In August 1942 Montgomery was ordered to take command of the British Eighth Army in the Western Desert in North Africa. The following month, Kirkman followed him upon his new appointment as CRA of the Eighth Army (its chief gunnery officer). Montgomery, who thought very highly of Kirkman and requested him specifically, wanted to replace the Eighth Army's then CRA, Brigadier Noel Martin, and to replace him "I asked for Brigadier Kirkman from England whom I regarded as the best artilleryman in the British Army".