Henry Maitland Wilson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For his uncle, see Henry Fuller Maitland Wilson.

First World War

Second World War

Awards
Army Distinguished Service Medal (United States)[8]
Legion of Merit (United States)[9]
Other workConstable of the Tower of London[10]

General Officer Commanding (GOC) British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan
in May 1941.

Wilson became GOC

Mediterranean from January 1944 and Chief of the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington D. C.
from January 1945 until 1947.

Early life and military service

Born in

OTC.[15]

Wilson, a lieutenant colonel at the time, as a staff officer with the New Zealand Division, May 1918

Wilson served in the

mentioned in despatches.[1]

After being promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 1 January 1919 and being hand-picked for the first post-war staff course at

North-West Frontier in January 1927, receiving promotion to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 15 June 1927.[18]

Group portrait of Major General Andrew Hamilton Russell (front row, centre), commanding the New Zealand Division, with staff officers at division headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, March 1919. Present also is Lieutenant Colonel H. M. "Jumbo" Wilson, the division's GSO1, is sat to Russell's right.

Returning to be an instructor at Camberley in June 1930, Wilson spent 9 months on half pay in 1933.

General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in August 1937.[19][17]

Second World War

Egypt (1939–1941)

On 15 June 1939, Wilson was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the British Troops in Egypt, with the rank of lieutenant-general,[20] in which role he was also responsible for giving military advice for a range of countries from Abyssinia to the Persian Gulf. He made his HQ in Cairo and undertook successful negotiations with the Egyptian government at their summer quarters in Alexandria. The Treaty of 1936 called for the Egyptian army to fight under British command in the event of war and to supplement the limited force then at his disposal – an armoured division then being formed (later to be the 7th Armoured Division) and eight British battalions. He concentrated his defensive forces at Mersa Matruh some 100 miles from the border with Libya.[21]

Early in August,

Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Command, and he sent reinforcements which had been sought by Wilson, initially the 4th Indian Infantry Division and advanced elements of 6th Australian Division[22] and, as the buildup at Mersa Matruh continued, Richard O'Connor and his staff at 7th Infantry Division in Palestine were moved to Egypt to reinforce Wilson's command structure there. O'Connor's HQ, initially designated British 6th Infantry Division, was activated in November and became responsible for the troops at Mersa Matruh. It was redesignated Western Desert Force in June 1940.[23]

On 10 June 1940, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared war. Immediately Wilson's forces invaded Libya. However, their advance was reversed when on 17 June France sought an armistice and the Italians were able to move their forces from the Tunisian border in the West and reinforce with 4 divisions those that opposed Wilson in the East. The Italian forces invaded Egypt in September 1940, and advanced some 60 miles (97 km) to occupy Sidi Barrani. Wilson was facing very superior forces. He had 31,000 troops to the Italians' 80,000, 120 tanks against 275, and 120 artillery pieces against 250. He realised that the situation was one where the traditional text books would not provide a solution. As with other 1940s commanders he had been well-schooled in strategy, and in thorough secrecy; he planned to disrupt the advance of the superior forces by attacking their extended lines at the right spots. After a conference with Anthony Eden and Wavell in October and rejecting Wavell's suggestion for a two-pronged attack, Wilson launched Operation Compass on 7 December 1940. The strategy was outstandingly successful and very quickly the Italian forces were cut in half.[24]

Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, Commander in Chief Cyrenaica, inspects men of the captured Tripolitanian Camel Corps, Libya.

While Operation Compass continued successfully in 1941 and resulted in the complete defeat of the Italian Army in North Africa, Wilson, who was already highly regarded by his First World War regimental colleague and now Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, had also won the confidence of Churchill himself. In a broadcast Churchill said, "General Wilson, who actually commands the Army of the Nile, was reputed to be one of our finest tacticians, and few will now deny him that quality."[25]

Wilson was recalled to Cairo in February 1941 where he was offered and accepted the position of Military Governor of Cyrenaica.[17]

Greece (April 1941)

Wilson was appointed to lead a

general on 31 May 1941.[26]

Syria, Iraq and Palestine (1941–1943)

A convalescent Winston Churchill meets the outgoing and incoming Supreme Commanders in the Mediterranean, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to Churchill's right, and Henry Maitland Wilson, to his left. Behind them stand (from left to right), John Whiteley, Air Marshal Arthur Tedder, Brigadier G. S. Thompson, Admiral Sir John Cunningham, unknown, Sir Harold Alexander, Captain M. L. Power, Humfrey Gale, Leslie Hollis, and Eisenhower's chief of staff, Walter Bedell Smith.

In May 1941, on his return from Greece, Wilson was appointed GOC

Aide-de-Camp General to the King.[29]

Wilson enjoyed the confidence of

Sir Bernard Montgomery was appointed to the post. Instead, Wilson was appointed to command the newly created independent Persia and Iraq Command on 21 August 1942.[31] This command, which had been part of Middle East Command, was created when it appeared that Germany, following successes in southern Russia, might invade Persia (Iran).[note 2]

C-in-C Middle East (1943)

In February 1943, after Montgomery's success at

Samos. The British forces suffered large losses to German air attacks and subsequent landings.[27]

Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean (1944)

Wilson with Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese, Italy, 30 April 1944

Wilson succeeded

Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) as the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean on 8 January 1944 based at Algiers.[27] As such he exercised strategic control over the campaign in Italy. He strongly advocated the invasion of Germany via the Danube plain, but this did not take place when the armies in Italy were weakened to support other theatres of war.[33] Jumbo Wilson was keen to follow through with the deception plan Undercut, when unexpectedly the Germans decided to withdraw from Greece altogether. Although advised by Dudley Clarke that it might backfire and was unnecessary, Wilson was aware of the strategic complexities of the political situation. Every plan the General Staff had a shadow, integrated by 1944 with the American allies at all strategy levels; even to employ an actor imitating Monty arrive at Jumbo's HQ in Algiers.[note 3]

