1939 - 1945

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 5th June 1944 with the first tanks landing

on Gold beach on the evening of 6 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.

 

Winston Churchill

 

- - - -

 

To the Glory of God

and in the memory of all those who

served with

'The Desert Rats'

1945 - 2003

 

'Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always' - Psalm 105 v4

 

- - - -

 

The Desert Rats Association

 

70th Anniversary Commemoration

The Battle of Normandy

 

'All of One Company'

 

We owe our freedom to these men