Norrbottens Pansarbataljon - History

History

The battalion was created in 1957 as the army considered it important to have armoured units stationed in Northern Sweden already in peacetime. In 1975 the battalion was merged with Norrbottens regemente under the designation I 19/P 5 and ceased to exist as an independent unit even though it lived on as part of the regiment. For a short time in the 1990s, the regiment ceased to exist as it was merged with the wartime organised Norrbottensbrigaden.

In 2000, the battalion was re-raised, this time as one of five battalions in Norrbottens regemente, retaining its old name, but not the designation P 5 (5th Armoured Regiment) it originally had, even though it is still in common use. The battalion is as of 2006 one of the three Swedish Army training regiments for armoured units. The battalion has been garrisoned in Boden during its whole existence.