Claude Auchinleck
Sir Claude Auchinleck | |
---|---|
Marrakech, Morocco | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Indian Army Indian Army Pakistan Army |
Years of service | 1904–1947 |
Rank | Field marshal |
Service number | 115611 |
Unit | 62nd Punjabis |
Commands held | Supreme Commander India and Pakistan (1947–1948) Commander-in-Chief, India (1941, 1943–1947) Middle East Command (1941–1942) Southern Command (1940)[3] V Corps (1940) Commander-in-chief, Northern Norway (1940) IV Corps (1940) 3rd Indian Infantry Division (1939) Meerut district (1938) Peshawar Brigade (1933–1936) 1st Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment (1929–1930) |
Battles/wars |
|
Awards |
|
Other work | Colonel 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment (January 1933)[16]
|
In June 1943, he was once again appointed Commander-in-Chief, India, where his support through the organisation of supply, maintenance and training for General William Slim's Fourteenth Army played an important role in its success. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India, until the Partition in 1947, when he assumed the role of Supreme Commander of all British forces in India and Pakistan until late 1948.
Early life and career
Born at 89 Victoria Road in Aldershot, Hampshire, the son of John Claud Alexander Auchinleck and Mary Eleanor (Eyre) Auchinleck. His father, a colonel in the Royal Horse Artillery of the British Army, was posted to Bangalore in British India, with his family accompanying him, while Claude was very young. It was from here that he developed a love for the country that would last for most of his life.[20] Returning to England after the death of his father in 1892, Auchinleck attended Eagle House School at Crowthorne and then Wellington College on scholarships.[21] From there he went on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned as an unattached second lieutenant in the Indian Army on 21 January 1903,[22] and joined the 62nd Punjabis in April 1904.[21][20] He soon learned several Indian languages,[23] and, able to speak fluently with his soldiers, he absorbed a knowledge of local dialects and customs: this familiarity engendered a lasting mutual respect, enhanced by his own personality.[24]
He was promoted to
First World War
Auchinleck saw active service in the
He became acting commanding officer of his battalion in February 1917 and led his regiment at the
Between the world wars
Auchinleck attended the
Auchinleck became temporary Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General at
He was promoted to temporary
On leaving his brigade command in April 1936, Auchinleck was on the unemployed list (on half pay)[41] until September 1936 when he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Director of Staff Duties in Delhi.[42] He was then appointed to command the Meerut District in India in July 1938.[43] In 1938 Auchinleck was appointed to chair a committee to consider the modernisation, composition and re-equipment of the British Indian Army: the committee's recommendations formed the basis of the 1939 Chatfield Report which outlined the transformation of the Indian Army – it grew from 183,000 in 1939 to over 2,250,000 men by the end of the war.[44]
Second World War
Norway 1940
On the outbreak of war, Auchinleck was appointed to command the Indian 3rd Infantry Division, but in January 1940 was summoned to the United Kingdom to command IV Corps, the only time in the war that a wholly British corps was commanded by an Indian Army officer.[45] He received promotion to acting lieutenant general on 1 February 1940[46] and to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 16 March 1940.[47] In May 1940 Auchinleck took over command of the Anglo-French ground forces during the Norwegian campaign,[45] a military operation that was doomed to fail.[47]
Auchinleck arrived in Greenock, after the fall of Norway, on 12 June, by which time the Battle of France was nearing its end, with the majority of the BEF in France having been evacuated from the port of Dunkirk, with the French surrender only a few days away. Due to these reasons, all attention was now given to the defence of the UK which many believed would soon be invaded by the Germans (see Operation Sea Lion).[48] In mid-June he was given command of the recently established V Corps, then serving in Southern Command under Lieutenant General Sir Alan Brooke. His stay was not to be for very long, however, as, just a few weeks later, Brooke succeeded General Sir Edmund Ironside as Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, with Auchinleck succeeding Brooke as GOC-in-C of Southern Command,[49] responsible for the defence of Southern England, where the expected invasion would come from.[50] The recently vacated V Corps was taken over by Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery, who disliked Auchinleck intensely, possibly due to his disdain for the Indian Army and its officers.[48] The relationship between the two future field marshals was not easy, with Montgomery later writing:
In the 5th Corps I first served under Auchinleck, who had the Southern Command; I cannot recall that we ever agreed on anything.[51]
Many of Montgomery's actions in the next few weeks and months could be considered as insubordination, with one incident in particular standing out, when Montgomery went over Auchinleck's head directly to the Adjutant-General on issues related to officers and men being transferred to and from Montgomery's V Corps.[48][47] Auchinleck was not to deal with this behaviour for long as in December he was ordered to succeed his friend, General Sir Robert Cassels, as Commander-in-Chief, India.[52][53] By now known throughout the army as "the Auk", he was destined to encounter Montgomery again, although the circumstances there would not be at all pleasant.[54]
India and Iraq January–May 1941
Promoted to full
In April 1941,
North Africa July 1941 – August 1942
Following the see-saw of Allied and Axis successes and reverses in North Africa, Auchinleck was appointed to succeed General Sir Archibald Wavell as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command in July 1941;[60] Wavell took up Auchinleck's post as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, swapping jobs with him.[61]
As Commander-in-Chief Middle East, Auchinleck, based in
In fact the Axis forces had managed to withdraw in good order and a few days after Auchinleck's optimistic appreciation, having reorganised and been reinforced, struck at the dispersed and weakened British forces, driving them back to the Gazala positions near Tobruk.[63] The British Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), General Sir Alan Brooke, wrote in his diary that it was "nothing less than bad generalship on the part of Auchinleck. He has been overconfident and has believed everything his overoptimistic [DMI] Shearer has told him". Brooke commented that Auchinleck "could have been one of the finest of commanders" but lacked the ability to select the men to serve him. Brooke sent him one of his best armoured division commanders Richard McCreery, whose advice was ignored in favour of that of Auchinleck's controversial chief of operations, Major-General Dorman-Smith.[64]
On 24 June Auchinleck stepped in to take direct command of the Eighth Army, having lost confidence in Neil Ritchie's ability to control and direct his forces. Auchinleck discarded Ritchie's plan to stand at Mersa Matruh, deciding to fight only a delaying action there, while withdrawing to the more easily defendable position at El Alamein. Here Auchinleck tailored a defence that took advantage of the terrain and the fresh troops at his disposal, stopping the exhausted German/Italian advance in the First Battle of El Alamein. Enjoying a considerable superiority of material and men over the weak German/Italian forces, Auchinleck organised a series of counter-attacks. Poorly conceived and badly coordinated, these attacks achieved little.[68]
"The Auk", as he was known, appointed a number of senior commanders who proved to be unsuitable for their positions, and command arrangements were often characterised by bitter personality clashes. Auchinleck was an Indian Army officer and was criticised for apparently having little direct experience or understanding of British and Dominion troops. Dorman-Smith was regarded with considerable distrust by many of the senior commanders in Eighth Army. By July 1942 Auchinleck had lost the confidence of Dominion commanders and relations with his British commanders had become strained.[note 2]
Like his foe Rommel (and his predecessor Wavell and successor Montgomery), Auchinleck was subjected to constant political interference, having to weather a barrage of hectoring telegrams and instructions from Prime Minister Churchill throughout late 1941 and the spring and summer of 1942. Churchill constantly sought an offensive from Auchinleck, and was downcast at the military reverses in Egypt and Cyrenaica. Churchill was desperate for some sort of British victory before the planned Allied landings in North Africa,
Joseph M. Horodyski and Maurice Remy both praise Auchinleck as an underrated military leader who contributed the most to the successful defence of El Alamein and consequently the final defeat of Rommel in Africa. The two historians also criticize Churchill for the unreasonable decision to put the blame on Auchinleck and to relieve him.[71][72]
India 1942–1945
Churchill offered Auchinleck command of the newly created
General Wavell meanwhile having been appointed
Following Mountbatten's arrival, Auchinleck, as Commander-in-Chief India once more, was responsible for the internal security of India, the defence of the North West Frontier and the buildup of India as a base, including most importantly the reorganisation of the Indian Army, the training of forces destined for SEAC and the lines of communication carrying men and material to the forward areas and to China. Auchinleck made the supply of Fourteenth Army, with probably the worst lines of communication of the war, his immediate priority;[76] as Sir William Slim, commander of the Fourteenth Army, was later to write:
