Desert Rats

Nickname and emblem of the British 7th Armoured Division. In 1938, with the growing prospect of an Italian threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal, the elements of a desert ‘Mobile Force’ were brought together at Mersah Matruh, west of Alexandria. Gradually, the Mobile Force (Egypt) was reorganized and enlarged into something closer to an armoured division. In early 1940 the division took as its emblem the jerboa or desert rat.

From December 1940 to February 1941, as part of the Western Desert Force commanded by O'Connor, the division took part in the audacious defeat and pursuit of the Italian Tenth Army. Within weeks the division became involved in bitter fighting for supremacy in North Africa with Rommel's newly arrived Afrika Korps. After the Eighth Army's withdrawal to Alamein, 7th Armoured Division played a leading role in the breakout in autumn 1942 and in the pursuit to Tunis. For the remainder of the war, the division had no shortage of action, being involved in the invasion of Italy, the Normandy landings and breakout, and the advance into Germany.

The 7th Armoured Division was disbanded in 1948, revived during the Berlin airlift, and then disbanded again in 1958. The Desert Rat emblem lives on and was seen during the 1990-1 Gulf war, in which the British contribution to the US-led coalition included the 4th and 7th Armoured Brigades, both of which had been original elements of 7th Armoured Division.

— Paul Cornish

1. a soldier serving in a desert campaign such as the Persian Gulf War.

2. informal a soldier of the 7th British armored division (with the jerboa as a badge) in the North African desert campaign of 1941-42.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.