment throughout the Second World War, I began to build the history. Since then I have had much help from those listed in the introduction.
"I suppose inevitably it is a specialist website and certainly I think the regimental family will enjoy it. But if you go into the web and you look at articles about the First and Second World War and campaigns since e.g. Korea, Suez, Aden, Cyprus and Borneo, in all of which the regiment fought, it is amazing how many people seem to be very interested. I think hopefully it will have a fairly wide appeal.
"It is a story of courage and sacrifice because over 300 officers and men in the two regiments died in the Second World War alone. We are still researching the officers who were killed but in one of the annexes we show where and when 245, who were below that rank, died."
Sir Laurence concluded: "As part of defence cuts the 7th regiment was amalgamated into the 4th in 1959, and that was ok because they had fought side by side so often - it was a very natural marriage. But when the new 4th was amalgamated again into the 1st there was a danger that the history of the 4th and 7th would be lost.
"The aim of this history is to ensure that the sacrifice and courage of members of the two regiments live on, enshrined in the 1st Royal Tank Regiment alongside its own distinguished heritage."
To visit The History of the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments website click here.
