By "least efficient"I don't mean that disbanded battalions were useless and deserved the chop.
I can understand that when there's a choice of 3 or 4 battalions to choose from when the axe is going to fall then it makes sense to compare them and keep those that are judged to be the best performing by whatever criteria are applied.
4 R Anglian were disbanded in 1973, I met members of its rump Tiger Company passing through Depot Queens Div. en route to the other battalions.
When RRF lost their 3rd Bn during the 90's it was the 1st Bn that was run down, the 3rd Bn effectively becoming the 1st. Much as it pains me to say it as an ex-member of 1RRF, that was presumably because the 3rd Bn were deemed to be better than the first when it came to fitness for role.
There was certainly a lot going on behind closed doors when it came to the amalgamations of the 50's, 60's era, I didn't realise how close the LF came to disbandment rather than amalgamation until I read up on it a few years back.
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