Jossman Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 all desert rats were part of the 8th Army and were given the privilige of wearing a silver "8" on their medal. My father has this and was in the Royal Corps of Signals, he is now 91. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Ahh now i understand the different versions, the first Desert Rats were the defenders of Trubruk this name was given to them by Rommel, The 2nd Desert Rats maybe came fm the same group 40to50 men tops operated out of Kufrah all in jeeps ,main job working behind enemy lines, in blow something up and out fast,I would very much doubt these more famous Rats wore anything special.I could send you a pic of me,looking like one of the local arabs ,and that would be my best uniform, 3mths growth on our chin & when we stank too bad we drank a cup of hot tea got into a sweat & scraped the mud off our bodys with a knife,nobody knew what army we belong to or would own us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 My uncle was in th LRDG (Long Range Desert Group)operating behind enemy lines 1941 captured at Gazala December 1941 escaped in 1943 and was on the run in Northern Italy for 2 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 OOps maybe I'm the one geting confused,i was in Libya in 49 its been a long time. The long range desert group operated out of Kufrah Iwas there for 3mths in50,I was thinking they was also called the Desert Rats I must be mistaken,So that leads me to thinking what was that film called about this group,"Tubruk" was film about the Tubruk Rats,I'm now starting to second guess myself.Darren many fightlng groups came to Libya during my stay,some only for a few months , some like the Greys stayed for 2-3 yrs in Derna.I was with the Royal Signals,trained as wireless Op never any good at it, so lied through my teeth,told my C.O I rode motor-bike in civy st and got a change of trade to Dispatch Rider,I'd never sat on a bike in my life,so had a fun few mths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyer Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Good old Google why do I knock my head against a brick wall when Google memory is a liitle better than my own.300+books on L.R.D.G & N-african campain,I only saw 1 mention of them & rats in the same breath and they used the term "this rat patrol".This may be in referance to the U.S t v series "The Rat Patrol"1966 which caused such anger in britian at the time.I cruised the BritMovie Forum and got some info on old war movies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffman03 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Good old Google why do I knock my head against a brick wall when Google memory is a liitle better than my own.300+books on L.R.D.G & N-african campain,I only saw 1 mention of them & rats in the same breath and they used the term "this rat patrol".This may be in referance to the U.S t v series "The Rat Patrol"1966 which caused such anger in britian at the time.I cruised the BritMovie Forum and got some info on old war movies The LRDG were really the forerunners of the present SAS, and infact many members of David Stirlings "originals" were drawn from the LRDG...they roamed in small mobile groups behind enemy lines carrying out reconnaisence, harrassing attacks and also escorting larger groups across the dessert...so maybe they did act with the Rats on occasions, but were not known for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooffer Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 My Dad was in the Queens Own Yorkshire Dragoons, and was included in the desert rats. The dragoons were also the last unit to go into action on horse back during the 2nd w war. The unit was drawn from men in Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jass Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 all desert rats were part of the 8th Army and were given the privilige of wearing a silver "8" on their medal. My father has this and was in the Royal Corps of Signals, he is now 91. Hi. My dad was in the Signals too! Wonder if your dad would have known him. His name was Norman Oakley and his rank was Sergeant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridablade Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 The whole of the British 8th Army were desert rats,including the soldiers from South Africa,India,Australia,New Zealand,even Scotland,sorry just joking. Somebody mentioned Qufra,in southern Libya. There is a US aircraft there which crashed after running out of fuel. It had left Tripoli with other US bombers on their way to bomb Italy but they were short of navigators and this one managed to find it's target but failed to find Tripoli and kept flying and crashed at Qufra. The area is so dry the tins of food etc. are like new. I went down there in the early 60s. from Benghazi. I was with the 14/20 Kings Hussars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridablade Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Hi. My dad was in the Signals too! Wonder if your dad would have known him. His name was Norman Oakley and his rank was Sergeant. I was in the Royal corps of sigs. from 1952 to 73. Do you know which Division he served in and when. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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