Claude Auchinleck
Encyclopedia
Field Marshal
Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB
, GCIE
, CSI
, DSO
, OBE
(21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), nicknamed "The Auk", was a British army commander during World War II. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India
, where he developed a love of the country and a lasting affinity for the soldiers he commanded. In July 1941 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Middle East theatre; after initial successes the war in North Africa turned against the British, and he was relieved of the post in 1942 during the crucial Alamein campaign. He served thereafter as C-in-C India until his resignation in 1947. He retired to Marrakesh, where he died at age 96.
, where they had settled in the 17th century. Claude Auchinleck was born in Aldershot
, son of Colonel John and Mary Auchinleck, while his father's regiment was stationed there. His father died in 1892, when he was eight years old, and Auchinleck grew up in impoverished circumstances, but he was able, through hard work and scholarships, to graduate from Wellington College. After Wellington, he went to the nearby Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
.
Auchinleck joined the Indian Army
as an unattached second lieutenant in January 1903 and in 1904 joined the 62nd Punjabis
. He learnt Punjabi
and, able to speak fluently with his soldiers, he absorbed a knowledge of local dialects and customs. This familiarity engendered a lasting mutual respect, enhanced by his own personality. In April 1905 he was promoted to lieutenant and in January 1912 he was promoted to captain.
During World War I, he served in the Middle East in Egypt, Palestine
and Mesopotamia
. Auchinleck's division was the last of four offered by the Indian government. While en route for France, it was reassigned to defend the Suez Canal
from possible Turkish
attack. When the attack occurred in February 1915, Auchinleck's regiment prevented the Turks from crossing the canal and he led a successful counter-attack; the Turks subsequently surrendered.
The 6th Indian Division
, of which the 62nd Punjabis were a part, was landed at Basra
on 31 December 1915 for the Mesopotamian campaign
. In July 1916 Auchinleck was promoted Acting Major and made second in command of the regiment. North of Basra, the Punjabis were in heavy action in dreadful conditions: cold, rain and mud as well as determined Turkish defence reduced the regiment to 247 men and Auchinleck took temporary command when his regimental commander was wounded. Further hard fighting ensued: the Turkish army inflicted a humiliating reversal on the British and eventual success was hard won. Auchinleck was mentioned in despatches and received the Distinguished Service Order
in 1917 for his service in Mesopotamia, promoted to major in January 1918 and was also appointed brevet
lieutenant-colonel in 1919 for his "distinguished service in Southern and Central Kurdistan" on the recommendation of the C-in-C of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force.
Auchinleck took a number of practical lessons from his experiences in Mesopotamia. Firstly, soldiers' health and well-being was critical to an army's effectiveness and he became convinced of the need of adequate rest, hygiene, good food and medical supplies for the troops. Secondly, he had seen the futility of inadequately prepared attacks against dug-in, well-armed defenders and this fuelled his later reluctance to initiate precipitate actions advocated by his political and military superiors.
Between the wars, Auchinleck served in India. He was both a student and an instructor (1930–1933) at the Staff College
at Quetta
and also attended the Imperial Defence College
. In January 1929 he had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel and appointed to command his regiment which had become in the 1923 reorganisation of the British Indian Army
the 1st battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment
. In 1930 he was promoted to full colonel, with seniority backdated to 1923, and in 1933, he was appointed temporary brigadier to command of the Peshawar Brigade
, which was active in the pacification of the adjacent tribal areas. A serious operation in the Mohmand
area in 1935 led to the first use of tanks in India. Auchinleck was Mentioned in Despatches and received the CSI
and CB
for his skill in managing the operation.
In November 1935 Auchinleck was promoted to major-general and on leaving his brigade command in the following April was on the unemployed list (on half pay) until September 1936 when he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Director of Staff Duties in Delhi. After this he was appointed to command the Meerut District in India in July 1938. In 1938 Major-General Auchinleck was appointed to chair a committee to consider the modernisation, composition and re-equipment of the British Indian Army
. The committee's recommendations formed the basis of the 1939 Chatfield Report
which outlined the transformation of the Indian Army. It grew from 183,000 in 1939 to over 2,250,000 men by the end of the war.
