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93-646: The 7th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army . The brigade is also known as the "Desert Rats", a nickname formerly held by the 7th Armoured Division , of which the brigade formed a part during the Second World War until late 1941. The brigade was raised from garrison troops stationed in North Africa in 1938. It was initially known as the Light Armoured Brigade which

186-488: A battalion of forty-eight Vickers Medium Mark I tanks, a motorised machine-gun battalion, a mechanised artillery regiment, which had one battery of fully tracked self-propelled Birch guns capable of acting as conventional or anti-aircraft artillery, and a motorised company of field engineers. The unit carried out operations on Salisbury Plain and was observed by the other major nations, the United States , Germany , and

279-431: A better range than their WW I predecessors. To save weight, such designs had thin armour plating and this inspired fitting small-calibre high-velocity guns in turrets, giving tanks a good antitank capacity. Both France and Britain eventually built specialised infantry tanks, more heavily armoured to provide infantry support, and cavalry tanks that were faster and could exploit a breakthrough, seeking to bring about defeat of

372-460: A dangerous practice. The turboshaft -powered M1 Abrams , for example, has such hot exhaust gas that nearby infantry have to be careful where they stand. Tanks can also be very vulnerable to well aimed artillery ; well-coordinated air support and counter-battery artillery units can help overcome this. While attempts to defeat the tank were made before and during the Second World War, through

465-459: A deliberate military doctrine, in 1941, it ultimately failed on the eastern front, though initially attaining spectacular successes. Before the war, Heinz Guderian had in his Achtung–Panzer! propounded a thorough mechanisation of the German forces. By 1942, increased AFV-production allowed a fuller implementation of this ideal. Now extensive armoured combined arms team could be formed, distinct from

558-565: A group of three German A7V tanks engaged a group of three British Mark IV tanks which they met accidentally. After the final German spring offensives of 21 March to 18 July 1918, the Entente deployed tanks en masse at the Battle of Soissons (18 to 22 July 1918) and Battle of Amiens (August 1918), which ended the stalemate imposed by trench warfare on the Western Front, and thus effectively ended

651-669: A lack of effective armoured tactics. Strategic use of tanks developed only slowly during and immediately after World War I, partly due to these technical limits but also due to the prestige role traditionally accorded to horse-mounted cavalry. An exception, on paper, was the Plan 1919 of the British Army's Colonel J. F. C. Fuller , who envisaged using the expected vast increase in armour production during 1919 to execute deep strategic penetrations by mechanised forces consisting of tanks and infantry carried by trucks, supported by aeroplanes, to paralyse

744-555: A narrow cooperation between large armoured units – of the Panzerwaffe and the Cavalry – and "active" infantry divisions to break the Polish defensive lines and pursue the defeated enemy forces. The more limited and dispersed Polish armoured units were quickly destroyed. The Red Army, invading the east of Poland , also deployed armoured divisions. At the time, the swift collapse of the Polish army

837-496: A purely infantry or cavalry formation. The panzer divisions integrated tanks with mechanised infantry (riding in halftracks to be protected from small-arms fire while being transported) and self-propelled artillery (howitzers fitted on a tank chassis). This allowed the panzer division to become an independent combat force, in principle able to overcome the problems of attaining a breakthrough against entrenched enemy infantry, equipped with large numbers of antitank-guns, with

930-522: A sharp increase in the number of available tanks for 1918. The German Empire , on the contrary, produced only a few tanks, late in the war. Twenty German A7V tanks were produced during the entire conflict, compared to over 4,400 French and over 2,500 British tanks of various kinds. Nonetheless, World War I saw the first tank-versus-tank battle, during the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918, when

1023-520: A sudden change in the global geostrategic situation, gaining Germany a position of hegemony on the European continent, but also seemed to vindicate the theories of Fuller and Liddell-Hart. Confronted with the undeniable potential of armoured manoeuvre warfare, from the summer of 1940 onwards the armed forces of all surviving major powers adapted their tactical doctrine, unit organisation, strategic planning and tank production plans. According to Frieser, this

