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The Desert Rats were the only British armoured division to use the Cromwell as their main battle tank. [ 60 ] Major-General Gerald Lloyd-Verney , GOC 7th Armoured Division, enters Ghent in his Staghound armoured car , 8 September 1944.
The Desert Rats, along with the rest of the 1st Armoured Division, carried out a left-hook manoeuvre that swung round the Iraqi Republican Guard. The brigade advanced deep into Iraqi territory, encountering some armour of the Republican Guard. The ground campaign formally ended on 28 February with the liberation of Kuwait achieved. [8]
The Brigade itself will be re-designated as the 7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East, but retain its famed 'Desert Rats' insignia. On 24 February 2015, the brigade formally stepped out of its armour role into that of an infantry brigade and regional point of command. [ 35 ]
The two Royal Tank Regiment units used a mixture of A9 Cruisers and Mk VI light tanks. [ 4 ] [ 8 ] [ a ] Prior to the outbreak of the war, a 'pivot group' was formed. British military thinking for armoured formations designated that all supporting arms (infantry, artillery, engineers) would be assigned to these groups, thus leaving the armoured ...
The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Originally called the Long Range Patrol (LRP), the unit was founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph Alger Bagnold , acting under the direction of General Archibald Wavell .
Robin Neillands, in his work on the Eighth Army, wrote "It is worth pointing out here that the term 'Desert Rat', though often used to describe any soldier of the Desert Army or the men who fought in Tobruk – the Australians have a 'Rats of Tobruk' Association – should strictly be applied only to the men of the British 7th Armoured Division".
7th Armoured Division's 'Desert Rat' formation sign. By then, 15th LAA Rgt had joined 7th Armoured Division (the 'Desert Rats') on 2 August 1942. [46] It was reinforced by 1 LAA Bty, a Regular Army unit that had fought in the Battle of France and subsequently served as an independent battery in 7th Support Group and in the Tobruk garrison.
The Western Desert campaign (Desert War) took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war and the Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya in September.