, a military operation that was doomed to fail. After the fall of Norway, in July 1940 he briefly commanded V Corps
before becoming General Officer Commander-in-Chief, Southern Command
, where he had an uneasy relationship with his subordinate Bernard Montgomery, the new V Corps commander. Montgomery later wrote
in which position he also was appointed to the Executive Council of the Governor-General of India
and in April appointed ADC General to the King
which ceremonial position he held until January 1947, shortly after his promotion to field marshal.
In April 1941 RAF Habbaniya
was threatened by the new pro-Axis regime of Rashid Ali. This large Royal Air Force station was west of Baghdad in Iraq
and General Archibald Wavell, C-in-C Middle East Command
, was reluctant to intervene, despite the urgings of Winston Churchill
, because of his pressing commitments in the Western Desert and Greece. Auchinleck, however, acted decisively, sending a battalion of the King's Own Royal Regiment by air to Habbaniya and shipping Indian 10th Infantry Division
by sea to Basra
. Wavell was prevailed upon by London to send Habforce
, a relief column, from the British Mandate of Palestine but by the time it arrived in Habbaniya on 18 May the Anglo-Iraqi War
was virtually over.
in July 1941; Wavell took up Auchinleck's post as C-in-C of the Indian Army, swapping jobs with him.
As C-in-C Middle East Auchinleck, based in Cairo
, held responsibility not just for North Africa but also for Persia
and the Middle East; the Eighth Army confronting the German Afrika Corps
and the Italian Army
was commanded successively by Sir Alan Cunningham
and Neil Ritchie
. The first major offensive by Eighth Army following Auchinleck's appointment, Operation Crusader
in November 1941 resulted in the defeat of much of the British armour and the breakdown of Cunningham. Auchinleck relieved Cunningham, and ordered the battle to continue. Despite heavy losses, the Eighth Army drove the Axis forces back to El Agheila. Auchinleck then appointed Ritchie to command Eighth Army. While Auchinleck resumed overall strategic direction of the Middle East theatre, he continued to dictate operational matters to Ritchie.
Auchinleck appears to have believed that enemy had been defeated, writing on 12 January 1942 that the Axis forces were "beginning to feel the strain" and were "hard pressed". In fact Afrika Korps had been reinforced, and a few days after Auchinleck's wildly optimistic appreciation, struck at the dispersed and weakened British forces, driving them back to the Gazala positions near Tobruk
. The British Chief of Imperial General staff, Alan Brooke, wrote in his diary that it was "Nothing less than bad generalship on the part of Auchinleck". Rommel
's attack at the Battle of Gazala
of 26 May 1942 resulted in a significant defeat for the British. Once more, Auchinleck's appreciation of the situation was faulty (Auchinleck had believed the Axis forces would attack the centre of the British line, whereas Rommel's attack outflanked the British from the south). The Eighth Army retreated into Egypt
; Tobruk
fell on 21 June.
Once more Auchinleck stepped in to take direct command of the Eighth Army, having lost confidence in Ritchie's ability to control and direct his forces. Auchinleck discarded Ritchie's plan to stand at Mersa Matruh, deciding to fight only a delaying action there, while withdrawing to the more easily defendable position at El Alamein
. Here Auchinleck tailored a defence that took advantage of the terrain and the fresh troops at his disposal, stopping the exhausted German/Italian advance in the First Battle of El Alamein
. Enjoying a considerable superiority of material and men over the weak German/Italian forces, Auchinleck organised a series of counter-attacks. Poorly conceived and badly coordinated, these attacks achieved little.
"The Auk", as he was known, appointed a number of senior commanders who proved to be unsuitable for their positions, and command arrangements were often characterised by bitter personality clashes. Auchinleck was an Indian Army officer and was criticised for apparently having little direct experience or understanding of British and Dominion troops. His controversial chief of operations, Major-General Dorman-Smith
, was regarded with considerable distrust by many of the senior commanders in Eighth Army. By July 1942 Auchinleck had lost the confidence of Dominion commanders and relations with his British commanders had become strained.
