Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War

Nicholas Smart

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9781783460366
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Riferimenti storici

The six years of prolonged world-wide conflict spawned some 340 serving generals in the British Army. A number are household names (Montgomery, Slim, Wavell) and others well known to historians (Horrocks, Dempsey, Leese). But the vast majority are forgotten except by their families and regiments. Yet there were a number of extraordinary characters, ranging from highly competent to downright inadequate. The Author has researched and written entries on all, varying in length, according to the subjects importance.

B

BAILLON, Major General Joseph Aloysius (1895–1951), CB, CBE, MC

Educated at King Edward VI School Birmingham, Baillon volunteered in 1914 and was commissioned in the South Staffordshire Regiment in 1915. Serving in France he was awarded the MC in 1918.

Regimental duties between the wars were as various as promotion was slow. Baillon married in 1925 and from 1931 to 1932 attended the Staff College, Camberley. A lieutenant colonel in 1939, he was a staff officer with the Sudan Defence Force 1940–1941. Promoted brigadier in 1942 and Deputy Director of Military Training, Middle East Command, he was regarded by Auchinleck as ‘full of energy and ideas’ (Dill, 2nd Acc., 4, LHCMA). He was appointed CGS in the newly-created Persia and Iraq Command where he served under ‘Jumbo’ Wilson. Promoted major general in 1943, he was CGS Middle East Command, again under Wilson, until the end of the war.

Made Director of Organization at the War Office in 1946, Baillon commanded Aldershot District from 1947 until his retirement from the army in 1949. Thereafter he lived in Ireland and was a director of a Cork-based brewing concern.

BAIRD, General Sir Harry Beauchamp Douglas

(1877–1963), KCB, CMG, CIE, DSO

Educated at Clifton and RMC, Sandhurst, Baird entered the Indian Army in 1897 and was gazetted into Probyn’s Horse (the Bengal Lancers) in 1899. A major in 1915 and married the same year, his First War service was in France, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Admitted to the DSO in 1915, he commanded a brigade 1916–1918 and was mentioned in despatches six times.

Having campaigned in the third Afghan War in 1919, Baird, a lieutenant colonel in 1920, commanded the 28th Punjabi Regiment that year and was Colonel Commandant Zhob Brigade Area 1920–1923. Commandant of the Senior Officers’ School, Belgaum, 1920–1924, he was, as major general, Deputy Assistant QMG, Northern Command, India, 1929–1930. He held District commands in Kohat and the Deccan over the next four years; his wife died in 1935 and he was knighted the same year. He was appointed GOC-in-C Eastern Command, India, in 1936.

Retired in 1940, as one of the longest serving officers in the Indian Army, Baird returned to his native Scotland. Commander of the Morayshire Home Guard 1940–1942, he was also Colonel of the South Lancashire Regiment 1940–1947.

BAKER, Lieutenant General Sir William Henry Goldney

(1888–1964), KCIE, CB, DSO, OBE

The son of a Devon clergyman, Baker was educated in New Zealand, Bedford School and RMC Sandhurst. Gazetted into the 13th Duke of Connaught’s Lancers (Indian Army) in 1910, he served in France 1914–1918, attached to the Connaught Rangers. He was mentioned in despatches and admitted to the DSO.

Except for spells in England attending the Staff College, Camberley, 1921–1922, and the Imperial Defence College in 1933, Barker spent most of his military career in India. Promotion was steady with numerous brevetcies. Married in 1924, a major in 1925, he transferred to Probyn’s Horse (the Bengal Lancers) in 1934 and was a lieutenant colonel in 1935. He was mentioned in despatches in the Afghan War (1919) and again after the Waziristan campaign of 1937, when he was made OBE. Commander of Delhi Brigade Area from 1939–1940, he was promoted major general in 1940 and the next year was appointed Adjutant General in India.

Knighted upon his retirement in 1944, Baker and his wife returned to England where they settled in his native Devon.

BANNATYNE, Major General Neil Charles (1880–1970), CB, CIE

Born in Scotland and educated at Cheltenham and RMC, Sandhurst, Bannatyne was commissioned in 1899 and gazetted into the 128th Pioneers (Indian Army) in 1900. Married in 1917, he was Deputy Adjutant and QMG, Western Command, India, 1928–1931, and commanded the Abbottadbad Brigade, 1931–1933. Promoted major general, he was Military Secretary Army Headquarters India, from 1936 until he retired from the army in 1940.

