British Casualties of Generals

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Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr.
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British Casualties of Generals

#1

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 13 Sep 2007, 19:53

Major General Harry Willans, Director General of Welfare and Education, was killed in a fatal accident at El Adem Airfield near Tobruk on February 5, 1943, while on his return journey from India and Assam battlefronts.

Brigadier Grenfell Horace Gerald Smith-Dorrien was killed in action on September 13, 1944 during the Italian campaign.

Major General Wilfred Lewis Lloyd, commanding officer of the Tenth Indian Division, was killed in an air crash in 1944.

Major General Arthur Edward Barstow, commanding officer of the Ninth Indian Division, was killed in an ambush by Japanese troops on January 28, 1942 while trying to cross a demolished bridge near Layang Layang Village in Malaya. At that time, he was trying to contact the Indian 22nd Infantry brigade which had become cut off from the rest of retreating British forces. The Japanese found his body.

Brigadier Vivian Dykes was killed on January 29, 1943, when the engines of his Liberator I Am913 caught fires and crashed on its approach to RAF Base Talbenny from a flight from Casablanca in French Morocco.

Brigadier Herbert Cecil Duncan, commanding officer of the 45th Indian Infantry Brigade was killed while leading a charge in Gwalis during the retreat from Muar River in Malaya on January 16, 1942.

Brigadier John Cecil Currie, commanding officer of the Fourth Armored Brigade, was killed by shellfire on June 26, 1944 after a conference in his headquarters had broken up.

Brigadier Victor Francis Staples Hawkins died of his wounds after he received wound when a bullet from a Japanese sniper ripped into his thigh while he was inspecting his troops in Hill 5120 in Kohima.

Major General Thomas George Gordon Heywood, commanding officer of the 26th Indian infantry Division was killed in an air crash in 1943.

Brigadier Cecil William Haydon, commanding officer of the 150th Infantry Brigade was killed in action on June 1, 1942 in Libya.

Brigadier John Gwynne James, commanding officer of the 36th Brigade was killed in action in Italy in 1944.

Brigadier Hermann Kisch, Chief Engineer of the 8th Army, was killed by a mine explosion near Sousse, Tunisia while inspecting a minefield in 1943.

Brigadier Colin Vyvyan O’Neil McNabb, commanding officer of the 8th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was killed in action in 1943 in North Africa.

Brigadier Gerard Herbert Leo Mole, commanding officer of the 129th Infantry Brigade, died of his wounds in 1943.

Brigadier Clifford Cecil Malden, commanding officer of the 47th Division, was killed by a German bomb.

Brigadier John R. MacIntosh-Wlaker, commanding officer of the 227th Brigade was killed in action in 1944.

Brigadier Thomas Grindall Newbury, commanding officer of the 162nd Brigade, he suffered a heart attack ad died in the afternoon of April 5, 1945.

Lieutenant General Vyvyan Vavasour Pope, commanding officer of the 30th Corps, was killed on October 5, 1941 when his plane was shot down in Egypt.

Brigadier Reginald Gordon Ward Rimington, commander of the 3rd Armored Brigade, died of his wounds received prior to being captured in 1941 in North Africa.
Brigadier Gwynne Brian Sugden, commanding officer of the 158th Brigade was killed in action on January 4, 1945 in France.

Major General Justice Crossland Tilly of the Second Armored Division was killed in action in North Africa in 1941.

Brigadier John Aarundel Theobolds, commanding officer of the Fourth Brigade, died of his wounds in 1941.

Brigadier Robert Allan Grant Taylor, commanding officer of the 35th Brigade, was killed in an air crash in 1942.

Major General Dermot Frederick William warren, commander of the Fifth Indian division was killed in an air crash in 1945 in Burma.

Brigadier Alfred Edward John Cavendish was killed by British artillery fire together with other six men while in Japanese captivity during the bombardment against Indin Village in Maya Peninsula on April 6, 1943.

Major General George Frederick Hopkinson, commanding officer of the First Airborne Division, died of his wounds after he was severely wounded by German machine gun fire during the Sicilian campaign in 1943.

Brigadier Bernard Howlett, commanding officer of the 139th Brigade, was killed in 1943 in North Africa.

Brigadier Dennis Walter Furlong, commanding officer of the Fifth Brigade, was killed in action in France on May 9, 1940.

Brigadier Maxwell Elrington, commanding officer of the 53rd Division, was killed in action in 1945.

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Ken McCanliss
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Lieutenant General William Henry Ewart Gott

#2

Post by Ken McCanliss » 19 Sep 2007, 02:54

Lieutenant General William Henry Ewart Gott , commanding officer of the XIII Corps (and designated to command 8th Army), was killed when his plane was shot down in Egypt.


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#3

Post by JonS » 19 Sep 2007, 03:03

MajGen John "Jock" Campbell - GOC 7th Armd Div, killed in a driving accident, Feb 1942.

