William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim
Sir William McKell | |
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Succeeded by | The Viscount Dunrossil |
Personal details | |
Born | Bishopston, Bristol, England | 6 August 1891
Died | 14 December 1970 London, England | (aged 79)
Resting place | Memorial plaque in St Paul's Cathedral |
Spouse |
Aileen Robertson (m. 1926) |
Children | Staff College, Quetta |
Nickname | "Uncle Bill" |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Branch/service | British Army British Indian Army |
Years of service | 1914–1952 |
Rank | Field Marshal |
Unit |
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Commands |
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Battles/wars |
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Awards |
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Slim saw active service in both the
In the early 1930s, Slim also wrote novels, short stories, and other publications under the pen name Anthony Mills.
Early years
William Slim was born at 72 Belmont Road, St Andrews, Bristol, the son of John Slim by his marriage to Charlotte Tucker, and was baptised there at St Bonaventure's Roman Catholic church, Bishopston. He was brought up first in Bristol, attending St Bonaventure's Primary School, then St Brendan's College, before moving to Birmingham in his teens. In Birmingham, he attended St Philip's Grammar School, Edgbaston[2] and King Edward's School, Birmingham.[3]
After leaving school, his father's failure in business as a wholesale
First World War
Despite having no other connection to the university,
In October 1916, he rejoined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in
Evacuated to India, he was given the temporary rank of major in the
Interwar career
Slim became battalion adjutant with the 6th Gurkha Rifles in 1921.[8]
On 1 January 1926, he married Aileen Robertson, daughter of Rev John Anderson Robertson (d.1941) minister of
On 1 January 1930, he was given the brevet rank of major,[12] with formal promotion to this rank made on 19 May 1933.[13] His performance at Staff College resulted in his appointment first to Army Headquarters India in Delhi and then to Staff College, Camberley, in England (as a General Staff Officer, Second Grade),[14] where he taught from 1934 to 1937.[15] During this period, he also wrote novels, short stories, and other publications under the pen name of Anthony Mills, in order to further his literary interests, as well as to supplement his then modest army salary.[16]
He attended the
Second World War
East African Campaign
On the outbreak of the
Middle East
Recovering from his wounds but still unfit for active service, Slim was temporarily employed on the General Staff at GHQ in Delhi. He was involved in the planning for potential operations in Iraq where trouble was expected.[27] By early May 1941 Slim had been appointed Brigadier General Staff (chief staff officer) to Edward Quinan the commander designate for operations in Iraq, arriving in Basra on 7 May.[28] Not long afterwards, Major-General Fraser, commanding the 10th Indian Infantry Division, fell ill and was relieved of his command, and Slim was promoted to take his place on 15 May 1941[29] with the acting rank of major-general.[30][31][32]
He led the Indian 10th Infantry Division as part of
Burma campaign
In March 1942, Slim was given command of
Slim then took over
Slim quickly got on with the task of training his new army to take the fight to the enemy. His basic premise was that off-road mobility was paramount: much heavy equipment was exchanged for mule- or air-transported equipment, and motor transport was kept to a minimum and restricted to vehicles that could cope with some of the worst combat terrain on Earth. The new doctrine dictated that if the
The
As Slim went about training his men for the rigours of jungle warfare, he clashed with Brigadier
At the start of 1944, Slim held the substantive rank of colonel with a war substantive rank of major-general and the acting, then upgraded to temporary, rank of lieutenant-general.
In early 1944, the Japanese Prime Minister, General Hideki Tojo, approved of plans for victory in Asia, calling for two operations, Operation U-Go as the invasion of India was code-named and Operation Ichi-Go which was intended to defeat China once and for all.[45] The two operations in India and China were closely linked given that American supplies for China were flown over "the Hump" of the Himalayas and the Japanese wanted to take the Indian province of Assam in part to close the American air bases in India that sustained China at the same time that they were launching Operation Ichi-Go, the biggest Japanese offensive of all time, involving 2 million men.[45] The Japanese knew that they lacked the logistics to invade India, and the plans for U-Go were based on the assumption that the British Fourteenth Army would just collapse, allowing the Japanese 15th Army to capture enough food to prevent its men from starving to death.[40] Following the Japanese 15th Army into India was the Indian National Army commanded by Subhas Chandra Bose, an ardent nationalist. The Japanese believed that the mere presence of Bose in India would inspire the men of the Indian Army to mutiny and murder their British officers, and set off an anti-British revolution that would allow the Japanese 15th Army to take all of India.[40]
Slim was appointed a
Unlike the Japanese, who killed their wounded, Slim went out of his way to ensure good medical care for his wounded and to evacuate his wounded by air to hospitals in India.
