8th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)

The 8th Armoured Division was a British Army formation during the Second World War. It was deployed to Egypt in June 1942 but never operated as a complete formation and was disbanded in January the following year.

History
The division was sent to North Africa but never saw active service as a complete formation. As the division could not be provided with a lorried infantry brigade, it was broken up and was finally disbanded in Egypt on 1 January 1943.

Following the Second Battle of El Alamein a plan was put forth to use the remains of the division as a self-contained pursuit force to dart forward into the German-Italian rear as far as possibly Tobruk, however the plan to use the division was shelfed and units in the forward area were used instead. Afterwards, the name of the division was used for the purpose of military deception.

General Officer Commanding
The division had four officers who held the position of General Officer Commanding, during the Second World War.

Component Units
(all brigades stripped away from the division prior to the Second Battle of El Alamein)
 * 23rd Armoured Brigade
 * 40th Royal Tank Regiment
 * 46th Royal Tank Regiment
 * 50th Royal Tank Regiment
 * 7th The Rifle Brigade


 * 24th Armoured Brigade
 * 41st (Oldham) Royal Tank Regiment
 * 45th Royal Tank Regiment
 * 47th Royal Tank Regiment
 * 11th The King's Royal Rifle Corps


 * 133rd Infantry Brigade
 * 2nd Bn, The Royal Sussex Regiment
 * 4th Bn, The Royal Sussex Regiment
 * 5th Bn, The Royal Sussex Regiment

Support Units

 * 8th Support Group
 * 14th The Sherwood Foresters
 * 2nd The Derbyshire Yeomanry
 * 5th Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
 * 11th (HAC) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
 * 104th (Essex Yeomanry) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
 * 146th (Pembroke and Cardiganshire) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery