Making sure our history is not a thing of the past

THE MAIN PLAQUE

7th ARMOURED DIVISION

DESERT RATS

FROM EL ALAMEIN TO BERLIN

Via

NORTH AFRICA - ITALY - THETFORD FOREST - FRANCE -BELGIUM - HOLLAND

The 7th Armoured Division was stationed in Thetford Forest between January and May 1944 while they prepared for the invasion of Normandy. This was the only time the division was in the United Kingdom in it's entire Existence. The Division sailed from Felixstowe on the 5 June 1944 with the first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6th June 1944

May your glory ever shine, May your laurels never fade, May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic to Berlin never die. It is a march unsurpassed through all the story of war.

May the fathers long tell the children about this tale .

The Memorial and main plaque inaugurated on the 23rd October 1998 by Field Marshal Lord Carver is located on the A1065 two miles north of Mundford, Norfolk, England. The additional plaque commemorating the Desert Rats of the 4th & 7th Armoured Brigades from 1945 to 2003 was added to the plinth and inaugurated during the Open Day on the 27th June 2004 in the presence of Brigadier Adrian Bradshaw, commanding 7th Armoured Brigade, and other senior officers from both brigades.

The memorial is dedicated to all who served in the 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats), the 4th Armoured Brigade (The Black Rats) and the 7th Armoured Brigade (The Green Jerboa), throughout history. 

It the 7th Armoured Brigade who are now the modern day Desert Rats, while the 4th Mechanized Brigade continues to wear the Black Rat, after since 2007, now worn by 4th Infantry Brigade since 2015. In 2015, the 7th Armoured Brigade was disbanded and the 7th Infantry Brigade created to still wear the Jerboa and carry on the traditions of the Desert Rats and the Desert Rats Association will continue to be associated with it.

Throughout its history the Division and the two Brigades not only consisted of Armoured units, but also Infantry, Artillery and Engineering units, plus other support units, all of whom are commemorated by this memorial. 

Shoulder Flash of 4th Armoured Brigade

(1942 - 1948)

Shoulder Flash of 7th Armoured Division

(1938 - 1959)

Shoulder Flash of 7th Armoured Brigade 

(1942 - 1946)

Badge of 7th Infantry Brigade

Badge of 4th Infantry Brigade

Rededication of the Desert Rats Memorial (High Ash) and 

the Commemoration  for the 80th Anniversary of the Desert Rats leaving for Normandy

5th May 2024

We would like to thank everyone who attended the rededication of the Desert Rats Memorial, on Sunday 5th May 2024. Photographs and a video from the event will be available soon

Normandy 80th 

We will be attending many ceremonies and commemorations in Normandy and around the UK for mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and and Normandy Campaign from June to August 1944.

Friends of the Desert Rats 

The “Desert Rats Association” is now the “Friends of the Desert Rats” whose main purpose will be to maintain the two Desert Rat Memorials, i.e.

• The recently installed memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum - this has fully paid maintenance in our contract and therefore outlay on this should be minimal.
• More particularly ‘Little Audrey II’ Memorial at High Ash in Thetford which has undergone extensive refurbishment and was re-dedicated in May 2024.

We will also “keep the flame alive” by developing a fellowship organisation. The “Friends”, will continue to provide assistance to anyone wishing to discover the service history of their relatives

The main reasons for making this change are:

a. The generation of Desert Rats veterans from WW2 are largely no longer with us or of an age when physical presence at gatherings is becoming increasingly difficult.
b. Modern day Desert Rats seem less than keen to be part of the Association in its current physical form, but make much more use of the internet to maintain relationships with like-minded colleagues.
c. The last few years have been dedicated to and working towards the raising of the memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum. This goal now having been achieved negates a major vision that formed part of the old DRA Constitution.

This means that the bulk of our activity will now be on-line and, after the event on 5th May 2024, the ‘Friend’s will no longer be holding regular physical events.

We wish to thank everyone who has supported the Desert Rats Association over the years.

Floreat Jerboa!

This website will remain in place, while the new Friends of the Desert Rats website is built and parts of it will be included in that of the Friends of the Desert Rats

Help support the Desert Rats Association

If you buy a copy of Patrick Delaforce's latest book Churchill's Desert Rats in North-West Europe via this website, we will benefit from the sale.

The Memorial Site is on Trip Advisor now. Please give feedback if you visit the site.

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