Britain's 8th Army was made up of Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Indians and, of course, English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh units. 

Its mixed makeup reflected its mixed fortunes of war in the see-saw desert campaigns on 1941 and '42.

When Leiut. General Bernard Montgomery took command in mid '42, he revitalised and rebuilt it to ensure that it could and would defeat Rommel's Afrika Korps once and for all.  The North African stage was now set for one of the pivotal battles of WWII... the battle of El Alamein.