In 1945, Slim launched an offensive into Burma, with
The Japanese garrison in Mandalay chose not to surrender, using the forts built by the British and the maze of pagodas in downtown Mandalay to fight to the death in
In combination with these attacks,
As the Burma campaign came to an end, Slim was informed in May by
Relations with troops
Slim had an excellent relationship with his troops – the "
In the aftermath of Kohima and Imphal, Slim inspected the battlefields, seeing the bodies of wounded Japanese soldiers who had been killed by their comrades as under the code of Bushido, it was considered shameful to surrender and it was the highest honour for a Japanese soldier to die for the Emperor, which graphically showed to Slim how far the Japanese were willing to take Bushido.[53] Slim realized that Japanese logistics had broken down, but that Japanese soldiers, motivated by Bushido, were still prepared to fight to the death as the Japanese preferred to die for the Emperor rather than surrender, which led him to the conclusion that it was better to outflank and bypass the Japanese positions, leaving the main pockets of the Japanese to starve to death rather than engaging them in combat as much as possible.[53] The Burma Area Army had about 100,000 men while the British Fourteenth Army had only about 21,000 men, but Slim decided with superior mobility backed by proper supply lines that he could defeat the Burma Area Army, whose logistics were poor.[64] The superior Japanese numbers together with the fact that the Indian Army was an all-volunteer force, with only so many Indians willing to volunteer and the fact that sending fresh British troops to Burma was not a priority in London, made it imperative for Slim to save the lives of his men as much as possible.[55] Slim was painfully aware that it would be difficult to replace whatever losses his men took, and had no intention of having his army being ground down by fighting the Japanese in every single place that they were.[55] The differences between Slim, who was determined to save the lives of his men as much as possible versus the fanatical desire of Japanese officers motivated by Bushido to have every man under their command die for the Emperor, led Slim to estimate that for every man killed under his command, the Japanese lost a hundred men.[65]
In Slim's book, Defeat into Victory, he tells of the malaria rates among his units being 70%, largely due to noncompliance by his soldiers with the foul-tasting mepacrine they refused to take. Slim did not blame his medics for this problem, but placed the responsibility on his officers. "Good doctors are no use without good discipline. More than half the battle against disease is fought not by the doctors, but by the regimental officers".[66] After Slim dismissed a few officers for high unit malaria rates, the others realised he was serious and malaria treatment was enforced, dropping the rate to less than five per cent. The combat effectiveness of his army was thus greatly enhanced. This physical and mental turnaround in the army under him was a contributing factor to the eventual defeat of the Japanese in Burma.
George MacDonald Fraser, later author of The Flashman Papers series of novels, then a nineteen-year-old lance corporal, recalled:
But the biggest boost to morale was the burly man who came to talk to the assembled battalion … it was unforgettable. Slim was like that: the only man I've ever seen who had a force that came out of him...[67] British soldiers don't love their commanders much less worship them; Fourteenth Army trusted Slim and thought of him as one of themselves, and perhaps his real secret was that the feeling was mutual.[68]
and:
...I see him clear, with that robber-baron face under that Gurkha hat, and his carbine slung, looking like a rather scruffy private with a general's tabs, which of course is what he was.[69]
Post-war career
Initial retirement from the army
At the end of 1945 Slim returned to the UK. On 1 January 1946, he was made a
Return to the army
However, in November 1948 the British Prime Minister
On 2 January 1950, he was promoted to
Governor-General of Australia
On 10 December 1952 Slim was made a
Retirement
In 1959, Slim retired and returned to Britain, where he published his memoirs, Unofficial History. He had already published his personal narrative of the Burma Campaign,
After a successful further career on the boards of major UK companies, he was appointed
Allegations
During his tenure as Governor-General of Australia, Slim was patron of the
Somehow or another, I was sat on his [Slim's] knee and, ah, um, these silky white hands were right up, because I was wearing shorts, right up my trousers and yeah, it was not, not very nice.
