Greenhill Books, London, 1990. Hard Back. Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Thus. 8 Vo. Tanning/ Age-toning to edges of page block as a result of the paper used. Book unmarked. Greenhill New Edition. 312pp, with 21 illustrations and 18 maps. New edition with introduction by General Sir John Hackett. History of the British 7th Armoured Div in WW2. The 7th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw active service during World War II where its exploits made it famous as the Desert Rats. After the Munich Crisis, the division was formed in Egypt during 1938 as the Mobile Division (Egypt) and its first divisional commander was the acclaimed tank theorist Major-General Sir Percy Hobart. During January 1940, the name of the unit was changed to the 7th Armoured Division. It was during this period that the nickname "Desert Rats" was coined. The division fought in most major battles during the North African Campaign; later it would land and fight in the Italian Campaign during the early stages of the invasion before being withdrawn to the United Kingdom where it prepared to fight in North-west Europe.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 6 June 1944, D-Day, and fought its way across Europe ending the war in Kiel and Hamburg, Germany. The 7th Armoured Brigade was detached from the division during early 1942 and fought the Japanese during the fighting in the Burma Campaign, it then returned to the Mediterranean Theatre and fought in Italian Campaign.