John Mogg (British Army officer)

General Sir John Mogg GCB, CBE, DSO*
Birth name	Herbert John Mogg
Born	(1913-02-13)13 February 1913 Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada[1]
Died	28 October 2001(2001-10-28) (aged 88) Watlington, Oxfordshire, England[1]
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1937−1976
Rank	General
Service number	73153
Unit	Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Royal Green Jackets
Commands held	9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry 10th Battalion, Parachute Regiment Royal Military Academy Sandhurst I Corps Strategic Command
Battles/wars	Second World War Malayan Emergency
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order & Bar
Spouse(s)	Cecilia Margaret Molesworth ​ ​ (m. 1939)​ [2]

In 1939, he was posted to 5th Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a newly formed Territorial training unit, and served initially as Adjutant and later Second in Command. By 1943, Major Mogg was in Command of a Divisional Battle School at Margate, 61st Infantry Division, XI Corps, Home Forces.^[6] Mogg approached Major General Adrian Carton de Wiart, VC., and later Major General Brian Wainwright, Commanding Officers, 61st Infantry Division seeking an operational command. In the weeks before D-Day he was appointed Second in Command, 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade.^[7]

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, 9th DLI landed on Gold Beach at Le Hamel, Asnelles. In the breakout from the Normandy beachhead, 9DLI supported by 4th/7th Dragoon Guards were ordered to attack the village of Lingevres, 14 June 1944, defended by the Panzer Lehr Division. John Mogg gave an account of his experiences of the battle, during which the Commanding Officer, Lt Col. Humphrey Woods, DSO, MC* was killed and Mogg assumed command.

"As we crossed the start line all hell let loose from our own side and what with Typhoons and the artillery barrage and the tanks all shooting up the enemy positions in the wood, you could have seen the ground literally dance in front of you. And trees were coming down and I thought to myself "Good Lord, nobody can ever live in that thing, we must be able to walk straight on to our objective"." "And so we crossed right on time, 10.15, across the start line, with Humphrey Woods on the left and me on the right and we went through the corn, and the Geordies were never very tall guys and the corn that year was extremely high. We advanced about halfway across the corn with still this barrage going on when you suddenly saw the odd Geordie dropping in the corn and you couldn’t quite make this out where it was coming from. But, in fact, it was machine-gun fire coming from the forward edge of the wood and quite a lot of Geordies were dropping in the corn as casualties all the way along."

"However we advanced...and I spoke to Humphrey Woods on my radio, and this is the last time I heard him, and he said "We are running into terrible trouble here on the left, all the ‘A’ Company officers are casualties. I am trying to get on with ‘B’ Company and I will try and see how it happens. If not, if we don’t make any ground, you go on, whatever you do go on to your side of the village and I will try and collect as many of our soldiers and then come round behind you, because it’s obviously going to be easier your side". And, in fact, he was right, it was easier our side and apart from a fair amount of hand to hand fighting of ‘C’ Company on the right we got into the woods."

“...There was a scene of utter destruction with the church in ruins and many of the buildings had collapsed and there was very heavy shelling from the far side of the village. I suddenly had a message to say that Humphrey Woods had been killed and I suddenly realized that meant that I was the senior officer in the place and that made me the Commanding Officer, which filled me with utter despair to start with but I realized I must do something about it."

"I remember my Gunner officer was up by the Church in his tank at the main crossroads and we made a plan for some Artillery Fires which I could call for quickly." "We had an ‘O’ group with the two Company Commanders, the Anti Tank Platoon Commander, Carrier Platoon Commander, the Gunner and the 4th/7th Sqn Leader. I allocated positions for the Coys. blocking both roads and then I sited the Anti tank guns."^[7]

Lingevres was taken and held against repeated German counter attacks until 9DLI and 4th/7th Dragoon Guards were relieved. The Battalion suffered casualties of 226 men and 22 Officers.

9DLI saw further action at the

131st Infantry Brigade, as a motorised battalion fighting at the Roer Triangle in January 1945 and the town of Ibbenbüren in March. 9DLI ended the war near Hamburg.

In 1945 he attended the Staff College, Camberley as a student. After two years in Germany as GSO1, 7th Armoured Division, he returned to the Staff College as a member of the Directing Staff. From 1950-52 he was Commanding Officer (CO) of the 10th Battalion, Parachute Regiment.^[6] In 1952 he became Chief Instructor at the School of Infantry at Warminster and from 1954 to 1956 was GSO1 at the Imperial Defence College. From 1958 he Commanded, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group in the final stages of the Malayan Emergency, where he received the Meritorious Medal from the Sultan of Perak. On return he was appointed Director of Combat Development at the War Office and promoted to Major General.^[11]

"His next appointment, as

His interest in education was shown in his Chairmanship of the governors of the Royal Soldiers' Daughters School and Icknield School, Watlington. He was also a long serving governor of Bradfield College and his old school Malvern.^[6] In Detmold, Germany, a primary school for children whose parents are serving in the British Army was named after Sir John Mogg.^[19][20]

He was made

The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph obituaries summed up his personality and personal style:^[3]

"John Mogg's large frame was combined with an exceptionally genial, warm and sympathetic character, which appealed not only to soldiers of all ranks, but to people in every walk of life, whatever their nationality. In his time, he was probably the British army's most popular general, and finished his career in one of Nato's most influential posts, as deputy supreme allied commander (1973–76) at headquarters at Mons, in Belgium. Here, his sound common-sense and even temperament were valuable in balancing the direct approach, and sometimes abrasive personality, of the supreme commander, the US General Alexander Haig."

"John Mogg was a large man in every sense. Tall and heavily built, he always paid close attention to what someone was saying, ready with help and often a joke. His special gift was to appear to have the leisure to deal with any problem or request, although few people can have led such a busy life."^[6]

Family

John Mogg was born near Comox, Vancouver Island, BC., the son of Captain Herbert Barrow Mogg, MC., (d.1978, late Wiltshire Regiment & 4th Battalion Canadian Engineers), and Alice Mary Mogg, daughter of Lt Col John Fane Ballard, late DCLI, and Mary née Clerke Brown of Kingston Blount, Oxon. In 1939, he married Cecilia Margaret Molesworth (1914-2018),^[2] daughter of Rev. John Hilton (d 1921) & Mrs E. Molesworth (d 1927). Sir John and Lady Mogg had three sons.^[21][22][23]

References