Like his foe Rommel (and his predecessor Wavell and successor Montgomery), Auchinleck was subjected to constant political interference, having to weather a barrage of hectoring telegrams and instructions from Prime Minister Churchill throughout late 1941 and the spring and summer of 1942. Churchill constantly sought an offensive from Auchinleck, and was (understandably) downcast at the military reverses in Egypt and Cyrenaica. Churchill was desperate for some sort of British victory before the planned Allied landings in North Africa, Operation Torch
, scheduled for November 1942. He badgered Auchinleck immediately after the Eighth Army had all but exhausted itself after the first battle of El Alamein. Churchill and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Alan Brooke, flew to Cairo in early August 1942, to meet Auchinleck, but it was now obvious that he had lost the confidence of both men.
He was replaced as C-in-C Middle East Command
by General Sir Harold Alexander (later Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis) 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 (later Field Marshal Viscount) Bernard Montgomery was appointed commander of the Eighth Army.
(this having been hived off Alexander's command), but Auchinleck declined this post, as he believed that separating the area from the Middle East Command was not good policy and the new arrangements would not be workable. He set his reasons out in his letter to the CIGS dated 14 August 1942. The post was accepted in his stead by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Instead he returned to India, where he spent almost a year "unemployed" before in 1943 being again appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General Wavell meanwhile having been appointed Viceroy
. C-in-C India had become a rear area appointment with the prosecution of the Burma Campaign
the responsibility of the Supreme Commander, Admiral Louis Mountbatten
. Nevertheless, Auchinleck played an important role and made the supply of Fourteenth Army, with probably the worst lines of communication of the war, his immediate priority; as William Slim, commander of the Fourteenth Army was later to write:
(August 1947). In November 1945 he was forced to commute the sentence of transportation for life awarded to three officers of the Indian National Army
in face of growing unease and unrest both within the Indian population, and the British Indian Army
. In June 1946 he was promoted to field marshal but refused to accept a peerage, lest he be thought associated with a policy (i.e. Partition) that he thought fundamentally dishonourable. Having disagreed sharply with Lord Mountbatten of Burma
, the last Viceroy of India, he resigned as C-in-C and retired in 1947.
In 1948 Sir Claude returned to Britain to live in a modest Mayfair flat off Green Park. When naively asked who was doing his cooking, his reply was that he kept "a few tins and things". On developing a painful stomach ache, he packed a small case to go to hospital. Having climbed the stairs he presented himself, giving the doctors a shock as they found his appendix broken. Being the soldier he was, calling an ambulance when able to walk was out of question.
Lord Auckinleck attended the 1953 Spithead Review. He boarded the MV Caltex Bahrain, a merchant tanker of the Overseas Tankship Fleet.
In later years, he lived with his sister in Beccles, Suffolk until she died, after which he moved to Marrakech
. There he lived quietly and alone in a modest flat for many years, (his wife having left him for Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse
in 1946), taking his morning coffee at the La Renaissance Café in the new part of the city where he was known simply as le marechal.
Auchinleck was befriended and aided by Corporal Malcolm James Millward, a serving soldier in the Queen's Regiment, for three and a half years up until his death on 23 March 1981 aged 96.
, in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
plot in the cemetery, coincidentally next to the grave of Raymond Steed
who was the second youngest non-civilian Commonwealth casualty of the Second World War.
A memorial plaque was erected in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
. The tour guides relate how in 1979, as plaques for the other great Second World War military leaders were being installed, no one in the establishment had been in contact with his family for some years. Cathedral officials telephoned to enquire the date of his death only to be told "Auchinleck here – but I won't be keeping you much longer!"
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Field Marshal (UK)
Field Marshal is the highest military rank of the British Army. It ranks immediately above the rank of General and is the Army equivalent of an Admiral of the Fleet and a Marshal of the Royal Air Force....
Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, 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...
, GCIE
Order of the Indian Empire
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:#Knight Grand Commander #Knight Commander #Companion...
, CSI
Order of the Star of India
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...
, 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...
, OBE
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...
(21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), nicknamed "The Auk", was a British army commander during World War II. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where he developed a love of the country and a lasting affinity for the soldiers he commanded. In July 1941 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Middle East theatre; after initial successes the war in North Africa turned against the British, and he was relieved of the post in 1942 during the crucial Alamein campaign. He served thereafter as C-in-C India until his resignation in 1947. He retired to Marrakesh, where he died at age 96.
