Author Topic: 8th army help  (Read 1898 times)

Offline Drew5233

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Re: 8th army help
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 28 January 16 22:22 GMT (UK) »
I have been told he was a desert rat. So would that point to armoured?

No - I was a Desert Rat and I was in the Royal Signals.

Offline ScouseBoy

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Re: 8th army help
« Reply #10 on: Friday 29 January 16 09:31 GMT (UK) »
It was the 7th Armoured who designed a badge representing an animal called a "desert rat"  which gave rise to the nickname  "Desert Rats" during WW2.

Try searching for military badges of WW2.

If you look at some threads here on rootschat,  you may find some vehicles marked with the "desert rat"  identifier.
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Online KGarrad

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Re: 8th army help
« Reply #11 on: Friday 29 January 16 10:00 GMT (UK) »
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline ScouseBoy

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Re: 8th army help
« Reply #12 on: Friday 29 January 16 21:19 GMT (UK) »
Maybe informally  and in the press of the day it was "incorrectly"  applied to the 8th Army.

One argument could be that "desert rats"   should only correctly be applied to those personell  who wore the "Desert Rats"  divisional badge.
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Offline ScouseBoy

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Re: 8th army help
« Reply #13 on: Friday 29 January 16 21:40 GMT (UK) »
"Desert Rats" referred to both the 7th Armoured Division and the 8th Army.

See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Army_%28United_Kingdom%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Armoured_Division_%28United_Kingdom%29
  One more example that shows "Wikipedia"   is not 100 %  correct all the time.
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Offline samlouise01

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Re: 8th army help
« Reply #14 on: Friday 29 January 16 23:03 GMT (UK) »
Ok thanks for the info. I am still waiting for my cousin to get me the picture. Then I will post to hopefully get help with the regiment.

Westmeath - Charles/McCormack/Cullen/Shaw/Kenan

Dublin - Moore/Sweetman/Giles

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