Staying on in India for the remainder of the war, Bannatyne was Chief Censor, 1940–1942, and Deputy Chief Commissioner for the Indian Red Cross, 1942–46. He lived out a very long retirement in an Eastbourne hotel.

BARBER, Lieutenant General Sir Colin Muir

(1897–1964) KBE, CB, DSO, DL

Born of Scottish parents on the Wirral and educated at Uppingham, Barber’s First War service was in France with the Liverpool Scottish and later the 1st Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders. In India for most of the 1920s, he married and attended the Staff College, Quetta, 1929–1930.

From 1931–1936 he held a succession of staff appointments in Scottish and Southern Commands, and served in Palestine before the outbreak of war. Then, as part of the 51st (Highland) Division, ‘Tiny’ Barber (at six foot nine inches he was one of the tallest officers in the British army) commanded the 4th Battalion Cameron Highlanders in France with the BEF. Awarded the DSO for his part in the division’s retreat across France south of the Somme, the brigade to which he was attached was the only part of the Division not to be captured at St Valéry in June 1940.

Made commander of 46th Brigade in 1941, Barber was GOC 54th Division 1941–1943, and commanded a brigade in the 15th Division which landed in France in June 1944. After hard fighting in Normandy he had, in August 1944, the satisfaction of being promoted to command ‘the most effective and best led infantry division in 21st Army Group’ (D’Este, 1994, 239), when the GOC, Macmillan, was wounded. He held this command until war’s end, having taken his division through France and Belgium and across the Rhine into North Germany.

In June 1945 Barber was appointed to command the Highland District (Scottish Command), and, 1949–1952, he was, as lieutenant general, Director of Infantry and Military Training at the War Office. He was also GOC-in-C Scottish Command and Governor of Edinburgh Castle from 1952 until his retirement in 1955.

Retiring to Yorkshre with his second wife, Barber, a keen golfer and first-class shot, was DL for York in 1959.

BARKER, General Sir Evelyn Hugh (1894–1983), KCB, KBE, DSO, MC

The youngest son of a major general, Barker was educated at Wellington and RMC, Sandhurst. Commissioned in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1913, his First War service was in France, Salonika and various Balkan countries. A captain in 1916, he was wounded, awarded the MC in 1917, admitted to the DSO in 1918 and was twice mentioned in despatches. Dropping rank at war’s end, he served on the staff of the Allied Military Mission in South Russia.

Brief staff assignments at the War Office and with Southern Command were followed by attendance at Staff College, Camberley, 1927–1928. Thereafter ‘Bubbles’ Barker filled various regimental posts. A brigade major in the early 1930s, he commanded the 2nd Battalion KRRC from 1936–1938, first in Palestine and then at home with the Mobile Division. Over the next two years he commanded 10th Infantry Brigade which, as part of 4th Division with the BEF, was sent to France in 1939. Ever ‘cheerful and brimming over with energy’ (Horrocks, 1960, 76), he was awarded the CBE in 1940 and spent the next two years as GOC 54th Division with Home Forces.

Made commander of the 49th (West Riding) Division in 1943, Barker redesigned the divisional symbol and led his formation in the campaign in Normandy. Promoted lieutenant general in November 1944, he commanded VIII Corps of the British Liberation Army during the Rhine crossing and took the surrender of Dönitz’s skeleton government in Flensburg in May 1945. Knighted that year, in which he served as military governor of Schleswig-Holstein, he was GOC-in-C British Forces in Palestine and Transjordan in 1946. Controversially he forbade his officers ‘fraternizing with Jews’ in the wake of the King David Hotel terrorist outrage. GOC-in-C Eastern Command 1947–1949, he retired from the army in 1950.

Holding numerous honorary posts in his retirement, ‘Bubbles’ Barker was DL for Bedfordshire from 1952–1967.

BARKER, Lieutenant General Michael George Henry

(1884–1960), CB, DSO

The son of a clergyman, educated at Malvern and commissioned in the Lincolnshire regiment in 1903, after brief service in the South African War with the militia, Barker was a captain in 1914, the year he married. His First War service was in France. Admitted to the DSO in 1917 (bar 1918), he was a brevet lieutenant colonel in 1919 and was one of the first post-war batch of officers to attend the Staff College, Camberley.

Barker seemed destined for great things. A nice combination of staff and regimental duties saw him rise from commanding a battalion to brigadier’s rank by 1930. An instructor at the Senior Officers’ School, Belgaum, in the early 1930s, he was brought home and promoted major-general in 1935. From 1936–1938 he was Director of Resources and Recruiting at the War Office, and GOC-in-C British forces in Palestine and Transjordan 1938–1939. He was promoted lieutenant general and assigned to Aldershot Command in early 1940.

When Dill was recalled to London to serve as Vice CIGS in April 1940, Barker assumed command of the BEF’s I Corps in France. With less than a month to familiarize himself with his surroundings before the German invasion of France and the Low Countries began, Barker had neither the time nor, perhaps, the fitness to adapt himself to the role. Said to be ‘neither liked nor respected by the officers who served under him’ (Colville, 1972, 180), he ‘cracked under the strain of battle’ (Hamilton, 1982, 355), became ‘very tired . . . [and] rattled much too easily’ (Bond (ed.), 1972, 322), and was, by the end of May, ‘completely useless’. Regarded as expendable and designated by Gort as the senior officer who would surrender British forces trapped in the Dunkirk perimeter, a change of mind saw Barker bundled on to a destroyer and sent home.

Barker’s military career was finished. Though still an impressive-looking soldier, War Office opinion seemed at one with Montgomery’s insubordinate post-Dunkirk pronouncement that ‘only a madman would give a Corps to Barker’ (Hamilton, 2001, 806). After briefly holding the appointment of GOC-IN-C Aldershot Command, Barker was retired from the army on health grounds in 1941. That same year he served as a Deputy Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence in the London District, but ill-health forced him to leave that post before the end of the year.

Retired to Essex, Barker sat out the rest of the war performing no higher duty than honorary colonel of the York and Lancaster Regiment. He was DL for the county in 1946 and his death in 1960 received only cursory acknowledgment.

BARKER, Major General Richard Ernest (1888–1962), CBE

A New Zealander, Barker was born in Christchurch and educated at Wanganui School and Sherborne (Dorset). After joining the New Zealand Mounted Rifles in 1907, he was commissioned in the South Lancashire Regiment in 1911. First War service was with the Indian Signal Corps in Mesopotamia 1915–1918.

Barker was Political Officer in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan and Persia 1918–1920 and then saw service in Ireland 1920–1922. Married in 1920 and transferring to the Royal Signals in 1921, he was a colonel in 1936. Chief Signal Officer in Palestine 1936–1937, he was promoted major general in 1940 and appointed Signal Officer-in-Chief Middle East.

It was in North Africa that Auchinleck, for all his alleged inability to select the right subordinates or root out inefficiency, became dissatisfied with Barker’s performance. He was, Auchinleck wrote to Dill, ‘simply not up to it’ (Dill, 2nd ac., 11, LHCMA). Made CSO Scottish Command in 1942, he was appointed CSO Home Forces in 1944 prior to his retirement from the army that year.

Returning to New Zealand after the war, Barker took up farming in his native South Island.

BARNSLEY, Major General Robert Eric (1886–1968), CB, MC, MB, BCh.

Born in Birmingham and educated at Rydal, Cambridge University and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Barnsely’s medical training led to his call-up into the forces in 1916. He served in France, Salonika and, 1919–1921, with the Army of the Black Sea. Mentioned in despatches and awarded the MC in that campaign, he spent most of the 1920s at the Royal Army Medical College.

Deputy Director of Army Medical Services in Egypt 1934–1937 and Assistant Director Medical Services, Northern Command, in 1937, Barnsley’s early war service was in East Africa. Made Deputy Director Medical Services, Southern Command, in 1941, he retired from the army in 1946.

An honorary colonel of the Territorial Army, Barnsley was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1948–1951.

BARSTOW, Major General Arthur Edward (1888–1942) CIE, MC

Born of military family and educated at Bradfield and RMC, Sandhurst, Barstow was gazetted into the 11th Sikh Regiment, Indian Army, in 1909. A captain in 1915, his First War service was mainly in France where he was wounded, mentioned in despatches and awarded the MC in 1917.

Inter-war ‘real soldiering’ was, for Barstow, real enough. He served in operations in Afghanistan in 1919, Kurdistan in 1923 and on the North-West Frontier in 1930. He was m...