Talk:Eighth Army (United Kingdom)

Untitled

This article really needs some work, just to bring in facts already in Wikipedia. No mention of Operation Crusader? And just a single paragraph on the North African Campaign, which made the army famous. 199.71.183.2 17:26, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Eighth Army Badge

Could someone add the Eighth Army Badge to the Article please?

http://www.keatesbyname.com/gorecki/777.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by Duarcain (talk • contribs) 20:48, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

and done--EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 22:15, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

The Eigth Army badge was yellow, not red. I've removed the image until/unless someone can find an appropriate image. Wiki-Ed (talk) 18:42, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Sorted it out.--EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 20:29, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Formations which passed through the Eighth Army

This bit seems a bit random. I don't understand why some divisions have been picked out for mention when they all at one time or another were controlled through one or more of the Corps listed. At times they were under direct army command (when part of the army reserve for instance) but there were a number of other divisions that were as well (not to mention some brigades). We should either list all divisions or none. By the way, I don't think the Australian Corps was ever part of the Eighth Army OOB although it was part of Ninth Army in Syria / Transjordan before shipping to the Pacific theatre. I will remove change this if no-one counters this view here over the next day or so. Stephen Kirrage ^{talk - contribs} 18:37, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

I agree about the Aussie Corps, i do not believe it was ever part of Eighth Army and should be removed - the Aussie divisions sure were but they were part of XIII and XXX Corps if memory serves. According to the I Corps article it took over from XIII Corps in the Western Desert before being transferred to Greece - personally am not to sure about that detail, surely Cyrenica (sp) Command (something like that) took over form the WDF/XIII Corps. But at any rate that was well before Eighth Army's time.

As for the others, wouldnt a list linking to relevent orders of battle be much more accurate?--EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 19:03, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Further to what Stephen Kirrage has pointed out above, the Americans are not mentioned in para 2 of the lede, but are in the 'Corps which passed through the Eighth Army' section.

Is there any particular reason for this ? RASAM (talk) 15:44, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Good spot. However, I can think of no occasion when either US IV Corps or 10th Mountain Div were ever subordinated to Eighth Army. As far as I recall they were both under US Fifth Army for the duration. Stephen Kirrage ^{talk - contribs} 23:40, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

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The Desert Rats.

The nickname of the 8th Army, and the name by which they are still often known, was "the Desert Rats" - this should be mentioned in the article.2A02:C7D:B47A:C900:9555:293A:DA15:2F51 (talk) 06:54, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

The 7th Armoured Division were known as the Desert Rats, rather than the Eighth Army as a whole. Leithp 06:58, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

I concur that the 7th Armored Division's nickname was the Desert Rats. However, there are some sources (poor ones and erroneous, in my opinion) out there that do apply the nickname to the entire army that does lead to confusion: Google Books.

Depending on the context, the Durham Light Infantry's official war history (here) is somewhat interesting as it states "... 7 Armoured Division (the original Desert Rats)..." while talking about the Eighth Army as a whole. That gives the impression that the nickname may have been appropriated or used outside of its original context; I know, OR on my part based off inferring what a source does not actually state.

Another interesting find is that the Long Range Desert Patrol also seems to have the nickname attached to them: several Imperial War Museum photos are labeled as such and are of the LRDP (and possibly the original SAS): here and here. This 1944 first-hand account appears to be stating the regular army had nicknamed the LRDP as the Desert Rats. I know these (and the DLI quote above) are not really evidence for the article or necessarily support the anon, it does provide examples that perhaps the nickname was applied a bit more liberally than assumed.

Interestingly, I have not been able to find any source that uses the term "Desert Rat" to describe the Eighth Army or the LRDP once the Italian campaign started; everything seems to hone back in on the 7th Arm Div. So, a nickname that left the original 'owners' and became widespread for a short while?EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 16:03, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

The term 'desert rats' was informally applied to a number of UK units operating in the Western desert but it became the formal appellation of the 7th Armoured Division with the issuance of the official badge featuring the Jerboa. Publicity, press, newspapers, later applied the name to the 8th Army in its entirety. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.8.126.91 (talk) 21:53, 3 May 2022 (UTC)