7th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom)

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7th Armoured Brigade

Insignia of the 7th Armoured Brigade
Active 1938-Present
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Armoured Brigade
Part of 1st Armoured Division
Garrison/HQ Hohne, Germany
Engagements Western Desert campaign

The 7th Armoured Brigade is a formation of the British Army. The brigade is better known as the 'Desert Rats'.

Contents

[edit] History

The brigade was formed in 1938 as the Light Armoured Brigade which was part of the Mobile Division in Egypt.

When the Mobile Division became 7th Armoured Division, the LAB became the 7th Armoured Brigade in February 1940. The 7th Division had a red jerboa (a nocturnal rodent indigenous to North Africa) as its emblem and became known as 'The Desert Rats'. The 7th Brigade, meanwhile, had a green jerboa as its emblem. The brigade became known as the 'Green Rats' or the 'Jungle Rats' after they moved to Burma in 1942.

[edit] World War II

The Second World War broke out in September 1939, Britain and France declaring war on Germany after its invasion of Poland. Italy launched an invasion of British-controlled Egypt shortly after entering the war on Germany's side in June 1940.

The brigade fought in many of the major battles in North Africa, including Operation Crusader in November, fighting at Sidi Rezegh to try to relieve the Commonwealth forces in the port of Tobruk, besieged by Axis forces. The operation was the third attempt by the Allies to break the siege and was successful.

It moved to Burma in early 1942 just as the Japanese were pushing the Allies back. The brigade took part in the fighting retreat to India, successfully completed in May just before the monsoons would have cut them off.

The 7th Armoured returned to the Middle East in 1943, based in Iraq and later Egypt. With Axis forces defeated in North Africa, the brigade's time was a quiet one until it moved to Italy in 1944 where it remained for the duration of the war.

[edit] Post- World War II

[edit] Reformation

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the 7th Armoured Brigade was disbanded and the 22nd Armoured Brigade was re-designated as the 7th Armoured Brigade, based in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). The brigade has been stationed in Germany since then though BAOR was replaced by British Forces Germany in 1994. The brigade is presently based in Hohne, Lower Saxony.

After the 7th Armoured Division was disbanded in 1958 the brigade adopted its insignia and nickname, perpetuating the history of the famed division. It formed part of 1st (UK) Armoured Division when this was formed in 1976. After being briefly converted to "Task Force Alpha" in the late 1970s, the Brigade was reinstated in 1981, and has remained part of 1st Armoured Division since that date.

[edit] Kuwait and Iraq

The 7th Amoured Brigade returned to the desert when it arrived in Saudi Arabia in October 1990 as part of Operation Granby, intended to protect Saudi Arabia from invasion by Saddam Hussain's Iraq. The brigade, commanded by Brigadier Patrick Cordingley, later took part in the United Nations ground campaign to liberate Iraqi-occupied Kuwait on 24 February 1991 that began after a sustained air campaign. The Desert Rats, along with the rest of 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.

[edit] Balkans

The brigade deployed to Bosnia in 1994 as part of the UN IFOR peacekeeping organisation there. The brigade returned for another tour-of-duty in 1997, joining IFOR's NATO replacement known as SFOR. After the Kosovo War in 1999, the 7th Armoured Brigade returned to the Balkans for a tour-of-duty in Kosovo in 2000, based in the capital Pristina. The brigade returned to Kosovo the following year.

[edit] Iraq

Just before Operation Telic began (Britain's contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq), the brigade, commanded by Brigadier Graham Binns, moved to Kuwait where it undertook extensive training and was 'desertised' for service in the Middle East. The brigade, consisting of 112 Challenger 2 tanks, 140 Warriors and 32 AS-90 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, entered Iraq on 21 March. The main objective of the Desert Rats was to advance towards Iraq's second largest city, Basra, and help encircle and isolate it. The brigade, led by the 1st Fusiliers Battlegroup, made a rapid advance towards the city and soon reached its outskirts, securing Basra Airport and the critical bridges across the Shat-Al-Basra. The advance by the brigade met sporadic though fierce resistance, including an engagement between 14 Challenger 2s of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and 14 Iraqi tanks, all of the Iraqi tanks being destroyed; it was the largest tank engagement by the British Army since WWII. Initially the Brigade was faced by very spirited but un-coordinated attacks from Basra and in the town of Az Zubayr. These attacks were initially orchestrated by members of the Iraqi secret police, who used violence and threats against family members to coerce men to attack the Desert Rats and other elements of 1st Armoured Division. As their influence waned, so did the frequency and ferocity of the Iraqi attacks.

The 1st Armoured Division, including 7th Brigade, then undertook a number of raids into the city against specific targets, but in a plan that was very patient bided their time on the outskirts of Basra. On 6 April the Desert Rats, led by Challenger 2s of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, Queen's Royal Lancers and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment with Warriors of the 1st Fusiliers, Irish Guards and Black Watch pushed into the city on 6 April and stayed. They met sporadic resistance from Iraqi soldiers and irregulars known as Fedayeen. Basra was, for the most part, now controlled by 1st Division though further engagements did take place. The war was officially declared over on 1 May. The Desert Rats remained in Iraq after the war, acting as peacekeepers and helping to rebuild the country while based in the British sector in the south of Iraq. The brigade began to leave in late June, being replaced by 19th Mechanised Brigade.

[edit] Brigade Composition

[edit] Iraq War, 2003

  • 7th Armoured Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron (207)
  • 32 (Armoured) Regiment Royal Engineers
  • 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - (AS-90 155 mm howitzers)
  • Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Battlegroup, including elements of 1st Battalion Irish Guards (Challenger 2 and Warrior)
  • 2nd Royal Tank Regiment Battlegroup, including elements of 1st Battalion The Light Infantry - (Challenger 2's and Warriors)
  • The Black Watch Battlegroup, including elements of Queen's Royal Lancers (Challenger 2's and Warriors)
  • 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Battlegroup, including elements of Queen's Royal Lancers (Challenger 2 and Warriors)

[edit] Brigade Units

7th Armoured Brigade Units 2008

[edit] See also

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