Eighth Army ( United Kingdom ) The Eighth Army was one of the best - known formations of the British Army during World War II , fighting in the North African and Italian campaign s . It was a British formation , always commanded by British officers , however its personnel came from throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth ; complemented by units composed of exiles from Nazi - occupied Europe . Subordinate units came from Australia , British India , Canada , Free French Forces , Greece , New Zealand , Poland , Rhodesia , South Africa and the United Kingdom . Significant formations which passed through the Army included : V Corps , X Corps , XIII Corps , XXX Corps , I Canadian Corps , Polish II Corps . Organisation . The Eighth Army was formed from the Western Desert Force in September 1941 and put under the command of Lieutenant - General Sir Alan Cunningham . It got its number from the fact that the French had fielded seven armies previously in the same war , the British had fielded the British Expeditionary Force . At its creation , the Eighth Army comprised two Corps : XXX Corps under Lieutenant - General Willoughby Norrie and XIII Corps under Lieutenant - General Reade Godwin - Austen . XXX Corps was made up of British 7th Armoured Division ( commanded by Major - General William Gott ) , the South African 1st Infantry Division ( commanded by Major - General George Brink ) and the 22nd Guards Brigade . XIII Corps composed of the 4th Indian Infantry Division ( commanded by Major - General Frank Messervy ) , the 2nd New Zealand Division ( commanded by Major - General Bernard Freyberg ) and the 1st Army Tank Brigade . The Eighth Army also included the Tobruk garrison ( the British 70th Infantry Division , under Major - General Ronald Scobie ) , and the Polish Carpathian Brigade . In reserve , the Eighth Army had the South African 2nd Infantry Division making a total of seven divisions . By the time the army was fighting the Second Battle of El Alamein , it had reached a size of over 220 , 000 men in 10 divisions and several independent brigades . Actions . North Africa . The Eighth Army first went into action as an Army as part of Operation " Crusader " , the Allied operation to relieve the besieged city of Tobruk , on 17 November 1941 , when it crossed the Egyptian frontier into Libya to attack Erwin Rommel ' s Panzer Army Africa . On 26 November the Commander - in - Chief Middle East Command , General Sir Claude Auchinleck , replaced Cunningham with Major - General Neil Ritchie , following disagreements between Auchinleck and Cunningham . Despite achieving a number of tactical successes , Rommel was forced to concede Tobruk and was pushed back to El Agheila by the end of 1941 . In February 1942 Rommel had regrouped his forces sufficiently to push the over - extended Eighth Army back to the Gazala line , just west of Tobruk . Both sides commenced a period of building their strength to launch new offensives but it was Rommel who took the initiative first , forcing Eighth Army from the Gazala position . Ritchie proved unable to halt Rommel and was replaced when Auchinleck himself took direct command of the army . The Panzer Army Afrika were eventually stopped by Auchinleck at the First Battle of El Alamein . Auchinleck , wishing to pause and regroup the Eighth Army which had expended a lot of its strength in halting Rommel , came under intense political pressure from Winston Churchill to strike back immediately . However , he proved unable to build on his success at Alamein and was replaced as Commander - in - Chief Middle - East in August 1942 by General Harold Alexander and as Eighth Army commander by Lieutenant - General William Gott . Gott was killed in an air crash on his way to take up his command and so Lieutenant - General Bernard Montgomery was appointed in his place . Alexander and Montgomery were able to resist the pressure from Churchill , building the army ' s strength and adding a pursuit formation , X Corps , to the Army ' s XIII and XXX Corps . At the beginning of November 1942 the Eighth Army defeated Rommel in the decisive Second Battle of El Alamein , pursuing the defeated Axis army across Libya and reaching the Mareth defensive line on the Tunisian border in February 1943 where it came under the control of 18th Army Group . The Eighth Army outflanked the Mareth defences in March 1943 and after further fighting alongside the British First Army , the other 18th Army Group component which had been campaigning in Tunisia since November 1942 , the Axis forces in North Africa surrendered in May 1943 . Italian Campaign . The Eighth Army then participated in the Italian Campaign which began with Operation " Husky " , the invasion of the island of Sicily . When the Allies subsequently invaded mainland Italy , elements of the Eighth Army landed in the ' toe ' of Italy in Operation " Baytown " and at Taranto in Operation " Slapstick " . After linking its left flank with the US Fifth Army which had landed at Salerno on the west coast of Italy south of Naples , Eighth Army continued fighting its way up Italy on the eastern flank of the Allied forces . At the end of 1943 , General Montgomery was transferred to Britain to begin preparations for the Normandy invasion . Command of the Eighth Army was given to Lieutenant General Oliver Leese . Following three unsuccessful attempts in early 1944 by the US Fifth Army to break through the German Winter Line , the Eighth Army was covertly switched from the Adriatic coast in April 1944 to concentrate all forces , except the V Corps , on the western side of the Apennine Mountains alongside the US Fifth Army in order to mount a major offensive with them and punch through to Rome . This fourth Battle of Monte Cassino was successful with Eighth Army breaking into central Italy and Fifth Army entering Rome in early June . After the Allied capture of Rome the Eighth Army continued the fight northwards through central Italy to capture Florence . The end of the summer campaign found Allied forces butting up against the Gothic Line . Eighth Army returned to the Adriatic coast and succeeded in forcing the Gothic line defences , but ultimately the Allied forces could not break into the Po valley before the onset of winter forced an end to serious offensive operations . During October , Leese was reassigned to South East Asia Command , and Lieutenant General Sir Richard McCreery replaced him . The spring 1945 offensive in Italy saw the Eighth Army back in action . Working in conjunction with the U . S . 5th Army on its left flank , it cut off and destroyed , ( during April ) , large parts of the opposing Army Group C defending Bologna and then made a rapid advance through northeast Italy and into Austria . Problems occurred where British and Yugoslavian forces met . Josip Broz Tito ' s forces were intent on securing control of the area of Venezia Giulia . They arrived before British forces , and were very active in trying to prevent the establishment of military government in the manner that had applied to most of the rest of Italy . They even went as far as to restrict supplies through to the British zone of occupation in Austria and tried to take over part of that country as well . On 2 May 1945 , the 2nd New Zealand Division of the Eighth Army liberated Trieste , and that same day , the Yugoslav Fourth Army , together with Slovene 9th Corpus NOV entered the town . In its early days , the Eighth Army had seen many tribulations . However , since the Second Battle of El Alamein , the worst that could be said of its operations was that they degenerated into temporary stalemates . Its advance from El Alamein to Tunisia was one of the greatest military logistical feats of all time , and it had distinguished itself fighting under difficult conditions during the campaign in Italy . It ended its days by being redesignated British Forces in Austria ; controlling the British forces occupying part of that country . Veterans . After the war , veterans from the Eighth Army organized Annual Reunions at the Royal Albert Hall . Then , in the late 1970s , the Eighth Army Veterans Association was formed . At the height of its membership , there were over 35 branches , with a particular strength in the North West of the UK . Reunions were held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool . Eventually , in 2002 the National Association disbanded . However , the Manchester Branch decided to continue , under the title of Eighth Army Veterans , City of Manchester . It has an active membership , who hold regular meetings and events . Its newsletter , " The Manchester Veteran " , is still distributed to 300 ex - servicemen and women , or their dependents , and is a lively forum for the community it represents . A facility exists for Schools Talks to be given , in the Manchester / North Cheshire area .