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#4

Post by Andreas » 19 Sep 2007, 13:35

Were Brigadiers general officers in WW2? I am always getting confused by this.

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Andreas

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Steen Ammentorp
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#5

Post by Steen Ammentorp » 19 Sep 2007, 20:28

The rank of Brigadier-General was abolished in British army in 1922. It was placed by the rank of Colonel-Commandant, which in turn was replaced my the rank of Brigadier in 1928. It wasn't considered a general officers rank.

The reason that I have included Brigadiers on my site is that the Brigadiers often held appoinments with responsabilities similar to those held by Brigadier-Generals in other armies.

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Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#6

Post by Freebird » 13 May 2012, 02:37

Brigadier A.C.M Paris - 12th Indian Brigade / 11th Indian division

Escaped from Malaya in 1942 but his ship was sunk by the Japanese.
Of 80 survivors in a single lifeboat, only 5 lived through the 28 day ordeal, he didn't survive

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#7

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 03 Aug 2012, 05:18

Thanks for the information guys. :)

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#8

Post by greatscott » 31 Oct 2012, 09:41

Pope was killed in an air crash (Loadstar) in Egypt, as was his BGS - have to check his name.

Brigadier John Gray 4th NZ Brigade stuka attack July 1942

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#9

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 30 Dec 2012, 20:12

About Brigadier Gray, found a detail of his death, from the book Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45,19 Battalion and Armoured Regiment, page 273, by D. W. SINCLAIR:
The early morning of the 5th (July 1942) was still quiet and all ranks made the most of the rest period, but by 11.50 a.m. 4 Brigade was on the move once more. In desert formation it headed round the south of the Kaponga Box (near Deir el Munassib in Egypt) to take up a position on its west side. En route eight Me110s bombed the convoy, catching the right-flank vehicles and inflicting severe casualties. Among the many killed were the Brigade Commander, Brigadier John Gray, and the Brigade Major, Brian Bassett.

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#10

Post by taurus » 28 May 2016, 09:52

Major-General Merton Beckwith-Smith (11 July 1890 – 11 November 1942).

The commander of the 18th Infantry Division.

In early 1942, after many weeks at sea, Beckwith-Smith's division was landed at Singapore. Japanese forces invaded Singapore Island on 8 February. Because of the defensive strategy implemented by the Allied commander, General Arthur Percival, most of the 18th Division saw little or no action. Percival surrendered the 80,000 British Commonwealth troops at Singapore on 15 February, including Beckwith-Smith and his division. In August 1942 he was moved to Formosa (now Taiwan) along with General Perrcival and all the senior officers from Singapore.

On 11 November 1942 Major-General Merton Beckwith-Smith died at Karenko Camp of diphtheria as a prisoner of war.

Major-General Thomas Gordon Rennie (3 January 1900 – 24 March 1945).

The commander of the 51st (Highland) Division (26 July 1944 – 23 March 1945).

Killed in action.
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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#11

Post by gambadier » 29 May 2016, 04:27

You've forgotten the most significant of all - Brigadier (or was he a Maj Gen at the time?) Orde Wingate, commanding the Chindit Special Force, another air crash.

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#12

Post by aghart » 02 Jun 2016, 22:19

The most senior British Officer to die was Lt General Herbert Lumsden.

Lumsden was killed by a Japanese kamikaze plane while on the bridge of the United States Navy battleship USS New Mexico in Lingayen Gulf observing the bombardment of Luzon on 6 January 1945, becoming the most senior British Army combat casualty of the Second World War.

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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#13

Post by Knouterer » 03 Jun 2016, 17:37

Major-General Clifford Cecil Malden, commander of the 47th division, was not killed by a German bomb it seems. On 25 March 1941 he was inspecting coast defences near Shoreham. The brigadier showing him round somehow managed to get on the wrong side of a wire barrier surrounding a minefield; the general trod on a “mushroom” and was blown to bits, the brigadier was blown clean through the wire but survived. There were very many fatal accidents with these mushrooms, officially "Beach Type C mines". It seems that in many cases the next of kin were told that deaths were caused by enemy action, as in this case. Obviously, it would not have been good for morale if people got the impression that even general officers did not know enough to stay out of minefields.

Likewise, Brigadier Dennis Walter Furlong DSO, OBE, MC, did not die on 9 May as indicated above. He came back from France and took command of the 6th Brigade (2nd Infantry Division, in Yorkshire at the time) and apparently met his end when inspecting a mine field near Bridlington on 5 September 1940. Again the exact somewhat inglorious cause of death was not explained at the time; obituaries and other articles said that he died "on active service" or "in the course of war operations".
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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#14

Post by taurus » 11 Jun 2016, 08:30

Thanks for the add-on. It will be necessary to count the total number of British generals losses.
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Re: British Casualties of Generals

#15

Post by taurus » 02 Feb 2019, 20:50

Major General Orde Charles Wingate (26.02.1903 - 24.03.1944).
Commanding officer of the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade.

Killing in aircraft.
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