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1116-452: A tank component supplemented by tank destroyers formed into independent tank destroyer battalions . The latter is most closely identified with the Chief of Army Ground Forces, Lesley J. McNair . Having studied the early German successes McNair came under the belief that U.S. forces would be faced with fast moving enemy forces who would seek to bypass, isolate and reduce U.S. forces in a replay of

1209-593: A tour-of-duty in Kosovo in 2000, based in the capital Pristina . 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

1302-515: A war of attrition and embarked on a high-risk strategy. They approved the Manstein Plan , envisaging an advance through the Ardennes by the main mass of German infantry divisions, spearheaded by seven armoured divisions, while the main mobile French reserve consisting of three Cavalry armoured divisions ( Divisions Légères Mécaniques or Mechanised Light Divisions) – the only armoured units organised on

1395-475: Is an extreme example but exemplifies what has been fairly thoroughly documented since the Second World War: tanks and infantry work best by taking advantage of each other's strengths and combining to minimise the weaknesses. In many conflicts, it was usual to see infantry riding on the back of tanks, ready to jump off and provide support when necessary. Unfortunately, the design of many modern tanks makes this

1488-507: The Panzerwaffe . The precise interpretation of this phenomenon has proven controversial among military historians. Traditionally, it has been seen as part of a " Blitzkrieg strategy" of swift world conquest by means of armoured forces. Later it has been argued, among others by Karl-Heinz Frieser , that the German army in the 1930s did not even possess an explicit Blitzkrieg tactical doctrine, let alone strategy. This would have been reflected by

1581-693: The 1937 repression of the officer corps . The Red Army ignored the lessons from Nomonhan , which had been successfully conducted by General Zhukov , and relied instead on lessons from politically selected officers who were veterans of the Spanish Civil War . The result was a poor showing during the Winter War . The Red Army tank fleet was extremely large, consisting of some 24,000 vehicles, but many were obsolete or unfit for service due to difficulties with supplying spare parts and lack of qualified support staff. One important development took place shortly before

1674-672: The Coalition of the Gulf War 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 the 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

1767-844: The Commonwealth forces in the port of Tobruk , besieged by Axis forces . It moved to fight in the Burma campaign in early 1942 just as the Imperial Japanese Army 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 Brigade returned to the Middle East in 1943, based in Iraq and later Egypt. With Axis forces defeated in North Africa ,

1860-629: The French Army as the best army in Europe, and consequently the U.S. Army frequently copied French uniforms (the American Civil War) and aeroplanes. Only when France was rapidly overrun in 1940 did the U.S. Army become "shocked" into re-thinking the influences by the perceived actions of German tanks in the 1939 Polish Campaign. Its Armored Combat Arm was not created until 1940 when the Armored Force

1953-612: The IJN favoured all-around protective armour) IJA tanks were lightly armoured. As with most armour during the 1930s, the main guns were small in calibre: 37 mm for their Type 95 light tanks and 47 mm for the Type 97 medium tank, but this was sometimes compensated by a high muzzle velocity. The IJA's use of tanks in China exemplifies its doctrine: light tanks were used for scouting or acted as mobile infantry support, while medium tanks supported

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2046-576: The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and 14 Iraqi tanks, all of the Iraqi tanks being destroyed. 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

2139-521: The Schneider CA , also failed to live up to expectations. In the Battle of Cambrai (November to December 1917) British tanks were more successful, and broke a German trenchline system , the Hindenburg Line . Despite the generally unpromising beginnings, the military and political leadership in both Britain and France during 1917 backed large investment into armoured-vehicle production. This led to

2232-541: The Second Battle of El Alamein . In 2022, Kendrick Kuo, assistant professor at the U.S. Naval War College, wrote that due to factors emanating from the interwar period , the British army in North Africa initially operated their armoured units with little infantry or artillery support. Meanwhile, the Germans had integrated their armour with mechanised infantry and artillery. Only after undoing their misplaced emphasis on armour were

