Middle East Command
Middle East Command Middle East Land Forces | |
---|---|
Second World War | |
Part of | War Office Ministry of Defence (Army) |
Garrison/HQ | Cairo Suez Canal Zone Cyprus |
Engagements | Second World War
|
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Archibald Wavell Claude Auchinleck Harold Alexander |
Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to defend British interests in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean region.
During the Second World War, Middle East Command supervised military operations in and around the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. Following the defeat of the Axis forces in the Western Desert at the Battle of El Alamein and the landing of additional Anglo-American forces during Operation Torch, it transferred control of land forces to the newly created Allied Forces Headquarters.
Role of Middle East Command
Middle East Command was established in
The
Wavell had suggested that due to the complex and uncertain situation in the Middle East region, following the collapse of France, that a committee, under a Cabinet Minister, should be established in the Middle East region to perform duties delegated to it by the Home Office, thus relieving the need to constantly refer to the War Cabinet for instructions. An alternative suggestion, however, was accepted: a ministerial committee would be established in London with the task of continually keeping the affairs of the Middle East region under review.[10] On 28 June 1941, a position—similar to the original request put forward by Wavell—was established when Oliver Lyttelton was appointed to the position of Minister of State in the Middle East and dispatched to the Middle East. His role was to provide the three commanders-in-chief the political guidance they needed, advice on propaganda, subversive warfare, finance and economic warfare.[11]
Middle East Command, upon its establishment, was to also co-ordinate with the French military in the Middle East and Africa. The command was also authorised to liaise with the
Second World War
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2008) |
On 30 August 1939 Middle East Command received instructions stating that if they received a formal telegram informing them that a state of war existed between the United Kingdom and Italy, that all defensive measures taken against the Italians should be as non-provocative as possible.[13] Following the start of the Second World War in September and the quick defeat of Poland in September 1939, the threat of an Axis attack from the Balkans against British positions in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean region became a serious possibility.[14] On 19 October 1939, the Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed between the United Kingdom, France and Turkey;[15] Lieutenant-General Archibald Wavell signed on behalf of the United Kingdom.[16] Following the signing of this treaty, the Middle East Command, as well as the representatives of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, were authorised to begin discussions with the Turkish general staff, and a further conference was held during March 1940.[17]
At the same time Wavell ordered his subordinate commanders to start planning operations on the assumption that the United Kingdom would soon be at war with Italy.
On 15 February 1940, the position of General Officer Commanding in Chief, Middle East was renamed to Commander-in-Chief Middle East. The new title received some criticism on the grounds that command in the Middle East was a joint venture between all three services. As the head of Middle East Command held authority only over ground forces the criticism was expressed that the name should have been Army or Land Commander-in-Chief.[21]
For the first nine months of the Second World War, the Middle East was quiet. This was until Italy's declaration of war on 10 June 1940 and the start of the
When tensions increased in Iraq, Wavell—in agreement with the Commander-in-Chief, India—on 9 March 1941 suggested to the Chiefs of Staff that, if fighting was to occur in the country, it should be conducted "at first under the control of India."[22]
In the meantime, Wavell had sent a force to Iraq to suppress a
In the
While Auchinleck was in command, the British Eighth Army confronting the German Afrika Korps and the Italian Army was commanded successively by General Sir Alan Cunningham and Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie. Ritchie was dismissed after defeats at the hands of Rommel. Auchinleck assumed the field command himself and the Italo-German advance was halted at the First Battle of El Alamein. The "Auk," as he was known to his troops, struggled with the innate conservatism of the army establishment to get the armoured and infantry wings of the army to fight together on the German pattern, but had only limited success.
Rommel's opponent, Auchinleck (and his predecessor Wavell), was subjected to constant political interference. He received a series of hectoring telegrams and instructions from Prime Minister Winston Churchill throughout late 1941 and early 1942. Churchill constantly sought an offensive from Auchinleck. Disappointed with the military reverses in Egypt and Cyrenaica, he was desperate for some sort of British victory before the planned Anglo-American landings in North Africa (Operation "Torch") scheduled for November 1942. In August 1942, immediately after the Eighth Army had all but exhausted itself after First Alamein, Churchill flew to Cairo, purportedly for consultations with Auchinleck, but had in fact made up his mind before he left Britain. Auchinleck was sacked by Churchill, almost certainly because he refused to be bullied by Churchill into ordering a major offensive before he and his troops were properly prepared. He was replaced as C-in-C Middle East by General Sir Harold Alexander and as GOC Eighth Army by Lieutenant-General William Gott, who was killed in Egypt before taking up command. On Gott's death, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed commander of the Eighth Army. Auchinleck was offered the command of a newly created Persia and Iraq Command which was being split out from Middle East Command, but felt unable to accept the appointment, which was then taken by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson.
Alexander presided over Montgomery's victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. After the Anglo-American forces from Operation Torch and the Western Desert forces met in the Tunisian campaign in January 1943, he became deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ).
With Eighth Army passing to AFHQ's command, Middle East Command became somewhat of a military backwater. General Wilson succeeded Alexander as its commander-in-chief and during his tenure it mounted only one significant operation: the unsuccessful
The last act of Middle East Command took place during the Levant Crisis between May and June 1945 when British and Indian troops successfully invaded Syria and escorted French forces back to their barracks.
Middle East Land Forces from 1945
After 1945, the Middle East Command was reformed as Middle East Land Forces.
The Suez base area was seen as essential. Among other key benefits, GHQ MELF reported to the Ministry of Defence that
The
The compromise solution to retain British influence over the Suez Canal base area, seen as vital in the event of any future Middle East war with the Soviet Union, was to arrange the Canal Zone depot area to be taken over by specially arranged British civilian contractors. As the risk of British-Egyptian ruptures over the
4 Air Formation Signal Regiment moved from Abyss in Egypt to Akrotiri in Cyprus in 1955; while 3rd GHQ Signal Regiment moved from Moascar in the Canal Zone to Episkopi in Cyprus.[34] It appears that the last British combat unit to leave was 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards from Port Said.[35] However another source lists the main body of 2 Grenadier Guards leaving on 24–25 March 1956 by ship (they had been located at Golf Course Camp in Port Said), and the last remaining rear-guard company leaving by air on 2 April 1956 from Abu Sueir.[36] Kipping writes that the actual final date of British troops leaving was 13 June 1956,[37] which may represent logistics units as opposed to infantry.
In March 1954 British troops in the Sudan consisted of one battalion stationed in Khartoum, reporting ultimately to the Governor-General.[38] The Governor-General's military commander was the Major-General Commanding British Troops in the Sudan, who was also Commandant of the Sudan Defence Force. In this post from 1950 onward was Major General Reginald 'Cully' Scoons.[39] The last British troops, 1st Battalion Royal Leicestershire Regiment, left the country on 16 August 1955.[40] All of the British troops were gone by the end of August 1955.[41]
In April 1960 Middle East Land Forces was reorganised into Libya and Tripolitania Area; Cyrenaica Area; Cyprus District; and British Troops Malta.[42][43]
In March 1961 HQ MELF was moved to Aden, absorbing British Forces Arabian Peninsula.[42]
Middle East Land Forces was disbanded on 28 November 1967 and British forces in the Persian Gulf was transferred to Headquarters, British Forces Persian Gulf which was based in Bahrain.[44][42] Later became British Force Gulf; had Land Forces Gulf operating under it, with an armoured car squadron and infantry battalions at Bahrain and Sharjah; disbanded and withdrawn January 1972.[45]
Commanders-in-Chief
Commanders-in-Chief have included:[46][42]
Middle East Command
- General
- General Claude Auchinleck 5 July 1941[47] – 14 August 1942[48]
- General Harold Alexander 15 August 1942[48]– February 1943
- General Henry Wilson February 1943 – January 1944
- General Sir Bernard Paget January 1944 – October 1946
- General Sir Miles Dempsey 1946–1947
Commanders-in-Chief, Middle East Land Forces
- General Sir John Crocker 1947–1950
- General Sir Brian Robertson 1950–1953
- General Sir Cameron Nicholson 1953
- General Sir Charles Keightley 1953–1957
- General Sir Geoffrey Bourne 1957–1958
- Lieutenant-General Sir Roger Bower 1958–1960
- General Sir Richard Anderson 1960–1963
General Officer Commanding Middle East Land Forces[42]
- Major General Philip Tower (to 30 November 1967)
Notes
- ^ a b c Playfair, p. 459
- ^ Playfair, p. 32
- ^ Playfair, p. 31
- ^ Playfair, p. 457
- ^ p.74, Bilgin
- ^ Playfair, pp. 457–459
- ^ a b "No. 34650". The London Gazette. 1939-08-01. p. 5311.
- ^ a b c Playfair, p. 33
- ^ Playfair, p. 478
- ^ Playfair (1956), p. 239
- ^ Playfair (1956), p. 240
- ^ Playfair, p. 458
- ^ Playfair, p. 41
- ^ Playfair, pp. 48–49
- ^ Playfair, p. 51
- ^ Playfair, p. 52
- ^ Playfair, p. 53
- ^ a b c d Playfair, p. 54
- ^ Playfair, p. 42
- ^ Playfair p. 53
- ^ Playfair, p. 63
- ^ Playfair (1956), p. 178
- ^ Mead, pp. 492–493
- ^ Flags of the World, Middle East Land Forces (UK), accessed November 2008, and National Archives, accessed November 2008
- ^ Seemingly Southern District Canal Zone; the 32nd Brigade was moved from Cyprus to reinforce the British forces in the Canal Zone in February 1952.
- ^ Graham Watson, Order of Battle, British Army, 1952 Orbat.com,Archived 2010-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, accessed November 2008.
- ^ "1st Division (UK)". www.regiments.org. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ GHQ MELF to Ministry of DEfence, April 27, 1949, via PRO, FCO 371/73552, via Decolonization and Business: The Case of Egypt, Robert L. Tignor The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Sep., 1987).
- ^ Butler 2002, p. 112.
- ^ "Treaty Series No. 2833" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ Kipping 1969, p. 33.
- ^ Treaty text, p. 50, 54.
- ^ Treaty text, p.52
- ^ Lord & Watson, The Royal Corps of Signals, pp 55, pp54.
- ^ "Suez Canal Zone". Retrieved 2021-03-26.; see also J Reed, 'A History of the British Army in Egypt 1950-56,' at the Imperial War Museum, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030043446.
- ^ "British Army units from 1945 on - 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards".
- ^ Kipping 1969, p. 37.
- British Parliament House of Lords Debate, 10 March 1954 Archived 12 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Major-General Sir Reginald "Cully" Scoones". Telegraph.co.uk. 11 October 1991. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ British Troops in the Sudan[permanent dead link]
- ^ O'Ballance, 1977, p.42
- ^ a b c d e Middle East Command at Regiments.org
- ^ Army Commands Archived 2015-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ British Military Aviation in 1967 Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "British Forces in Persian Gulf [UK]". www.regiments.org. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ Whitaker's Almanacks 1939–1966
- ^ a b Playfair (1956), p. 244
- ^ a b Playfair (1960), p. 369
References
- Bilgin, Pinar (2005). Regional Security in the Middle East. New York: Routledge. p. 246 pages. ISBN 978-0-415-32549-3.
- Butler, L. J. (2002). Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-449-8.
- Kipping, Norman (1969). The Suez Contractors. K. Mason, 1969. ISBN 978-0-900534-41-6. - between September 20, 1955, and December 30, 1955, almost all the Canal Zone depots and workshops were handed over to the civilian contractors (p. 33).
- Michael Mason (1994) Killing Time: The British Army and its Antagonists in Egypt, 1945–1954, War & Society, 12:2, 103-126, DOI: 10.1179/072924794791200214
- Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount. p. 544 pages. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
- ISBN 1-84574-065-3.
- Playfair, Major-General I.S.O.; with Flynn R.N., Captain F.C.; Molony, Brigadier C.J.C. & Toomer, Air Vice-Marshal S.E. (2004) [1st. pub. HMSO 1956]. Butler, J.R.M (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East, Volume II The Germans come to the help of their Ally (1941). History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series. Naval & Military Press. ISBN 1-84574-066-1.