Early life and career
The Auchinlecks were an Ulster-Scots family from County FermanaghCounty Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....
, where they had settled in the 17th century. Claude Auchinleck was born in Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
, son of Colonel John and Mary Auchinleck, while his father's regiment was stationed there. His father died in 1892, when he was eight years old, and Auchinleck grew up in impoverished circumstances, but he was able, through hard work and scholarships, to graduate from Wellington College. After Wellington, he went to the nearby Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
.
Auchinleck joined the Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
as an unattached second lieutenant in January 1903 and in 1904 joined the 62nd Punjabis
62nd Punjabis
The 62nd Punjabis was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1759 as the 3rd Battalion of Coast Sepoys, and formed part of the Madras Army. It was designated as the 62nd Punjabis in 1903 and became 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to...
. He learnt Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
and, able to speak fluently with his soldiers, he absorbed a knowledge of local dialects and customs. This familiarity engendered a lasting mutual respect, enhanced by his own personality. In April 1905 he was promoted to lieutenant and in January 1912 he was promoted to captain.
During World War I, he served in the Middle East in Egypt, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
. Auchinleck's division was the last of four offered by the Indian government. While en route for France, it was reassigned to defend the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
from possible Turkish
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
attack. When the attack occurred in February 1915, Auchinleck's regiment prevented the Turks from crossing the canal and he led a successful counter-attack; the Turks subsequently surrendered.
The 6th Indian Division
Indian 6th Infantry Division
For the World War I formation see 6th DivisionThe 6th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II, created on 1 March 1941 in Secunderabad. On 11 September 1941 it was shipped to the Iraq and later Iran. During 1942 and 1943 it was part of the Tenth Army...
, of which the 62nd Punjabis were a part, was landed at Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
on 31 December 1915 for the Mesopotamian campaign
Mesopotamian Campaign
The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.- Background :...
. In July 1916 Auchinleck was promoted Acting Major and made second in command of the regiment. North of Basra, the Punjabis were in heavy action in dreadful conditions: cold, rain and mud as well as determined Turkish defence reduced the regiment to 247 men and Auchinleck took temporary command when his regimental commander was wounded. Further hard fighting ensued: the Turkish army inflicted a humiliating reversal on the British and eventual success was hard won. Auchinleck was mentioned in despatches and received the Distinguished Service Order
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...
in 1917 for his service in Mesopotamia, promoted to major in January 1918 and was also appointed brevet
Brevet (military)
In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
lieutenant-colonel in 1919 for his "distinguished service in Southern and Central Kurdistan" on the recommendation of the C-in-C of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force.
Auchinleck took a number of practical lessons from his experiences in Mesopotamia. Firstly, soldiers' health and well-being was critical to an army's effectiveness and he became convinced of the need of adequate rest, hygiene, good food and medical supplies for the troops. Secondly, he had seen the futility of inadequately prepared attacks against dug-in, well-armed defenders and this fuelled his later reluctance to initiate precipitate actions advocated by his political and military superiors.
Between the wars, Auchinleck served in India. He was both a student and an instructor (1930–1933) at the Staff College
Command and Staff College
The Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...
at Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
and also attended the Imperial Defence College
Royal College of Defence Studies
The Royal College of Defence Studies is an internationally-renowned institution and component of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom...
. In January 1929 he had been promoted to lieutenant-colonel and appointed to command his regiment which had become in the 1923 reorganisation of the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
the 1st battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment
1st Punjab Regiment
The 1st Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on Partition of India in 1947, and amalgamated with the 14th, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments in 1956, to form the Punjab Regiment....
. In 1930 he was promoted to full colonel, with seniority backdated to 1923, and in 1933, he was appointed temporary brigadier to command of the Peshawar Brigade
Peshawar Brigade
The Peshawar Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1939, for service on the North West Frontier...