Washington Mission (1945–1947)

Harold Alexander (left) and Sir Henry Maitland Wilson
(right)

In December 1944, following the death of Field Marshal

atom bomb.[27] Wilson continued to serve as head of the British Joint Staff Mission until 1947, to the satisfaction of Britain and the United States. President Truman awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal in November 1945.[8]

Post-war

In January 1946 he was appointed

George VI of the United Kingdom and was then created Baron Wilson, of Libya and of Stowlangtoft in the County of Suffolk.[35] From 1955 to 1960 he was Constable of the Tower of London. Wilson had married Hester Wykeham (1890–1979) in 1914 and had one son and a daughter.[36] The son, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Maitland Wilson, accompanied his father in the Middle East during the Second World War as an intelligence officer. The son's memoirs, Where the Nazis Came, provide anecdotes and descriptions of important events in his father's war service. Never a rich man, when Field Marshal Lord Wilson died on 31 December 1964 in Chilton, Buckinghamshire,[11] his estate was proved at only £2,952 (roughly £100,000 in 2013[37]). He was buried at St. George's, Stowlangtoft, Suffolk and was succeeded in the barony by his only son Patrick.[38]

From his arrival in Egypt in 1939 to his return to England in 1947 from Washington, Jumbo Wilson spent eight years overseas. Few wartime commanders gave such unstinting and unremitting service. Of all Churchill's generals, his relationship with the Prime Minister was probably the closest. Though he is unlikely to be remembered in history as one of the great wartime field commanders, he deserves to be remembered, like Eisenhower, as a leader who moved nations to work together in a common cause.[39]

References

Notes
  1. ^ One source claims that he was born at Stowlangtoft Hall, Suffolk.[1]
  2. Alan Brooke, had been reluctant to make this appointment because he thought Wilson was too old and tired for the job. However, he later wrote "...I was totally wrong as I soon discovered, and he was still capable of giving the most valuable service. An exceptionally clear brain, a strong personality and an imperturbable character."[32]
  3. ^ The deception operation on 26 May 1944 began in London.
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Heathcote, p.308
  2. ^ "No. 36544". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 August 1944. p. 2567.
  3. ^ a b "No. 35094". The London Gazette. 4 March 1941. p. 1304.
  4. ^ "No. 29886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1917. pp. 19–28.
  5. ^ "No. 36065". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 June 1943. p. 2853.
  6. ^ "No. 35519". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 April 1942. p. 1595.
  7. ^ "No. 36828". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 December 1944. p. 5616.
  8. ^ a b "No. 37442". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 January 1946. p. 651.
  9. ^ "No. 37521". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 April 1946. p. 1726.
  10. ^ "No. 40557". The London Gazette. 9 August 1955. p. 4559.
  11. ^ a b "Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  12. ^ "No. 27172". The London Gazette. 9 March 1900. p. 1632.
  13. ^ Keegan 1999, p. 166.
  14. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning Home". The Times. No. 36887. London. 1 October 1902. p. 8.
  15. ^ "No. 28544". The London Gazette. 24 October 1911. p. 7707.
  16. ^ Keegan 1999, p. 181.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Heathcote, p. 309
  18. ^ "No. 33284". The London Gazette. 14 June 1927. p. 3838.
  19. ^ "No. 34155". The London Gazette. 30 April 1935. p. 2823.
  20. ^ "No. 34639". The London Gazette. 23 June 1939. p. 4244.
  21. ^ "No. 37628". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 June 1946. p. 3261.
  22. ^ Mead (2007), p. 489
  23. ^ "Chapter 3 – Western Desert Force". University of Wellington. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  24. ^ "No. 37628". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 June 1946. p. 3264.
  25. ^ "Churchill Broadcast Takes Stock of War". Jewish Virtual Library. 9 February 1941. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  26. ^ "No. 35175". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 May 1941. p. 3071.
  27. ^ a b c d e f Heathcote, p. 310
  28. ^ Churchill vol 3 pp. 405–406
  29. ^ "No. 35372". The London Gazette. 5 December 1941. p. 6981.
  30. ^ Mead (2007), pp. 495–496
  31. ^ Alanbrooke Diaries, 21 August 1942
  32. ^ Alanbrooke diaries, postscript to entry of 21 August 1942
  33. ^ Fisher, p. 258
  34. ^ "No. 36861". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1944. p. 5936.
  35. ^ "No. 37498". The London Gazette. 12 March 1946. p. 1339.
  36. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36956. Retrieved 28 April 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  37. ^ "Measuring worth". Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  38. ^ Heathcote, p. 311
  39. ^ Keegan 1999, p. 180.

Sources

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Maitland Wilson.
Military offices
Preceded by GOC 2nd Division
1937–1939 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC British Troops in Egypt
1939–1941 		Succeeded by
New post Military Governor and GOC-in-C of Cyrenica
February 1941 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan
May–October 1941 		Succeeded by
New post GOC Ninth Army
1941–1942 		Succeeded by
New post C-in-C Persia and Iraq Command
1942–1943 		Succeeded by
Preceded by C-in-C Middle East Command
1943–1944 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean Theatre
January–December 1944 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief of the British Joint Staff Mission to Washington
1944–1947 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Constable of the Tower of London
1955–1960 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Wilson
1946–1964 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Maitland_Wilson&oldid=1220808845"