2325-564: The Soviet Union . Although its performance was recognised, it was disbanded in 1928. In 2022, Kendrick Kuo, assistant professor at the U.S. Naval War College , argued that the British army, under budget and over-stretched during the interwar period, pursued innovation recklessly by betting on the combat effectiveness of armoured units operating with little infantry or artillery support. Doing so led to its initial setbacks in North Africa during

2418-467: The Western Front by the effectiveness of entrenched defensive infantry armed with machine guns – known as trench warfare . Under these conditions, attacks usually advanced very slowly and incurred massive casualties. The developers of tanks aimed to return manoeuvre to warfare, and found a practical way to do so: providing caterpillar traction to machine guns allowing them to overcome trenches, while at

2511-711: The "Green Rats" or the "Jungle Rats" after it moved to Burma in 1942. The Second World War broke out in September 1939, with both Britain and France declaring war on Germany after the German Army invaded Poland . Italy launched an invasion of Egypt , then a British Protectorate , 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

2604-605: The "changes would still dismay veterans and the general public". On 14 November 2014, the brigade formally stepped out of its armour role into that of an infantry brigade as 7th Infantry Brigade . The composition was as follows: Commanders have included: Armoured warfare Much of the application of armoured warfare depends on the use of tanks and related vehicles used by other supporting arms such as infantry fighting vehicles , self-propelled artillery , and other combat vehicles , as well as mounted combat engineers and other support units. The doctrine of armored warfare

2697-478: The 1920s the armoured vehicles, as early road transport in general, were extremely unreliable, and could not be used in sustained operations. Mainstream thought on the subject was more conservative and tried to integrate armoured vehicles into the existing infantry and cavalry organisation and tactics. Technical development initially focussed on the improvement of the suspension system, transmission and engine, to create vehicles that were faster, more reliable and had

2790-488: The 1930s, political tensions between the world powers quickly increased. The Soviet Union and France began to rearm in the early thirties. In the Soviet Union, the mechanisation of the armed forces was part of a massive general industrialisation programme, the successive Five Years Plans , and the country soon had more tanks than the rest of the world combined, thousands of them being produced per year. In this period, before

2883-471: The 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

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2976-474: 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

3069-513: The 4th Cavalry Division was transformed into the 1e Division Légère Mécanique , the first French armoured division of the Cavalry. In Germany, after the Nazi Regime started open rearmament in March 1935, on 15 October 1935 three Panzerdivisionen were formed. Though some tank brigades were part of the Cavalry or Infantry arm, most German tanks were concentrated into a special branch, from 1936 called

3162-544: The Allies on the tactical and operational level. German tanks operated while directed by radio communication, which allowed tank commanders to take greater advantage of the manoeuvrability of their vehicles. Even after the conquest of Poland , "Blitzkrieg" was not defined on the strategic level. Guderian and von Manstein devised a strategy that entailed what later would be seen as the essence of Blitzkrieg: concentrated panzer divisions performing swift deep penetrations. This strategy

3255-556: The Anglo-French coalition proved unable to match the Germans in the number of armoured divisions, as it was impossible to quickly raise such large units. Though the French possessed a superior number of tanks, often better armoured and armed, half of these were allotted at army-level to independent Bataillons de Chars de Combat ("battle tank battalions") for infantry support. In early 1940, the German command had concluded that it could not win

3348-559: The Ardennes forced the crossings over the river Meuse , assisted by massive carpet bombing of the crossing points. In the original plan, the armoured divisions were again supposed to closely cooperate with the infantry divisions. In reality, armour commanders like Erwin Rommel and Heinz Guderian immediately broke out of the bridgeheads, initiating a drive towards the English Channel , which

3441-456: The Battle of Cambrai a large concentration of British heavy tanks effected a breakthrough, it was not exploited by armour. The manoeuvrability of the tank should at least in theory regain armies the ability to flank enemy lines. In practice, tank warfare during most of World War I was hampered by the technical immaturity of the new weapon system, limiting speed, operational range, and reliability, and

