Charles Keightley
Encyclopedia
General
Sir Charles Frederic Keightley, GCB
, GBE
, DSO
(24 June 1901 – 17 June 1974) was a senior officer in the British Army
during and following World War II
.
. In 1940, he was appointed as Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General of the 1st Armoured Division during that division's deployment to France. On 13 May 1941, he assumed command of the 30th Armoured Brigade
on promotion to brigadier
. In early 1942, he spent a short time as Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps
Training Establishment. On 21 April 1942, he was promoted major-general
and assumed command of the 11th Armoured Division, which was then based in the United Kingdom.
On 19 May 1942, he transferred to the command of the 6th Armoured Division, and commanded that division in the Tunisian campaign
and afterwards in Italy
. He was made Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)
for his services in Tunisia. In December 1943, he swapped commands with Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh
the General Officer Commanding
78th Infantry Division which was also serving in the Italian campaign
and which became his first infantry command. His success as a commander of both armoured and infantry divisions led to his promotion in August 1944 to lieutenant-general when he was given command of Eighth Army
's V Corps
in Italy. He commanded this corps during Operation Olive
, the offensive on the Gothic Line in the autumn of 1944, and also during the final spring offensive
in April 1945, when it took a lead role in forcing the Argenta Gap
. The Corps moved into Austria
with the surrender of the German Forces
and forces that were fighting on the German site.
In East Tyrol
and Carinthia
, Keightley's army received the surrender of the "Lienz Cossacks" under their leaders Peter Krasnov, Kelech Ghirey, and Andrei Shkuro
and the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
under Helmuth von Pannwitz
. At the Yalta Conference
, the British committed themselves to return Soviet citizens to the Soviet Union
. After consulation with Harold Macmillan
Keightley proceeded to hand over these prisoners and their families regardless of their nationality, including people with French, German, Yugoslav, or Nansen passport
s. The prisoners were delivered by deceit and force to SMERSH
at Judenburg
; many were executed immediately, the remainder sent to the Gulag
.
Keightley left Austria and reverted to the rank of major general in 1946 to become the Director of Military Training at the War Office. In 1948, he became the Military Secretary to the Secretary State of War, returning to the rank of lieutenant-general. On 21 September 1949, he assumed command of the British Army of the Rhine
in Germany. In August 1951, he became the Commander in Chief, Far East Land Forces
in the rank of general. In 1953, he was Commander in Chief Middle East Land Forces, which included the period of the Suez Crisis
. Keightley was C-in-C of Operation Musketeer
. From 23 November 1947 to 23 November 1957, he was the Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.
He retired from the Army in 1957 and was appointed Governor and Commander in Chief, Gibraltar
, a post he held until 1962. He died in 1974.
General (United Kingdom)
General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....
Sir Charles Frederic Keightley, GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, GBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(24 June 1901 – 17 June 1974) was a senior officer in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
during and following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Military career
He was born in 1901 and was commissioned into the 5th/6th Dragoons in 1921. In 1938 he was an instructor at the Staff College, CamberleyStaff College, Camberley
Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army from 1802 to 1997, with periods of closure during major wars. In 1997 it was merged into the new Joint Services Command and Staff College.-Origins:...
. In 1940, he was appointed as Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General of the 1st Armoured Division during that division's deployment to France. On 13 May 1941, he assumed command of the 30th Armoured Brigade
British 30th Armoured Brigade
The 30th Armoured Brigade was a World War II British Army unit that served in the campaign in Western Europe as part of the 79th Armoured Division.- Commanders :* Brig. J.H. Anstice* Brig. C.F. Keightley* Brig. J.J. Kingstone...
on promotion to brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
. In early 1942, he spent a short time as Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps
Royal Armoured Corps
The Royal Armoured Corps is currently a collection of ten regular regiments, mostly converted from old horse cavalry regiments, and four Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army...
Training Establishment. On 21 April 1942, he was promoted major-general
Major-General (United Kingdom)
Major general is a senior rank in the British Army. Since 1996 the highest position within the Royal Marines is the Commandant General Royal Marines who holds the rank of major general...
and assumed command of the 11th Armoured Division, which was then based in the United Kingdom.
On 19 May 1942, he transferred to the command of the 6th Armoured Division, and commanded that division in the Tunisian campaign
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisia Campaign was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African Campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces. The Allies consisted of British Imperial Forces, including Polish and Greek contingents, with American and French corps...
and afterwards in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He was made Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
for his services in Tunisia. In December 1943, he swapped commands with Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh
Vyvyan Evelegh
Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh CB OBE DSO was a British army officer during World War II.-Miitary career:Evelegh was appointed an Instructor at the Staff College, Camberley in 1940, Commander of 11th Infantry Brigade in 1941 and Assistant Commandant at the Staff College, Camberley in 1942...
the General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...
78th Infantry Division which was also serving in the Italian campaign
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
and which became his first infantry command. His success as a commander of both armoured and infantry divisions led to his promotion in August 1944 to lieutenant-general when he was given command of Eighth Army
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was one of the best-known formations of the British Army during World War II, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns....
's V Corps
V Corps (United Kingdom)
V Corps was an army corps of the British Army in both the First and Second World War. It was first organised in February 1915 and fought through World War I on the Western front...
in Italy. He commanded this corps during Operation Olive
Gothic Line
The Gothic Line formed Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's last major line of defence in the final stages of World War II along the summits of the Apennines during the fighting retreat of German forces in Italy against the Allied Armies in Italy commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander.Adolf Hitler...
, the offensive on the Gothic Line in the autumn of 1944, and also during the final spring offensive
Spring 1945 offensive in Italy
The Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, codenamed Operation Grapeshot, was the Allied attack by Fifth United States Army and British 8th Army into the Lombardy Plain which started on 6 April 1945 and ended on 2 May with the surrender of German forces in Italy....
in April 1945, when it took a lead role in forcing the Argenta Gap
Battle of the Argenta Gap
The Battle of the Argenta Gap was an engagement which formed part of the Allied spring 1945 offensive during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War...
. The Corps moved into Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
with the surrender of the German Forces
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and forces that were fighting on the German site.
In East Tyrol
East Tyrol
East Tyrol, or East Tirol , is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, sharing no border with the main North Tyrol part of the state. It corresponds with the administrative district of Lienz....
and Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
, Keightley's army received the surrender of the "Lienz Cossacks" under their leaders Peter Krasnov, Kelech Ghirey, and Andrei Shkuro
Andrei Shkuro
Andrei Grigoriyevich Shkuro was a Lieutenant General of the White Army.-Biography:...
and the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
The XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps was a German cavalry corps during World War II. With order of February 1, 1945 the Corps was transferred to the Waffen-SS.-History:The summer of 1942 marked the high tide of German success in the East...
under Helmuth von Pannwitz
Helmuth von Pannwitz
Helmuth von Pannwitz was a German general who distinguished himself as a cavalry officer during the First and the Second World Wars. Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht and Supreme Ataman of the XV...
. At the Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...
, the British committed themselves to return Soviet citizens to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. After consulation with Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
Keightley proceeded to hand over these prisoners and their families regardless of their nationality, including people with French, German, Yugoslav, or Nansen passport
Nansen passport
Nansen passports were internationally recognized identity cards first issued by the League of Nations to stateless refugees.-Origins:Designed in 1921 by Fridtjof Nansen, in 1942 they were honored by governments in 52 countries and were the first refugee travel documents...
s. The prisoners were delivered by deceit and force to SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
at Judenburg
Judenburg
- People :* Renate Götschl* Egon Haar * Herbert Hufnagl, journalist * Gernot Jurtin* Christian Muthspiel, jazz musician, painter* Kurt Muthspiel, composer * Wolfgang Muthspiel* Christian Pfannberger* Walter Pfrimer* Georg Pichler...
; many were executed immediately, the remainder sent to the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
.
Keightley left Austria and reverted to the rank of major general in 1946 to become the Director of Military Training at the War Office. In 1948, he became the Military Secretary to the Secretary State of War, returning to the rank of lieutenant-general. On 21 September 1949, he assumed command of the British Army of the Rhine
British Army of the Rhine
There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine . Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War, and the other after the Second World War.-1919–1929:...
in Germany. In August 1951, he became the Commander in Chief, Far East Land Forces
British Far East Command
The Far East Command was a British military command which had 2 distinct periods. These were firstly, 18 November 1940 – 7 January 1942 succeeded by the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command , and secondly, 1963 – 1971 succeeded by Australia, New Zealand, and United Kingdom Force...
in the rank of general. In 1953, he was Commander in Chief Middle East Land Forces, which included the period of the Suez Crisis
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
. Keightley was C-in-C of Operation Musketeer
Operation Musketeer (1956)
Operation Musketeer was the Anglo-French-Israeli plan for the invasion of Egypt to capture the Suez Canal during the Suez Crisis. Israel had the additional objective to open the Straits of Tiran.-The operation:...
. From 23 November 1947 to 23 November 1957, he was the Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.
He retired from the Army in 1957 and was appointed Governor and Commander in Chief, Gibraltar
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
, a post he held until 1962. He died in 1974.
Honours and decorations
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath - 1953 (KCB 1950; CB 5 August 1943)
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire - 1957 (KBE 5 July 1945; OBE 1941)
- Distinguished Service OrderDistinguished Service OrderThe Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
- 3 August 1944 - Mentioned in DispatchesMentioned in DispatchesA soldier Mentioned in Despatches is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy.In a number of countries, a soldier's name must be mentioned in...
three times, including 20 December 1940, 29 November 1945 - Legion of MeritLegion of MeritThe Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...
(United States) (Officer 10 August 1943 and Commander in 23 May 1947) - Deputy LieutenantDeputy LieutenantIn the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
Career summary
- Commissioned into 5th/6th Dragoons 1921
- Instructor at Staff College, Camberley 1938–1940
- Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster-General 1st Armoured Division, France 1940
- Commanding Officer 30th Armoured Brigade 1941
- Commandant of Royal Armoured Corps Training Establishment 1942
- General Officer Commanding 11th Armoured Division 1942
- General Officer Commanding 6th Armoured Division, North Africa 1942–1943
- General Officer Commanding 78th Infantry Division, Italy 1943–1944
- General Officer Commanding V Corps, Italy 1944–1945
- Director of Military Training, War Office 1946–1947
- Military Secretary to Secretary of State of War 1948
- Commander in Chief British Army of the Rhine, Germany 1949–1951
- Commander in Chief Far East Land Forces 1951–1953
- Commander in Chief Middle East Land Forces 1953–1957
- Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen 1953–1956
- Governor & Commander in Chief of Gibraltar 1958–1962