Desert Rats Memorial, Thetford Forest, Norfolk
The 7th. Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw distinguished active service during World War II, where its exploits in the Western Desert Campaign gained it the 'Desert Rats' nickname.
After the Munich Crisis, elements of what would become the 7th. Armoured Division arrived in the Middle East in 1938 to increase British strength in Egypt and form a 'Mobile Force'. The Mobile Force, initially the 'Matruh Mobile Force,' was established on the coast some 120 miles (190 km) west of Alexandria. It was formed from the Cairo Cavalry Brigade and comprised four armoured regiments, 7th. Queen's Own Hussars, 8th. King's Royal Irish Hussars, 11th. Hussars and 1st. Royal Tank Regiment and supported by the 3rd. Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, a company of the Royal Army Service Corps and a Field Ambulance unit. The 1st. Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps then joined from Burma. These were the first of many units to serve as part of the Division. The Divisions first commander, Major-Gen. Percy Hobart, was an armoured warfare expert and he saw that his troops were properly prepared to fight in the desert despite being poorly equipped. The division was meant to be equipped with 220 tanks, however, at the outbreak of the Second World War the 'Mobile Force' only had 65. On 16th. Feb. 1940, the Mobile Division, which had changed names during the middle of 1939 to be called the Armoured Division became the 7th. Armoured Division.
After the Italian declaration of war, the Western Desert Force was massively outnumbered by the Italian Army, however they had WW1 artillery, no armoured cars and very few anti-tank weapons. As such, it proved to be no match for the British who captured 130,000 Italian POW's between Dec. 1940 and Feb. 1941. The Italians had proven so weak that Hitler was forced to send the Afrika Korps, under Gen. Erwin Rommel as reinforcements.
The British and Germans fought at Tobruk in 1941, First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942 and the Second Battle of El Alamein in Oct./Nov. 1942, which turned the tide of the war in North Africa against the Germans. The fighting in North Africa came to an end in May 1943 with almost 250,000 Axis soldiers surrendering to the Allies and becoming POW's.
The Division did participate in the early stages of the Italian Campaign and came ashore at Salerno on 15th. Sept. 1943 to help repel heavy German counterattacks. Later it was part of the force that took Naples.
On the wishes of the British Eighth Army commander, Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery, the 7th. Armoured Division was recalled to the UK to prepare for the invasion of North Western Europe with the British Second Army. The 7th. Armoured handing over its battered vehicles and equipment to the recently arrived 5th. Canadian (Armoured) Division and left Italy in late Dec. 1943, arriving in Glasgow in early Jan. 1944.
The Division was stationed in Thetford Forest between Jan. and May 1944 while they prepared for D-Day. The Division sailed from Felixstowe on 5th. June with their first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6th. June. They participated in Battle for Caenn
and after the Battle of the Falaise Gap, which saw most of the German Army in Normandy destroyed, they took part in the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine. Following the advance across France, the Division took part in the Allied advance through Belgium and the Netherlands, liberating Ghent on 6th. Sept. and securing the River Maas.
The division had a short rest for training in late Feb. 1945. This was followed by Operation Plunder; with the 7th. Armoured Division crossed the River Rhine near Xanten and Wesel and advanced on the German city of Hamburg, where the division ended the war. On 16th. April 1945, the Division liberated Stalag 11B in Fallingbostel, which was the first POW camp to be liberated. The 7th. Armoured Division's final battle of the war was the Battle of Hamburg. In July 1945 the 7th. Armoured Division moved to Berlin where it took part in the Berlin Victory Parade alongside American, French and Russian troops.
The Division remained in Germany as part of the occupation forces and then into the 1950's as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), standing watch against the Warsaw Pact. As the British Army became smaller, its higher numbered divisions were removed from the order of battle. The Division's long and illustrious career finally came to an end in this fashion in April 1958, when it was converted into 5th. Division. However, the traditions and iconic 'Desert Rats' nickname of the Division were maintained by 7th. Armoured Brigade, which formed part of 1st. Armoured Division. In 2014 the end of an era was announced by the MoD. As part of the reorganisation of the British Army, the 7th. Armoured Brigade would cease to exist and become the 7th. Infantry Brigade. The new Brigade will continue to wear the Jerboa and carry on the traditions of the Desert Rats, but the reorganisation effectively means that after over 74 years of existence there will no longer be a 7th. Armoured Brigade in the British Army.
The nickname was coined by the first divisional commander, Major-Gen. Percy Hobart on a visit to Maaten Bagush. There he met Rea Leakey, then GSO 3 Intelligence, who had a pet jerboa, or 'desert rat'. Hobart took to the animal and decided to adopt 'The Desert Rats' as a nickname for the division. The shoulder flash was designed by the wife of his successor, Major-Gen. Michael O'Moore Creagh, using a jerboa from Cairo Zoo as a model. The resulting shoulder patches were made of scarlet thread. These were unofficial, the War Office did not adopt the flashes until the summer of 1943 and then redesigned them to look, in the opinion of Leakey, more like a kangaroo than a jerboa. The colour was also changed to black.
On 23rd. October 1998 this memorial to the Division, featuring a Cromwell Mk.IV tank was dedicated at Mundford, in Thetford Forest, Norfolk, by Field Marshall Lord Carver, who served with 1st. Royal Tank Regiment with the Division in 1944 and later Commanded 4th. Armoured Brigade. The Division's six months at Thetford Forest was the only time in it's entire existence that it was stationed in the UK.