— Robert Stephens' claims of a drive in Governor-General Slim's car, 2017[90]
Eponyms
- William Slim Drive, in the Canberra district of Belconnen, was named after him. Despite an independent review commissioned by the Australian Capital Territory Government, which returned no recommendation to change the road name,[91] in 2019, the then ACT Planning Minister Mick Gentleman, announced that, after considering allegations made, submissions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and submissions by the Slim family, he would change the road's name and in 2021 the name was changed.[92][93][94]
- The Slim Officers' Mess at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is named after him and was opened in August 2004 by his son.[95]
- On 7 September 2008, a plaque in Slim's memory, and those who served with him, was unveiled at the Sikh communities at the ceremony, which was led by the Lord Mayor of Bristol's chaplain, the Rev. Prebendary Harold Clarke.[96]
- The road Viscount Slim Avenue, in Whyalla, South Australia is named after him.[97]
- The Slim Building at the Cranfield University Shrivenham Campus is named after him.[98]
- The Slim School was a British Families Education Service co-educational secondary school located in the Cameron Highlands, Malaya, and was named after him.[99]
Historical assessment
In contrast to almost every other outstanding commander of the war, Slim was a disarmingly normal human being, possessed of notable self-knowledge. He was without pretension, devoted to his wife, Aileen, their family and the Indian Army. His calm, robust style of leadership and concern for the interests of his men won the admiration of all who served under him ... His blunt honesty, lack of bombast and unwillingness to play courtier did him few favours in the corridors of power. Only his soldiers never wavered in their devotion.[101]
The spirit of comradeship Slim created within Fourteenth Army lived on after the war in the Burma Star Association, of which Slim was a co-founder and first President.[102]
A
Slim's papers were collected by his biographer, Ronald Lewin, and given to the Churchill Archives Centre by Slim's wife, Aileen, Viscountess Slim, and son, John Slim, 2nd Viscount Slim, and other donors, 1977–2001.[104] Lewin's biography, Slim: The Standardbearer, was awarded the 1977 WH Smith Literary Award.[105]
Arms
|
List of honours
Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) |
24 April 1959[84] | |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) |
2 January 1950[76] | |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) | 28 September 1944[51] | |
Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) | 1 January 1944[46] | |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) |
10 December 1952[80] | |
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) |
16 February 1954[82] | |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) |
1 January 1946[70] | |
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) | 28 October 1942[35] | |
Knight of the Order of St John (KStJ) |
2 January 1953[106] | |
Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) |
14 January 1943[36] | |
Military Cross (MC) | 7 February 1918[5] | |
Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit |
(United States)[77] |
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-330-39066-X.
- Other publications include Courage and Other Broadcasts (1957); and Unofficial History (1959).
Footnotes
- ^ "No one called him William" (Hastings 2008, p. 68).
- ^ a b c d e Heathcote 1999, p. 259.
- ^ "The Papers of Field Marshal Lord Slim". Churchill Archives Centre. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ^ "No. 30183". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 July 1917. p. 7076.
- ^ a b "No. 30514". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 February 1918. pp. 1800–1802.
- ^ "No. 31993". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 July 1920. p. 7835.
- ^ "No. 31574". The London Gazette. 30 September 1919. p. 12035.
- ^ a b Heathcote 1999, p. 260.
- ^ "The succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation". Retrieved 6 March 2018.
- ^ Lewin 1976, p. 46.
- ^ "No. 33544". The London Gazette. 18 October 1929. p. 6620.
- ^ "No. 33576". The London Gazette. 4 February 1930. pp. 726–727.
- ^ "No. 33952". The London Gazette. 23 June 1933. p. 4205.
- ^ "No. 34017". The London Gazette. 23 January 1934. p. 541.
