7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) of Major-General Richard O'Connor, was massively outnumbered. However, the Italian Army consisted largely of leg infantry; its artillery dated back to the First World War, it had no armoured cars and a few antitank weapons, which were effective only against light and cruiser tanks. As such, it proved to be no match for the British. The Western Desert Force captured 130,000 Italians as prisoners of war (POWs) between December 1940 and February 1941 in piecemeal battles. During the Italian retreat in January 1941, Major-General O'Connor ordered the Desert Rats to travel south of the Jebel Akhdar and cut off the
6th Armoured Division (United Kingdom) had taken command of the army group signed the instrument of surrender on behalf of the German armies in Italy on 29 April, formally bringing hostilities in Italy to an end on 2 May 1945. The Division was reformed in May 1951 in the UK and later assigned to the British Army of the Rhine in Germany. It consisted of the 20th Armoured Brigade and 61st Lorried Infantry Brigade. It was disbanded in June 1958. Commanders included: <br> 6th Armoured Division was constituted as follows during the war: 20th Armoured Brigade ("from 16 October 1940, left 23 April 1942") 26th