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
7th Armoured Division (France) being the first large unit equipped with the new, light-weight Panhard EBR armoured cars and AMX-13 tanks. In early 1956 the division was transferred to French North Africa, where its soldiers served as infantry supporting French operations in the Algerian War. In late 1956 the division was hurriedly reunited with its tanks and armoured cars to take part in Operation Musketeer, the invasion of Egypt by Franco-British forces. It then returned to Algeria where it remained until 1961. The division was transferred to Metropolitan France, with its headquarters at Besançon, forming part of I Corps. The division was renamed, becoming