- ^ Lewin 1976, pp. 55–58.
- ^ Lewin 1976, p. 50.
- ^ Smart 2005, p. 288.
- ^ Mead 2007, p. 417.
- ^ Lewin 1976, pp. 58–59.
- ^ "No. 34527". The London Gazette. 1 July 1938. p. 4249.
"No. 34547". The London Gazette. 2 September 1938. p. 5610. - ^ "No. 34625". The London Gazette. 12 May 1939. p. 3194.
"No. 34647". The London Gazette. 21 July 1939. p. 5036. - ^ "No. 34656". The London Gazette. 18 August 1939. p. 5676.
- ^ "No. 34651". The London Gazette. 4 August 1939. pp. 5408–5409.
- ^ Lewin 1976, p. 60.
- ^ Lewin 1999 p.68
- ^ a b Heathcote 1999, p. 261.
- ^ Lewin 1976, pp. 69–70.
- ^ Mead 2007, p. 418.
- ^ Mead 2007, p. 419.
- ^ "No. 35183". The London Gazette. 6 June 1941. p. 3243.
- ^ Lewin 1976, p. 70.
- ^ Lewin 1976, pp. 418–419.
- ^ "No. 35120". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 April 1941. p. 1871.
"No. 35396". The London Gazette. 30 December 1941. p. 7353. - ^ "No. 35550". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 May 1942. p. 2021.
- ^ a b "No. 35763". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 October 1942. p. 4687.
- ^ a b "No. 35862". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 January 1943. p. 321.
- ^ Murray & Millet 2000, pp. 227–228.
- ^ Murray & Millet 2000, pp. 227–229.
- ^ Murray & Millet 2000, p. 228.
- ^ a b c d e f Weinberg 2005, p. 641.
- ^ a b Murray & Millet 2000, p. 229.
- ^ a b c d Murray & Millet 2000, p. 230.
- ^ "No. 36331". The London Gazette. 14 January 1944. p. 319.
- ^ Heathcote 1999, p. 262.
- ^ a b Weinberg 2005, pp. 640–641.
- ^ a b "No. 36309". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 December 1943. p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e Murray & Millet 2000, p. 350.
- ^ a b c d Weinberg 2005, p. 642.
- ^ Murray & Millet 2000, p. 351.
- ^ "No. 36642". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 August 1944. p. 3659.
- ^ a b "No. 36720". The London Gazette. 28 September 1944. p. 4473.
- ^ "No. 36753". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 October 1944. p. 4794.
- ^ a b c d e Murray & Millet 2000, p. 489.
- ^ Croke 2015, pp. 255–276.
- ^ a b c Murray & Millet 2000, p. 492.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Murray & Millet 2000, p. 491.
- ^ Ford 2005, p. 470.
- ^ McLynn 2011, p. 379.
- ^ Dower 1986, p. 44.
- ^ "The Burma Campaign 1941 – 1945". BBC. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ a b Mead 2007, p. 425.
- ^ Alanbrook in his diary entry of 17 May wrote "...(met) with Auk about appointment of Slim to Burma Command. Leese is going quite wild and doing mad things, prepared a fair rap on the knuckles for him!"
- ^ "No. 37239". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 August 1945. p. 4319.
- ^ Murray & Millet 2000, pp. 489–491.
- ^ Dower 1986, p. 53.
- ^ Slim 1961, p. 153.
- ^ Fraser 1995, pp. 35–36.
- ^ Fraser 1995, p. 37.
- ^ Fraser 1995, pp. xiv.
- ^ a b "No. 37407". The London Gazette. 28 December 1945. p. 17.
- ^ "No. 37875". The London Gazette. 4 February 1947. p. 662.
- ^ "No. 38289". The London Gazette. 14 May 1948. p. 2935.
"No. 38321". The London Gazette. 11 June 1948. p. 3470. - ^ a b Mead 2007, p. 426.
- ^ "No. 38500". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1948. p. 49.
- ^ "No. 38553". The London Gazette. 4 March 1949. p. 1127.
- ^ a b "No. 38797". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 1950. p. 2.
