7th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) Armored Brigade deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand Province, Kandahar, and Kabul. On 5 March 2013, 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. The Brigade itself was re-designated as the 7th Infantry Brigade, but retains its famed 'Desert Rats' insignia. It will form 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 the "changes would still dismay veterans and the general public". On
7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) land and fight in the Italian Campaign during the early stages of the invasion of Italy before being withdrawn to the United Kingdom where it prepared to fight in North-west Europe. It began landing in Normandy during the afternoon of D-Day, 6 June 1944, and fought its way across Europe ending the war in Kiel and Hamburg, Germany. Although the division was disbanded during the 1950s, the history, name and the "Desert Rat" flash is carried on by the 7th Armoured Brigade. When Italian troops were massed for the invasion of Abyssinia in 1935, a Mobile Force was assembled in