It was a good day for us when he [Auchinleck] took command of India, our main base, recruiting area and training ground. The Fourteenth Army, from its birth to its final victory, owed much to his unselfish support and never-failing understanding. Without him and what he and the Army of India did for us we could not have existed, let alone conquered.[77]
Divorce
Auchinleck suffered a personal disappointment when his wife Jessie left him for his friend,
There is scholarly dispute whether Auchinleck was homosexual. His biographer, Philip Warner, addressed the rumours but dismissed them;[81] however historian Ronald Hyam has alleged that "sexually based moral-revulsion" was the reason for Montgomery's inability to get on with Auchinleck, and further, that Auchinleck was "let off with a high-level warning" over his relationships with Indian boys.[82]
Partition of India and later years
Auchinleck continued as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army after the end of the war[83] helping, though much against his own convictions, to prepare the future Indian and Pakistani armies for the Partition of India: in November 1945 he was forced to commute the more serious judicial sentences awarded against officers of the Indian National Army in face of growing unease and unrest both within the Indian population, and the British Indian Army.[70] On 1 June 1946 he was promoted to field marshal,[84] but he refused to accept a peerage, lest he be thought associated with a policy (i.e. Partition) that he thought fundamentally dishonourable.[76]
Sending a report to the British Government on 28 September 1947, Field Marshal Auchinleck wrote: "I have no hesitation, whatever, in affirming that the present Indian Cabinet are implacably determined to do all in their power to prevent the establishment of the Dominion of Pakistan on firm basis." He stated in the second, political part of his assessment, "Since 15th August, the situation has steadily deteriorated and the Indian leaders, cabinet ministers, civil officials and others have persistently tried to obstruct the work of partition of the armed forces."[85][86]
When partition was effected in August 1947, Auchinleck was appointed Supreme Commander of all British forces remaining in India and Pakistan[87] and remained in this role until the winding up and closure of the Supreme H.Q. at the end of November 1947.[88] This marked his effective retirement from the army (although technically field marshals in the British Army never retire, remaining on the active list on half pay[89]). He left India on 1 December.[88]
After a brief period in Italy in connection with an unsuccessful business project, Auchinleck retired to London, where he occupied himself with a number of charitable and business interests and became a respectably skilled watercolour painter.[90] In 1960 he settled in Beccles in the county of Suffolk, remaining there for seven years until, at the age of eighty-four, he decided to emigrate and set up home in Marrakesh,[91] where he died on 23 March 1981.[92]
Memorials
Auchinleck is buried in Ben M'Sik European Cemetery, Casablanca, in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission plot in the cemetery, next to the grave of Raymond Steed who was the second youngest non-civilian Commonwealth casualty of the Second World War.[93]
A memorial plaque was erected in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. A bronze statue of Auchinleck can be seen on Broad Street adjacent to Auchinleck House, Five Ways, Birmingham.[94]
Awards and decorations
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (1 January 1945)[4]
- Companion of the Order of the Bath (3 July 1934) Mohmand operations 7 October 1933[95]
- Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (20 December 1940)[5]
- Companion of the Order of the Star of India (8 May 1936) Mohmand operations 8 October 1935[6]
- Distinguished Service Order (3 June 1917)[7]
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) (3 June 1919)
- Croix de Guerre with Palm (France, 1918 and 1949)[15]
- Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States, 23 July 1948)[10]
- Virtuti Militari, 5th class (Poland, 15 May 1942)[11]
- Member First Class Order of the Star of Nepal (Nepal)[96]
- War Cross (Czechoslovakia, 1944)[14]
- Order of the Star of Nepal (Nepal, 1945)[12]
- Knight Grand Cross of Order of St Olav (Norway, 19 March 1948)[13]
Publications
- Auchinleck, Claude (8 March 1942). Operations in the Middle East 5th July 1941 to 31 October 1942. London: War Office..
- (Auchinleck's Official Middle East Despatch published after the war in "No. 37695". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 August 1946. pp. 4215–4230.)
- Auchinleck, Claude (26 January 1943). Operations in the Middle East 1st November 1941 to 15 August 1942. London: War Office..
- (Auchinleck's Official Middle East Despatch published after the war in "No. 38177". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 January 1948. pp. 309–400.)
- Auchinleck, Claude (22 November 1945). Operations in the Indo-Burma Theatre based on India from 21st June 1943 to 15 November 1943. London: War Office..
- (Auchinleck's Official Indo-Burma Despatch published after the war in "No. 38274". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 April 1948. pp. 2651–2684.)