- ^ a b "No. 38973". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 July 1950. p. 3741.
- ^ "No. 38359". The London Gazette. 20 July 1948. p. 4189.
- ^ "No. 39706". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 November 1952. p. 6331.
- ^ a b "No. 39716". The London Gazette. 12 December 1952. p. 6544.
- ^ "No. 39743". The London Gazette. 2 January 1953. p. 94.
- ^ a b "No. 40159". The London Gazette. 27 April 1954. p. 2500.
- ^ "National Library of Australia". Nla.gov.au. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ a b "No. 41691". The London Gazette. 24 May 1959. p. 2687.
- ^ "No. 42094". The London Gazette. 15 July 1960. p. 4925.
- ^ "No. 43360". The London Gazette. 19 June 1964. p. 5337.
- ^ Hill 2007, p. [page needed].
- ^ Leech & Box 2007.
- ^ ABC staff 2009.
- ^ "Inquiry to expose sexual abuse of British child migrants – 27/02/2017". Abc.net.au. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ Lowrey, Tom (16 June 2019). "How renaming Canberra's William Slim Drive could trigger a rethink of history". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ Groch, Sherryn (6 June 2019). "William Slim Drive in Canberra to be renamed in wake of sexual abuse claims". Canberra Times. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ^ Hayne, Jordan; Scott, Elise (6 June 2019). "William Slim Drive to be renamed over sexual abuse allegations against former governor-general". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
- ^ Bladen, Lucy (16 February 2021). "William Slim Drive renamed ahead of duplication works". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ "Defence Management Journal, Issue 32". Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ^ "StackPath". www.indcatholicnews.com.
- ^ "Salvation Army". Where it is. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ "A student's guide to Shrivenham" (PDF). Cranfield University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ "Slim School". Slim School. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "The Defence Academy: The Director's Reading List". Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
- ^ Hastings 2008, p. 69.
- ^ "Burma Star Association history". Archived from the original on 11 May 2015.
- ^ "UK attractions: Statue of Viscount Slim". Archived from the original on 11 January 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
- ^ "Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
- ^ "WH Smith Literary Award Winners". Good Reads. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ "Governors-General". Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
References
- ABC staff (17 November 2009). "The Long Journey Home". ABC. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
- Croke, Vicki (2015). Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II. Random House. ISBN 978-0812981650.
- Dower, John (1986). War Without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 0394751728.
- Ford, Douglas (April 2005). "British Intelligence on Japanese Army Morale during the Pacific War: Logical Analysis or Racial Stereotyping?". Journal of Military History. 69 (2). London: 439–474. S2CID 159509300.
- ISBN 0-00-272687-4.
- Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 0-85052-696-5.
- Hastings, Max (2008). Retribution. Knopf. p. 68. ISBN 978-0307263513.
- ISBN 978-1-74166-614-4.
- ISBN 1-84022-214-X.
- McLynn, Frank (2011). The Burma Campaign. London: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-099-55178-2.
- 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.
- Murray, Williamson; Millet, Alan (2000). A War To Be Won. Cambridge (US): Harvard. ISBN 978-0674006805.
- Leech, Graeme; Box, Dan (3 May 2007). "Slim pickings". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
- Slim, Field Marshal the Viscount William J. (1961) [1956]. Defeat into Victory (Shortened ed.). New York: McKay. )
- Weinberg, Gerhard (2005). A World in Arms A Global History of World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61826-7.
Further reading
- Owen, Frank. "General Bill Slim". Burma Star Association. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
- ISBN 0-345-09788-2.
- OCLC 43432.
- Keegan, John, ed. (1991). Churchill's Generals. New York: Grove Weidenfeld Press. ISBN 0-8021-1309-5.
- ISBN 0-7195-6575-8.
- ISBN 1-84119-811-0.
- Lyman, Robert (2011). Bill Slim. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84908-528-1.
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
- ISBN 978-0-297-86584-1.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Slim
- NAM staff (9 April 2011). "Britain's Greatest General". Duke of Wellington".
- Generals of World War II
- Indian Army Officers 1939–1945
- Newspaper clippings about William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW