8th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom)

8th Armoured Brigade 8th (Yorkshire) Armoured Brigade
Crusader tanks moving forward, Western Desert, 26 November 1941.
Active	1941–1956
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Armoured
Size	Brigade
Nickname(s)	Red Fox
Equipment	Crusader Grant Sherman
Engagements	North African Campaign Operation Overlord Operation Market Garden Operation Blackcock Operation Plunder
Insignia
Identification symbol	Red Fox mask on a yellow background

The 8th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade of the British Army formed in August 1941, during the Second World War and active until 1956. The brigade was formed by the renaming of 6th Cavalry Brigade, when the 1st Cavalry Division based in Palestine (of which it was part) converted from a motorised formation (having been horse-mounted until January 1940) to an armoured unit, becoming 10th Armoured Division.

In February 1942, the 8th Armoured Brigade moved to the Khatatba region of the Western Desert. After a period of training, the Brigade first went into action at the end of August 1942 at Bir Ridge at the Battle of Alam el Halfa. The Second Battle of El Alamein lasted from 23 October to 5 November 1942 and was a watershed in the Western Desert Campaign. the Allied victory at El Alamein ended Axis hopes of occupying Egypt, controlling access to the Suez Canal and gaining access to Middle Eastern oil fields. The defeat at El Alamein marked the end of Axis expansion in Africa. Following the First Battle of El Alamein, which had stalled the Axis advance, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery took command of the British Eighth Army from Claude Auchinleck in August 1942.