In pictures: British tank soldiers' final year in Germany

Nearly 75 years after the end of World War Two, the UK's last tank regiment in Germany, the Queen's Royal Hussars, returned home.

British photographer Tobias Wilkinson spent a year documenting the daily life of the soldiers in their barracks and on manoeuvres, before they came back to the UK in 2019.

Nicknamed "Churchill's Own", the Queen's Royal Hussars is the most senior armoured regiment in the British Army and is equipped with dozens of main battle tanks.

The regiment was formed in 1993 from the Queen's Own Hussars and the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, which both stemmed from the 1958 mergers of the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th Hussars, which were established in the late 17th Century.

Before relocating to Tidworth, Wiltshire, the regiment had largely been based at Athlone Barracks in Sennelager, North Rhine-Westphalia, since 1998.

The barracks have been mainly occupied by a series of British tank regiments since the end of World War Two.

"I have a home in Germany and became interested in the subject of the British Army's departure because it coincided with Brexit and increased Russian military posturing in Eastern Europe," says Mr Wilkinson, who is also a former soldier.

"Of the soldiers I photographed, there was a poignancy and nostalgia about being in the British Army in its closing moments in Germany," he adds.

"Many had enjoyed their experience of living in Europe, and whilst many were glad to be nearer their families in the UK, many who were more established were sad to be leaving."

The Last Hussar exhibition is on at the National Army Museum in London from 19 January to 6 February 2022.