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HISTORY Founding At first, it was one of only two ) to beef up British strength in Egypt. The 'Mobile Force' was established on the coast some 120 miles west of Alexandria. It was formed of the Cairo Cavalry Brigade (three armoured regiments, the 7th, 8th and 11th Hussars) and the 1st Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) supported by 3rd Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and a company of Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and a Field Ambulance unit. It was joined by a battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and then its first commander, Major General Percy Hobart later "creator" of the Funnies of the Normandy Invasion. Hobart was an armoured warfare expert and saw that his troops were properly prepared to fight in the desert despite their poor equipment. North Africa In December 1939, Major General Michael Creagh succeeded Hobart who had fallen afoul of his superiors. The unit was meant to be equipped with 220 Tank s. However, at the outbreak of war the 7th Armoured Division had only 65. Most of the unit's troops had already been deployed for 2 years by 1940 and it took as long as three months for Mail to arrive. On 16 February 1940 , the Mobile Division became the 7th Armoured Division. The Desert Rat divisional flash was adopted about the same time. It originated from a sketch of a Jerboa drawn by the divisional commander's wife after a visit to the Cairo Zoo. When conflict broke out between British and Italian troops in June 1940, after the Italian declaration of war, the Western Desert Force was massively outnumbered. However, the Italians proved to be no match for the British. The Western Desert Force captured 250,000 Italian prisoners in the early engagements in 1940. During the 1941 Italian retreat, WDF commander Major-General Richard O'Connor ordered the Desert Rats to travel south of the Jebel Akhdar and cut off the Italian forces at Beda Fomm , while Australia n forces continued to push the Italians west. As the tanks were unable to travel fast enough, the maneuver was led by a Brigade of Armoured Car s, towed Artillery , and Infantry , which completed the trip in 30 hours, cutting off the Italian retreat and effectively destroying the Italian Tenth Army . The rest of the force arrived sometime later. The Italians proved so weak that Hitler was forced to send reinforcements ( Afrika Korps ) to stiffen them under the command of General Erwin Rommel . The Western Desert Force later became HQ XIII Corps , one of the major parts of Eighth Army. The 7th Armoured Division took part in most of the major battles of the North African Campaign, including both Battles of El Alamein (see First Battle Of El Alamein and Second Battle Of El Alamein for details). It also participated in the final destruction of Axis forces in North Africa in Tunisia in 1943 . Italy The 7th Armoured Division then took part in Operation Husky , the invasion of Sicily, and also the early part of the campaign in Italy . Along with other veteran formations, it was withdrawn from Italy in late 1943 to the UK to prepare for Operation Overlord , the invasion of Normandy . This was the only time in the division's existence that it was in the United Kingdom. Northern Europe The division formed one of the follow up formations in Normandy. Although regarded as a veteran and elite formation, by this time the units were becoming seriously burnt out. Its performances in Normandy and the rest of France did not match those of its earlier campaigns, even taking into account the unsuitability of Normandy as tank country. Within 21st Army Group it took part in the liberation of Belgium , the Netherlands and northern Germany . During the invasion of Normandy the 7th Armoured Division served with distinction in clearing routes to, and then attacking Caen. Post war The Division remained in Germany as part of the occupation forces and then into the 1950s as part of the British Army Of The Rhine standing watch against the Warsaw Pact . As the British Army became smaller in the later years, its higher numbered divisions were removed from the order of battle to make way for lower numbered formations. 7th Armoured Division's long and illustrious career finally came to an end in this fashion. However, the traditions of 7th Armoured Division are continued today by 7th Armoured Brigade , which forms part of 1 (UK) Division . NOTABLE MEMBERS OF THE 7TH ARMOURED DIVISION |
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