“DESERT RATS” LOSE NAME

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28542, 22 March 1958, Page 13

“DESERT RATS” LOSE NAME

Renumbering Of

Divisions

(Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, March 21. The “Desert Rats,” one of the British Army’s most famous fighting formations, will lose its identity, according to “The Times” military correspondent. It was .the 7th Armoured Division and would lose its identity because the brigade group had been adopted as the Army’s basic formation, he said. The War Office was expected to announce soon that, because divisional headquarters would no longer command a fixed number of either infantry or armoured brigades, existing divisions would lose the word “infantry” or “armoured” from their titles. The four divisions stationed in the Rhine Army, the 2nd and 4th Infantry Divisions, and 6th and 7th Armoured Divisions, would be redesignated accordingly. The 7th Armoured Division would also be renumbered, emerging finally as the sth Division. -

“The Times” correspondent said that the change was logical, but questioned whether, in the light of recruiting figures, the Army was wise to throw away such famous names as the “Desert Rats” for the sake of uniformity.