Notes
- ^ Other sources, including the online Dictionary of Ulster Biography Archived 6 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, wrongly state that Auchinleck was born in County Fermanagh, Ulster
- ^ Alanbrooke in a footnote to his diary entry of 30 January wrote: "Auchinleck, to my mind, had most of the qualifications to make him one of the finest of commanders, but unfortunately he lacked the most important of all – the ability to select the men to serve him. The selection of Corbett as his Chief of Staff, Dorman-Smith as his chief advisor, and (Eric) Shearer as his head of intelligence service contributed most of all to his downfall"[64]
References
- ^ FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915. 1884, Q3-Jul–Aug–Sep, A, 9. Auchinleck, Claud John E, Farnham. Vol 2a. Page 95. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 8 September 2011. (Farnham is the district including Aldershot.)
- ^ Warner (1991), p. 131
- ^ "No. 35559". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 May 1942. p. 744.
- ^ a b "No. 36866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1944. p. 3.
- ^ a b "No. 35019". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 December 1940. p. 7109.
- ^ a b c "No. 34282". The London Gazette. 8 May 1936. p. 2974.
- ^ a b c d e f g Heathcote, p. 30
- ^ a b c "No. 34066". The London Gazette. 3 July 1934. p. 4227.
- ^ a b "No. 34282". The London Gazette. 8 May 1936. p. 2979.
- ^ a b "No. 38359". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 July 1948. p. 4189.
- ^ a b "No. 35559". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 May 1942. p. 2113.
- ^ Burkes PeerageLtd. p. 331.
- ^ a b "No. 38240". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 March 1948. p. 1919.
- ^ a b "No. 36103". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 July 1943. p. 3319.
- ^ a b Edinburgh Gazette, 4 September 1917[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Qureshi, MI. (1958). The First Punjabis: History of the First Punjab Regiment 1759–1956. Aldershot: Gale & Polden.
- ^ "No. 35153". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 May 1941. p. 2571.
- ^ "No. 34649". The London Gazette. 28 July 1939. p. 5218.
- ^ "No. 36532". The London Gazette. 26 May 1944. p. 2443.
- ^ a b Doherty 2004, p. 34.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Heathcote, p. 29
- ^ "No. 27517". The London Gazette. 20 January 1903. p. 390.
- ^ Warner (1981), p. 17
- ^ Warner (1991), pp. 131–132
- ^ "No. 28376". The London Gazette. 24 May 1910. p. 3640.
- ^ "No. 28590". The London Gazette. 15 March 1912. p. 1922.
- ^ "Famous Freemasons". Blackpool Group of Lodges and Chapters. 10 December 2015. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "No. 30138". The London Gazette. 19 June 1917. p. 6058.
- ^ "No. 31123". The London Gazette. 14 January 1919. p. 719.
- ^ "No. 32084". The London Gazette. 14 October 1920. p. 9968.
- ^ "No. 31777". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 February 1920. p. 1802.
- ^ Doherty 2004, p. 35.
- ^ "Claude Auchinleck". The Spokesman-Review: 1. 8 July 1941.
- ^ J. Y. Smith (25 March 1981). "Sir Claude Auchinleck, 96, Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
- ^ "No. 33475". The London Gazette. 8 March 1929. p. 1678.
- ^ "No. 33600". The London Gazette. 25 April 1930. p. 2596.
- ^ "No. 33604". The London Gazette. 9 May 1930. p. 2870.
- ^ "No. 33952". The London Gazette. 23 June 1933. p. 4206.
- ^ "No. 33976". The London Gazette. 8 September 1933. p. 5864.
- ^ "No. 34239". The London Gazette. 3 January 1936. p. 53.
- ^ "No. 34275". The London Gazette. 17 April 1936. p. 2490.
- ^ "No. 34338". The London Gazette. 6 November 1936. p. 7127.
- ^ "No. 34536". The London Gazette. 29 July 1938. p. 4884.
- ^ Mackenzie, pp. 1–3
- ^ a b Mead, p. 52
- ^ "No. 34811". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 March 1940. p. 1531.
- ^ a b c Heathcote, p. 31
- ^ a b c Mead 2007, p. 52.
- ^ "No. 34902". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 July 1940. p. 4493.
- ^ Doherty 2004, p. 37.
