The (a translation of its former name, the "12th Canadian Armoured Regiment") is a Canadian Army armoured regiment based in CFB Valcartier, on the outskirts of Quebec City. The regiment has both a Regular Force and a Primary Reserve unit. The 's abbreviation is 12<sup>e</sup> RBC.
In the Regular Force regiment, all three squadrons are based on the LAV family of vehicles and are designated as light armoured cavalry squadrons. Each squadron is organized into troops of four vehicles each. C Squadron, 12<sup>e</sup> RBC, is at CFB Gagetown as part of C Squadron, the Royal Canadian Dragoons.
The Primary Reserve unit trains for influence activities, such as civil–military co-operation and psychological warfare.
Lineage
- Originated 24 March 1871 in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, as the Three Rivers Provisional Battalion of Infantry
- Redesignated 4 June 1880 as the 86th "Three Rivers" Battalion of Infantry
- Redesignated 8 May 1900 as the 86th Three Rivers Regiment
- Redesignated 29 March 1920 as The Three Rivers Regiment
- Converted 15 December 1936 to armour and redesignated as The Three Rivers Regiment (Tank)
- Redesignated 13 August 1940 as the 2nd Regiment, The Three Rivers Regiment (Tank)
- Redesignated 1 April 1941 as the 12th (Reserve) Army Tank Battalion, (The Three Rivers Regiment (Tank))
- Redesignated 15 August 1942 as the 12th (Reserve) Army Tank Regiment (The Three Rivers Regiment (Tank))
- Converted 1 April 1946 to artillery and redesignated as the 46th Anti-Tank Regiment, RCA (Three Rivers Regiment)
- Converted 19 June 1947 to armour and redesignated the 24th Armoured Regiment (Three Rivers Regiment)
- Redesignated 4 February 1949 as (24th Armoured Regiment)
- Redesignated 19 May 1958 as (RCAC)
- Redesignated 2 May 1968 as the
Lineage chart
Perpetuations
War of 1812
- 8th Battalion, Select Embodied Militia
- Trois-Rivières Division
Afghanistan
The Regular regiment provided several reconnaissance squadrons and troops and tank crews to the Canadian Task Forces that served in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014.
History
left|thumb|Plaque commemorating The Three Rivers Regiment
Its origins are in The Three Rivers Regiment, a militia (Reserve Force) regiment based in Trois-Rivières, a town halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. It originally formed in 1871 as the Three Rivers Provisional Battalion of Infantry. This was a new battalion headquarters that united four previously independent infantry companies that had been formed in 1869 at Trois-Rivières, Rivière-du-Loup-en-Haut, Berthier-en-Haut and Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon. The battalion was given a number in 1880 (86th "Three Rivers" Battalion of Infantry) and raised to regiment status in 1900 (86th Three Rivers Regiment).
In the First World War, the Canadian militia infantry units were not mobilized, but instead new units were formed from volunteers from the militia and new recruits. The militia units generally became organizations for recruiting, induction and preliminary training. The 86th Regiment recruited the 178th "Overseas" Battalion, CEF, in 1916. The 178th Battalion was broken up in England in 1917, but enough of its former members fought at the Battle of Amiens (1918) that the battalion qualified for a battle honour, which the 12<sup>e</sup> RBC perpetuates.