3534-598: The British Secretary of State for Defence , Philip Hammond , announced that the 7th Armoured Brigade would have its Challenger 2 tanks and heavy armoured battalions removed over the next decade. Although the brigade itself was re-designated as an infantry brigade, it retains its famed "Desert Rats" insignia. It forms part of the Adaptable Force under Army 2020 . The decision was met with regret by former 7th Armoured Brigade commander Patrick Cordingley , who said that

3627-604: The British able to restore their combat effectiveness. Much of the Red Army development in tank use was based on the theoretical work carried out by such officers as Tukhachevsky and Triandafillov in the mid to late 1930s. This was as part of the two-directioned concepts, one being infantry-centred "broad front" and the other being a "shock army". While the infantry based part of the doctrine demanded "powerful tanks" (heavy tanks armed with infantry guns and machineguns) and "tankettes" (light, often amphibious tanks with machineguns),

3720-616: The Commonwealth troops of the British Western Desert Force . The arrival of the German Afrika Korps under command of General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel highlighted the weaknesses of the British approach: the small number of infantry and artillery in each armoured division was sufficient when attacking the immobile and uncoordinated Italian troops, but against the highly mobile, well-coordinated German units,

3813-512: 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 Shatt al-Arab . The advance by the brigade met sporadic though fierce resistance, with The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, including an engagement between 14 Challenger 2s of

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3906-625: The East Mediterranean region and Israel in particular would serve to become a testing ground for development in armoured warfare during the decades of the Cold War. Both sides in the Arab–Israeli series of conflicts made heavy use of tanks and other armoured vehicles due to the practicality of tanks in the desert environment these conflicts largely took place in. During the 1956 Suez War and Six-Day War (1967), Israeli armoured units typically had

3999-447: The Fall of France. To stem the flood of marauding panzers, fast moving powerfully armed tank destroyer battalions were created to be held back and used in the counter-attack. It was also calculated that U.S. interests would be better served by large numbers of reliable ( battle-worthiness ) medium tanks rather than a smaller number of unreliable heavy tanks. It was decided therefore to slow

4092-488: The French, and ultimately were the deciding factors in the battle. It overcame their inferiority in armour and armament relative to the main French materiel such as the Char B1 bis . The superior tactical and operational praxis, combined with an appropriate strategic implementation, enabled the Germans to defeat forces superior in armour (both quantitatively and qualitatively) in the battles of 1940, but just as Blitzkrieg became

4185-591: The Red Army in World War II , initiated under strict secrecy and using the Principle of Surprise. Furthermore, to improve the fighting capabilities of armoured units, all heavy and medium tanks are to be commanded by officers and crewed by NCOs. In Germany, in-depth research through theoretical approaches, wargaming and exercises developed a confidence within the Panzertruppe itself (and political support by Hitler) in

4278-515: The Second World War. All major European states (with the exception of Germany that was forbidden to possess armoured vehicles under the Treaty of Versailles ), the US, and Japan, would create their own experimental mechanised forces during the late 1920s, many using either French or British vehicle designs or even directly purchased vehicles, but largely borrowing from both to develop their own doctrines. During

4371-516: The Storm: Commanding 7th Armoured Brigade in the Gulf War , which rose to the top of the non-fictional bestseller lists. He was opposed to the Iraq War and has frequently spoken out against it citing his concern that many thousands of civilians would die unnecessarily. Cordingley has also spoken out against Britain renewing its Trident nuclear deterrent. Cordingley was appointed an Officer of

4464-739: The T-34 was also able to negotiate terrain in difficult weather conditions, something that persistently dogged the German designs. Assessing the success of the German Blitzkrieg strategy, operational methods and tactics, the Red Army concluded that it should return to the use of operational methods developed before the war, so the Tank Armies were eventually created. To complement the T-34, heavy tanks, self-propelled artillery, and tank destroyers were also designed. The Red Army's armoured forces were used in concentrations during all strategic operations of

4557-598: The U.S. Army consisted of the M2A4 and M3 Stuart light tanks up until 1941, although these vehicles were five years newer than the 1935 built Type 95 's, the IJA and U.S. light tanks were comparable to each other, and seemingly performed well for their respective forces during jungle combat operations; during their phase of World War II. As with all armour, maintenance was a continuous challenge; especially in tropical environments. When IJA and SNLF (Imperial marines) tanks did clash with