- ^ Montgomery, p. 71
- ^ Mead 2007, pp. 52–53.
- ^ Doherty 2004, p. 38.
- ^ Mead 2007, p. 53.
- ^ "No. 35023". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 December 1940. p. 7251.
- ^ "No. 35037". The London Gazette. 7 January 1941. p. 158.
- ^ "No. 35183". The London Gazette. 6 June 1941. p. 3243.
- ^ "No. 37875". The London Gazette. 7 February 1947. p. 662.
- ^ Mead, p. 53
- ^ "No. 35218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 July 1941. p. 4048.
- ^ "No. 35247". The London Gazette. 15 August 1941. p. 4740.
- ^ Stewart, p. 46
- ^ Heathcote, p. 32
- ^ a b Alanbrooke Diaries, 30 January 1942
- ^ Warner (1982), pp. 181, 182
- ^ Warner (1982), p. 182
- ^ Playfair, pp. 261–275
- ^ Barr, pp. 83–184
- ^ Alanbrooke (2001), p. 297
- ^ a b Heathcote, p. 33
- ^ Horodyski, Joseph M. (23 September 2016). "Sir Claude Auchinleck: Overshadowed Equal to Erwin Rommel". 2016 Sovereign Media. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ^ Remy 2002, p. 107.
- ^ "No. 38177". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 January 1948. pp. 398–400.
- ^ "No. 36133". The London Gazette. 13 August 1943. p. 3653.
- ^ Woodburn Kirby, pp. 4–11
- ^ a b Mead, p. 57
- ^ Slim, p. 176
- ^ Bond, p. 124
- ^ Heathcote, p. 34
- ^ a b Warner (1982), p. 264
- ^ Warner 1982, p. 262.
- ISBN 978-0-7190-2505-11990, pp. 14, 32
- ^ "No. 37586". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 May 1946. p. 2617.
- ^ "No. 37586". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1946. p. 2617.
- ^ Bajwa, p. 36
- ^ Nawaz, p. 29
- ^ Warner (1982), p. 269
- ^ a b Warner (1982), p. 289
- ^ Warner 1982, p. 301.
- ^ Warner (1982), pp. 291–294
- ^ Warner (1982), p. 295
- ^ Heathcote, p. 35
- ^ "Cemetery details—Ben M'Sik European Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
- ^ "Auchinleck statue to get prime position in Birmingham Five Ways shopping centre plan". Birmingham Post. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "No. 34066". The London Gazette. 3 July 1934. p. 4222.
- ISBN 9788170247562. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
Sources
- ISBN 1-84212-526-5.
- Bajwa, Kuldip Singh (2003). Jammu and Kashmir War, 1947-1948: Political and Military Perspective. Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi. ISBN 978-8124109236.
- Barr, Niall (2005). Pendulum Of War: Three Battles at El Alamein. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0712668279.
- Bond, Brian; Tachikawa, Kyoichi, eds. (2004). British and Japanese Military Leadership in the Far Eastern War, 1941–1945. London & New York: Frank Cass. ISBN 9780714656595.
- ISBN 9781851828654.
- Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword. ISBN 0-85052-696-5.
- ASIN B0011DPGZ4.
- McGilvray, Evan (2020). Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck. ISBN 978-1526716101.
- Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
- ISBN 978-1844153305.
- Nawaz, Shija (2009). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, its Army, and the Wars Within. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195476972.
- ISBN 1-84574-067-X.
- ISBN 3-471-78572-8.
- Stewart, Adrian (2010). The Early Battle of Eighth Army: crusader to the Alamein Line 1941–1942. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0811735360.
- ISBN 0-304-29114-5.
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
- ISBN 0-7221-8905-2.
- ISBN 0-304-36712-5.
- ISBN 1-84574-062-9.
Further reading
- Agar-Hamilton, J.A.I. (1952). Crisis In The Desert May–July 1942. Cape Town: Oxford University Press. ASIN B0015ZSSW6.
- Ammentorp, Steen. "Generals of World War II". Archived from the original on 16 October 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
- Houterman, Hans; Koppes, Jeroen. "World War II unit histories and officers". Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
External links
- "Archival material relating to Claude Auchinleck". UK National Archives.
- Auchinleck Papers at John Rylands Library, Manchester
- Newspaper clippings about Claude Auchinleck in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- Indian Army Officers 1939−1945
- Generals of World War II