7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) had been planned since that battle. Historian Daniel Taylor is of the opinion that the battle's result provided an excuse and that the sackings took place to "demonstrate that the army command was doing something to counteract the poor public opinion of the conduct of the campaign". Historian and former British Army officer Mungo Melvin has commented approvingly of the 7th Armoured Division's institution of a flexible combined arms structure, which other British armoured divisions did not adopt until after Operation Goodwood. The replacement of the division's GOC, following Normandy, did not change the performance of the division and in
8th Armoured Division (South Africa) 8th Armoured Division (South Africa) 8 South African Armoured Division was a formation of the South African Army, active from the 1970s to 1999. 8 South African Division was established as an Armoured Formation on August 1, 1974, consisting of 81 Armoured Brigade, 82 Mechanised Brigade and 84 Motorised Brigade. It was, in many respects, a mirror of 7th South African Infantry Division. A provisional 1977 order of battle had 8 Armoured Division organised as follows: Headquartered in Pretoria, 81 Armoured Brigade consisted of the following units: Headquartered in Potchefstroom, 82 Mechanised Brigade consisted of the following units: During Operation