4650-496: The advantage, mainly due to good tactics and unit cohesion . Conversely, the Yom Kippur War (1973) illustrated the problems that can arise if armoured and infantry units do not work closely together. Israeli tanks, operating independently in large numbers, were decimated by Egyptian anti-tank teams, well-distributed amongst regular infantry, and often equipped with new, first-generation portable anti-tank guided missiles . This

4743-518: The armoured divisions were structurally short of tanks. Though the U.S. had established the Tank Corps in World War I using French Renault FT light tanks and British Mark V and Mark V* heavy tanks, and some officers like Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton, Jr. emerged from that war initially as avid proponents of continuing and developing an American armoured force, the rapid reduction of

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4836-449: The armoured formation as the key battlefield formation – although this view was before 1940 not shared by the other Arms of Service. A key part of this doctrine was improved communications by having radios in all tanks, although this ideal suffered from technical limits as most tanks had receiver sets only. At the outbreak of World War II, the German armoured forces benefited from a much more profound and more flexible training than that of

4929-414: The beginning of the war, but would only be built in small numbers towards the end, being placed in reserve, to be deployed for the defence of Japan itself. The Republic of China 's National Revolutionary Army 's 200th Division was the country's only mechanised division during the war. The 200th used pre-war tanks acquired from Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union. The conflict between Arab nations in

5022-654: The brigade's time was a quiet one until it moved to the Italian Front in April 1944 where it remained for the duration of the Second World War; fighting as part of I Canadian Corps , itself part of the British Eighth Army . The brigade, now composed of the 2nd , 6th and 8th Royal Tank Regiments , fought in the final stages of the Battle of Monte Cassino and later the Gothic Line and in Operation Grapeshot ,

5115-488: The country while based in the British sector in the south of Iraq. The brigade began to leave in late June 2003, being replaced by 19th Mechanised Brigade . Between October 2005 and May 2006 the brigade deployed to Iraq again for Operation Telic 7 under the command of Brigadier Patrick Marriott . In 2011, some elements of the brigade deployed to Afghanistan. In October 2013, 7th Armored Brigade deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand Province, Kandahar, and Kabul. On 5 March 2013,

5208-487: The divisions still consisted of infantry that was not even motorised. As a result, tanks tended to be allotted to special armoured units, where the limited and expensive expert maintenance and training capacity could be concentrated. Only the Soviet Union had enough tanks to equip an organic tank battalion in each infantry division. Nevertheless, France was the first to create large armoured units: in 1934 two Mechanised Corps were formed of 430 tanks each. In July 1935, in France

5301-556: The enemy before they could get a shot in. Although they usually had guns of either 75 mm or 76 mm calibre (the M36 used a 90mm calibre gun), the tank destroyer units were issued with the ancestor of the modern armour-piercing discarding sabot , rounds which made their guns much more powerful than a simple comparison of calibres would suggest. The Japanese doctrine was mainly French in concept but with some purely Japanese elements. Due to Japan's naval priorities in warship construction and inter-service feuds (the marine branch of

5394-477: The enemy by severing his lines of communication and supply, as cavalry had done during the previous century. The British were the first to create a larger fully mechanised unit when the War Office sanctioned the creation of the Experimental Mechanized Force , which was formed on 1 May 1927, under infantry Colonel R. J. Collins, after Fuller (was) refused the function. Its sub-units were entirely mobile and consisted of reconnaissance tankettes and armoured cars ,

5487-412: The enemy command-structure. Following the First World War, the technical and doctrinal aspects of armoured warfare became more sophisticated and diverged into multiple schools of doctrinal thought. During the 1920s, a very limited number of tanks were produced. There were however, important theoretical and technical developments. Various British and French commanders who had contributed to the origin of

