- DontosThe Challanger 1 is one of the famous 'Desert Rats' from WWII fame.( if I remember it correctly )
- TrevorLarkum- DontosThe Challanger 1 is one of the famous 'Desert Rats' from WWII fame.( if I remember it correctly )
Kinda. The history and genealogy of British units can get pretty complex. The 7th Armoured Division came into being as part of the Western Desert Force in 1940, at about the time the commander's wife designed a new emblem for it, the jerboa or desert rat. Key elements were the 4th Armoured Brigade (including my compadres, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment) and 7th Armoured Brigade (similarly containing 1st Royal Tank Regiment). For Gazala in 1942 it included the Dragoon Guards and even my own regiment, 3RTR. Its makeup had changed again by the time it played a key role at El Alamein that year.
Fast forward to Iraq 1990 (and close geographically to where it first started) and - to be honest - Britain struggled to put together an armoured division worthy of the name. Instead, the 7th Armoured Brigade was deployed, now carrying the mantle of the Desert Rats. There was some continuity of constituent units, for example it contained the Dragoon Guards again, and 2RTR returned for the push in 2003.
- Maple_Leaf_EhI had mixed feelings for the Iraqi tankers whose T72s I crawled on in Kuwait City. Good tanks with the odd personal item tucked into a corner.
- Joe_DNothing sadder than to see a tank that you put blood, sweat and tears into sitting up on blocks or cannibalized while your gone Crying or Very sad .
Had that happen to my old tank when we shut down a platoon for 2 years due to shortages of soldiers. Got back from a month long exercise and found her lock was cut, hatches left open, turret stripped, and filled with two feet of snow. Then was told to put her back together. We had 9 crews in the company (3 men per tank except the CO's) and had to take care of 15 tanks.
Reduction in Force during the early 90's was ugly Mad .
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