Desert Rats Memorial, Thetford Forest, Norfolk
The 7th. Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw distinguished active service during World War II, where its exploits in the Western Desert Campaign gained it the 'Desert Rats' nickname.
After the Munich Crisis, elements of what would become the 7th. Armoured Division arrived in the Middle East in 1938 to increase British strength in Egypt and form a 'Mobile Force'. The Mobile Force, initially the 'Matruh Mobile Force,' was established on the coast some 120 miles (190 km) west of Alexandria. It was formed from the Cairo Cavalry Brigade and comprised four armoured regiments, 7th. Queen's Own Hussars, 8th. King's Royal Irish Hussars, 11th. Hussars and 1st. Royal Tank Regiment and supported by the 3rd. Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, a company of the Royal Army Service Corps and a Field Ambulance unit. The 1st. Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps then joined from Burma. These were the first of many units to serve as part of the Division. The Divisions first commander, Major-Gen. Percy Hobart, was an armoured warfare expert and he saw that his troops were properly prepared to fight in the desert despite being poorly equipped. The division was meant to be equipped with 220 tanks, however, at the outbreak of the Second World War the 'Mobile Force' only had 65. On 16th. Feb. 1940, the Mobile Division, which had changed names during the middle of 1939 to be called the Armoured Division became the 7th. Armoured Division.
After the Italian declaration of war, the Western Desert Force was massively outnumbered by the Italian Army, however they had WW1 artillery, no armoured cars and very few anti-tank weapons. As such, it proved to be no match for the British who captured 130,000 Italian POW's between Dec. 1940 and Feb. 1941. The Italians had proven so weak that Hitler was forced to send the Afrika Korps, under Gen. Erwin Rommel as reinforcements.
The British and Germans fought at Tobruk in 1941, First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942 and the Second Battle of El Alamein in Oct./Nov. 1942, which turned the tide of the war in North Africa against the Germans. The fighting in North Africa came to an end in May 1943 with almost 250,000 Axis soldiers surrendering to the Allies and becoming POW's.
The Division did participate in the early stages of the Italian Campaign and came ashore at Salerno on 15th. Sept. 1943 to help repel heavy German counterattacks. Later it was part of the force that took Naples.
On the wishes of the British Eighth Army commander, Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery, the 7th. Armoured Division was recalled to the UK to prepare for the invasion of North Western Europe with the British Second Army. The 7th. Armoured handing over its battered vehicles and equipment to the recently arrived 5th. Canadian (Armoured) Division and left Italy in late Dec. 1943, arriving in Glasgow in early Jan. 1944.
The Division was stationed in Thetford Forest between Jan. and May 1944 while they prepared for D-Day. The Division sailed from Felixstowe on 5th. June with their first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6th. June. They participated in Battle for Caenn
and after the Battle of the Falaise Gap, which saw most of the German Army in Normandy destroyed, they took part in the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine. Following the advance across France, the Division took part in the Allied advance through Belgium and the Netherlands, liberating Ghent on 6th. Sept. and securing the River Maas.
The division had a short rest for training in late Feb. 1945. This was followed by Operation Plunder; with the 7th. Armoured Division crossed the River Rhine near Xanten and Wesel and advanced on the German city of Hamburg, where the division ended the war. On 16th. April 1945, the Division liberated Stalag 11B in Fallingbostel, which was the first POW camp to be liberated. The 7th. Armoured Division's final battle of the war was the Battle of Hamburg. In July 1945 the 7th. Armoured Division moved to Berlin where it took part in the Berlin Victory Parade alongside American, French and Russian troops.
The Division remained in Germany as part of the occupation forces and then into the 1950's as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), standing watch against the Warsaw Pact. As the British Army became smaller, its higher numbered divisions were removed from the order of battle. The Division's long and illustrious career finally came to an end in this fashion in April 1958, when it was converted into 5th. Division. However, the traditions and iconic 'Desert Rats' nickname of the Division were maintained by 7th. Armoured Brigade, which formed part of 1st. Armoured Division. In 2014 the end of an era was announced by the MoD. As part of the reorganisation of the British Army, the 7th. Armoured Brigade would cease to exist and become the 7th. Infantry Brigade. The new Brigade will continue to wear the Jerboa and carry on the traditions of the Desert Rats, but the reorganisation effectively means that after over 74 years of existence there will no longer be a 7th. Armoured Brigade in the British Army.
The nickname was coined by the first divisional commander, Major-Gen. Percy Hobart on a visit to Maaten Bagush. There he met Rea Leakey, then GSO 3 Intelligence, who had a pet jerboa, or 'desert rat'. Hobart took to the animal and decided to adopt 'The Desert Rats' as a nickname for the division. The shoulder flash was designed by the wife of his successor, Major-Gen. Michael O'Moore Creagh, using a jerboa from Cairo Zoo as a model. The resulting shoulder patches were made of scarlet thread. These were unofficial, the War Office did not adopt the flashes until the summer of 1943 and then redesigned them to look, in the opinion of Leakey, more like a kangaroo than a jerboa. The colour was also changed to black.
On 23rd. October 1998 this memorial to the Division, featuring a Cromwell Mk.IV tank was dedicated at Mundford, in Thetford Forest, Norfolk, by Field Marshall Lord Carver, who served with 1st. Royal Tank Regiment with the Division in 1944 and later Commanded 4th. Armoured Brigade. The Division's six months at Thetford Forest was the only time in it's entire existence that it was stationed in the UK.