7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) November 1943, the division left Italy for the United Kingdom; with the last units arriving on 7 January 1944. The division was re-equipped with the new Cromwell cruiser tanks and in April and May received 36 Sherman Vc Fireflies; enough to organise each troop so that they had a complement of three 75 mm gun Cromwell tanks and a 17 pounder gun Firefly. The Desert Rats were the only British armoured division to use the Cromwell as their main battle tank. The 7th Armoured Division was one of the three British follow-up divisions of the two British assault corps earmarked
7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) Cairo and temporarily ceased to be available as a fighting formation being replaced in the line by the 2nd Armoured Division. The Italians had proven so weak that Hitler was forced to send the Afrika Korps, under Erwin Rommel, as reinforcements. In April 1941, the Allied troops in Tobruk were cut off by the Germans and Italians. On 7 June, the division was again prepared for battle as part of Operation Battleaxe, having received new tanks and additional personnel. In the attack plan for Operation Battleaxe, the 7th force was divided between the Coast Force and Escarpment Force. However, this