5580-400: The enemy they were quickly destroyed by concealed anti-tank guns or overwhelming numbers of hostile tanks. Japan was a naval power, and concentrated its production on warships, thus placing a low priority on armoured vehicle development, its tanks becoming quickly obsolete during the later years of the war. A number of designs that were equal to heavier foreign types were on the drawing board at

5673-615: The famed division. It was one of two "square brigades" assigned to 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, assigned to the 1st Armoured Division again and was based at Bournemouth Barracks in Soltau . The 7th Armoured 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 Hussein 's Iraq . The brigade, commanded by Brigadier Patrick Cordingley , later took part in

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5766-408: The final offensive in Italy. 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). After the 7th Armoured Division was disbanded in 1958 the 7th Armoured Brigade adopted its insignia and nickname, perpetuating the history of

5859-407: The forces and apathy and even antipathy towards funding and maintaining armed forces in the inter-war years led to relative stagnation of armoured doctrine in the United States. Adna R. Chaffee, Jr. , virtually alone, advocated for the future of armoured warfare and the development of appropriate training, equipment and doctrine during the late 1920s through the 1930s. The United States Army regarded

5952-493: The infantry and assaulted deeper objectives, but did not fight en masse. In 1939, the Japanese Army engaged Soviet armour at Nomonhan . During the three-month-long war, Japanese armour had shown their weakness against Soviet tanks; and the resulting Japanese defeat prompted a series of complaints by the Imperial Army to incorporate improvements in future Japanese armour. This is the primary reason IJA tanks were not as successful while being used with IJA tactics. The tank forces of

6045-406: The liberation of Kuwait achieved. The brigade moved to Campbell Barracks at Hohne in 1993. From there the brigade deployed to Bosnia in May 1994 as part of the NATO IFOR peacekeeping organisation. The brigade returned for another tour-of-duty in April 1997, joining IFOR's NATO replacement known as SFOR . After the Kosovo War in 1999, the 7th Armoured Brigade returned to the Balkans for

6138-409: The lines of the German armoured divisions – would be lured into the Low Countries by a feint attack with a lesser force, including three armoured divisions. In May 1940, during the Battle of France , the German feint resulted in a number of undecided armour engagements, among them the Battle of Hannut , the largest tank battle fought until that date. At the same time, German motorised infantry west of

6231-436: The mechanisation progressed, slowly the French armour doctrine began to reflect the increased capacity, evolving from direct infantry support, to independent breakthrough and eventually envelopment with the Infantry, and to deep strategic exploitation with the Cavalry. Despite the increase in tank numbers, in all countries financial constraints prohibited a full mechanisation of the entire armed ground forces. Necessarily, most of

6324-419: The potential to completely halt tank assaults inflicting devastating losses to armoured units without infantry support. However, much of the AFV production was increasingly diverted away from the Panzertruppe . The Artillery formed its own Sturmgeschütz units and infantry divisions were given their own Panzerjäger companies. Despite lowering their formal organic strength, from the summer of 1943 onwards,

6417-468: The production of the U.S. heavy tank designs such as the M26 Pershing and concentrate resources on mass-producing the M4 Sherman and tank destroyers such as the M18 Hellcat . To be able get into position to counter-attack, the tank destroyers had to be fast. To achieve the desired mobility and agility from the engines available the armour protection was sacrificed, a measure of protection coming from being nimble and hopefully from being able to knock out

6510-409: The purchase of a T3 chassis, using the Christie suspension , from US designer John Walter Christie , which served as the basis of the Soviet BT series of fast tanks. The Red Army tactics were influenced by the theoretical works of Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky who advocated "large scale tank warfare" as part of the deep battle doctrine. In France, the second largest tank producer, mechanisation

6603-462: The relatively unimpressive rate of tank production and development. During the 1930s the United Kingdom gave priority to the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy . The British Army began the conversion of its cavalry from horse to tanks and all but a few regiments were fully converted by 1939. The British 1st Armoured Division was formed, as the "Mobile Division", in November 1937. Before the Second World War actual use of armoured fighting vehicles

