At the Battle of Cambrai in late 1917, during the First World War, the squadron of tanks led by Arthur George Griffiths made a huge impact on the battle.
The regiment saw wide-ranging service in the Second World War, and fought in nearly all of the major allied campaigns from the 1940 retreat from France through the Western Desert Campaign, Normandy and on into Germany.
In December 1946, the regiment was the first to use Centurion tanks in regular service.
[2] In 1960, under the command of Hugo Ironside, it amalgamated with 8th Royal Tank Regiment without change of title.
In 2007, an image of a 1944 tank commander in the 5th Royal Tank Regiment uniform was used on one of a series of Royal mail stamps featuring British Army uniforms.