6696-576: The rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany, German officers were sent to observe and participate in development of armoured doctrine in the USSR. Red Army and German experts collaborated in developing the use of tanks based on second generation vehicles with turreted main weapons, and experimenting to design different chassis configurations and drive trains. One important acquisition for the Red Army turned out to be

6789-521: The same time offering them armour protection against small arms as they were moving. Britain and France first developed tanks in 1915 as a way of navigating the barbed wire and other obstacles of no-man's land while remaining protected from machine-gun fire. British Mark I tanks first went into action at the Somme on 15 September 1916, but did not manage to break the deadlock of trench warfare. The first French employment of tanks, on 16 April 1917, using

6882-435: The shock army demanded "manoeuvre tanks" (fast tanks with medium guns) used in conjunction with motorised forces and "mechanised cavalry" that would operate in depth as "strategic cavalry" combined with nascent airborne troops. These ideas culminated in the "PU-36" or the 1936 Field Service Regulations. At the start of the Second World War much of the Red Army, including its armoured forces, was in transition and recovering from

6975-695: The summer of 1939 combined mass tank manoeuvres with artillery and air attacks, to defeat the Japanese Imperial Army at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol at Nomonhan in Mongolia . Partly as a result of the experiences in Spain, the Soviet Union began the development of a new generation of medium and heavy tanks, sporting much stronger armour and armament. In their Invasion of Poland during September 1939, German forces applied

7068-400: The tank, such as Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne , B. H. Liddell Hart and J. F. C. Fuller , theorised about a possible future use of independent armoured forces, containing a large concentration of tanks, to execute deep strategic penetrations. Especially Liddell Hart wrote many books about the subject, partly propagating Fuller's theories. Such doctrines were faced with the reality that during

7161-469: The undermanned Commonwealth formations were proving inadequate. Between 1941 and 1942, the Allies struggled in armoured battles in the North African desert due to improper tactics; in particular, running armoured formations into opposing anti-tank positions; however, they achieved some notable successes at Crusader , 1st Alamein and under Montgomery finally achieved decisive victories, in particular at

7254-427: The use of conventional high velocity anti-tank artillery, this proved increasingly difficult in the post-war period due to increased armour protection and mobility of tanks. Patrick Cordingley Major General Patrick Anthony John Cordingley , DSO , OBE , FRGS (born 6 October 1944) is a retired British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Division from 1995 to 1996. Cordingley

7347-501: The war, which influenced Soviet armoured doctrine and tank design for a decade: the creation of the T-34 . Developed on the Christie suspension chassis and using sloped armour for the first time, the T-34 proved a shock to the German forces in the first German encounter of Soviet T-34 and KV tanks . The T-34 had an excellent combination of mobility, protection and firepower. Using wide tracks,

7440-425: The war. Tactically, deployment plans for armour during the war typically placed a strong emphasis on direct support for infantry. The tank's main tasks were seen as crushing barbed-wire and destroying machine-gun nests, facilitating the advance of foot soldiers. Theoretical debate largely focused on the question of whether to use a "swarm" of light tanks for this, or a limited number of potent heavy vehicles. Though in

7533-462: Was also established. Under this doctrine, U.S. tank crews of both armoured divisions and GHQ tank battalions were taught to fight tanks in tank on tank engagements. Armoured force personnel during and after the war criticised the infantry for using the GHQ tank battalions assigned to infantry divisions strictly as infantry support. The U.S. combined arms team included air support, artillery, engineers, and

7626-476: Was born on 10 July 1940, with the Headquarters, Armor Force and the Headquarters, I Armored Corps established at Fort Knox . On July 15, 1940, the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanised) became the 1st Armored Division ; the 7th Provisional Tank Brigade, an infantry tank unit at Fort Benning , became the 2nd Armored Division ". The Tank Battalion was established at Fort Meade , Md., and a small Armored Force School

7719-521: Was born on 6 October 1944. He was educated at Sherborne School , an all-boys public school (i.e. independent boarding school ). His father was Major-General John Cordingley, the son of Air Vice-Marshal Sir John Cordingley. Cordingley trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (Intake 35), where he was Senior Under-Officer of Waterloo Company. He was commissioned into 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in June 1965. He

7812-470: Was developed to break the static nature of World War I trench warfare on the Western Front , and return to the 19th century school of thought that advocated manoeuvre and decisive battle outcomes in military strategy . Modern armored warfare began during the First World War of 1914–1918. Strategists wanted to break the tactical , operational and strategic stalemates forced on commanders on

7905-410: Was even true for Germany itself, that only now officially adopted Blitzkrieg tactics. In the deserts of North Africa, the British developed the alternative approach of combining the armoured, infantry and artillery together to form a 'balanced, combined arms team'. The 10th Italian Army of Maresciallo (Marshal) Rodolfo Graziani , being ill-armed and inadequately led, soon gave way to this approach by

7998-483: Was given command of the 7th Armoured Brigade (Desert Rats) in 1988 and, in 1991, led the brigade during the Gulf War . He became General Officer Commanding Eastern District in 1992, General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in 1995 and Senior British Loan Services Officer to Oman in 1996, before he retired in 2000. In 1996 Cordingley published a book detailing his leading the troops into Iraq titled In The Eye of

8091-603: Was limited. Both sides used Italian, German and Soviet tanks during the Spanish Civil War but these proved to be vulnerable to antitank guns due to their thin armour. Traditionalist elements within the Red Army used this to diminish the influence of proponents of mechanisation. Tukhachevsky himself was executed in 1937. Nevertheless, during the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars of 1938 and 1939, the Soviet forces tested modern armoured warfare tactics. General Georgy Zhukov in

8184-463: Was motivated by a need to compensate for severe manpower shortages due to a collapsed birth rate during World War I. This led to the development of a vast range of specialised armoured vehicles, not just tanks but also armoured cars , self-propelled guns , mechanised artillery , armoured tractors, armoured supply vehicles, armoured artillery observation vehicles, armoured command vehicles, half-tracks , and fully tracked armoured personnel carriers . As

8277-627: Was not initially accepted by German High Command. Nevertheless, the final plans for the invasion of France in 1940 hinged on the element of a Schwerpunkt at Sedan, and was assigned to such forces. The great success of this operation led to Blitzkrieg being integrated with strategic planning for the rest of the war. German tanks could carry with them enough fuel and supplies to go almost two hundred kilometers, and enough food to last three to nine days. This relative independence from supply lines proved effective, and allowed them to advance on critical targets much faster and without hesitation. Another factor

8370-588: Was part of the Mobile Division in Egypt . When the Mobile Division became 7th Armoured Division , the Light Armoured Brigade became the 7th Armoured Brigade in February 1940. The 7th Armoured Division had a red jerboa (a nocturnal rodent indigenous to North Africa ) as its emblem and became known as "The Desert Rats". The 7th Armoured Brigade, meanwhile, had a green jerboa as its emblem. The 7th Brigade became known as

8463-657: Was reached within a week. The French reserve of four Infantry armoured divisions, the Divisions cuirassées , lacked sufficient strategic mobility to prevent this. The strategic envelopment surrounded the Belgian army, the British Expeditionary Force and the best French troops. It led to the Evacuation of Dunkirk and the ultimate fall of France in operation Fall Rot . The spectacular and unexpected success not only caused

8556-518: Was seen as the result of an armoured Blitzkrieg. However, later it has been argued that the campaign was largely an instance of the classical nineteenth century German concept of the "Annihilation Battle", in which the role of deep strategic armoured penetrations was limited. In the wake of the Polish campaign, during the Phoney War French, British and German tank production sharply increased, with both western allies out-producing Germany. However,

8649-575: Was the ability of commanders to make strategic decisions in the field and without much consultation with their headquarters, the orders of which were often simply ignored. A prime example is Erwin Rommel 's lead-from-the-front approach while commanding 7.Panzer-Division which allowed him a flexible response to the battlefield situation, an instance of the Auftragstaktik (reliance on subordinates to make their own decisions). The effect of German Panzer 's speed, mobility, and communication shocked

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