, which was active in the pacification of the adjacent tribal areas. A serious operation in the Mohmand
Mohmand
The Mohmand are a clan of Sarban Pashtuns, living primarily in the FATA & Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan & northeastern Afghanistan.- Demographics :...
area in 1935 led to the first use of tanks in India. Auchinleck was Mentioned in Despatches and received the CSI
Order of the Star of India
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...
and 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 skill in managing the operation.
In November 1935 Auchinleck was promoted to major-general and on leaving his brigade command in the following April was on the unemployed list (on half pay) until September 1936 when he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Director of Staff Duties in Delhi. After this he was appointed to command the Meerut District in India in July 1938. In 1938 Major-General Auchinleck was appointed to chair a committee to consider the modernisation, composition and re-equipment of the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
. The committee's recommendations formed the basis of the 1939 Chatfield Report
Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield
Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield, GCB, OM, KCMG, CVO, PC was a Royal Navy officer and held the position of First Sea Lord from 1933 to 1939...
which outlined the transformation of the Indian Army. It grew from 183,000 in 1939 to over 2,250,000 men by the end of the war.
Norway 1940
On the outbreak of war Auchinleck was appointed to command the Indian 3rd Infantry Division but in January 1940 was summoned to the United Kingdom to command IV Corps, the only time in the war that a wholly British corps was commanded by an Indian Army officer. In May 1940 Auchinleck took over command of the Anglo-French ground forces in NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, a military operation that was doomed to fail. After the fall of Norway, in July 1940 he briefly commanded 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...
before becoming General Officer Commander-in-Chief, Southern Command
Southern Command (United Kingdom)
-History:The Command was established in 1905 from the Second Army Corps and was initially based at Tidworth but in 1949 moved to Fugglestone Farm near Wilton in Wiltshire....
, where he had an uneasy relationship with his subordinate Bernard Montgomery, the new V Corps commander. Montgomery later wrote
India and Iraq January–May 1941
In January 1941 Auchinleck was recalled to India to become Commander-in-Chief of the Indian ArmyBritish Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
in which position he also was appointed to the Executive Council of the Governor-General of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
and in April appointed ADC General to the King
Aide-de-Camp General
One of the several categories of aides de camp to the Monarch in the United Kingdom is styled Aide de Camp General.These are honorary appointments for senior British Army generals, first made in 1910. There were originally four, but the number was reduced to three in 1988...
which ceremonial position he held until January 1947, shortly after his promotion to field marshal.
In April 1941 RAF Habbaniya
RAF Habbaniya
Royal Air Force Station Habbaniya, more commonly known as RAF Habbaniya, was a Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, about west of Baghdad in modern day Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates near Lake Habbaniyah...
was threatened by the new pro-Axis regime of Rashid Ali. This large Royal Air Force station was west of Baghdad in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and General Archibald Wavell, C-in-C Middle East Command
Middle East Command
The Middle East Command 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.The...
, was reluctant to intervene, despite the urgings of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, because of his pressing commitments in the Western Desert and Greece. Auchinleck, however, acted decisively, sending a battalion of the King's Own Royal Regiment by air to Habbaniya and shipping Indian 10th Infantry Division
Indian 10th Infantry Division
The Indian 10th Infantry Division was a war formed Infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II. In four years, the division traveled over from Tehran to Trieste, fought three little wars, and fought two great campaigns: Anglo-Iraqi War, Invasion of Syria-Lebanon, Anglo-Soviet invasion...
by sea to Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
. Wavell was prevailed upon by London to send Habforce
Habforce
Habforce was a British Army military unit created during the Anglo-Iraqi War and still active during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign.-Creation and composition:...
, a relief column, from the British Mandate of Palestine but by the time it arrived in Habbaniya on 18 May the Anglo-Iraqi War
Anglo-Iraqi War
The Anglo-Iraqi War was the name of the British campaign against the rebel government of Rashid Ali in the Kingdom of Iraq during the Second World War. The war lasted from 2 May to 31 May 1941. The campaign resulted in the re-occupation of Iraq by British armed forces and the return to power of the...
was virtually over.
North Africa July 1941 – August 1942
Following the see-saw of Allied and Axis successes and reverses in North Africa, Auchinleck was appointed to succeed General (later Field Marshal) Sir Archibald Wavell as C-in-C Middle East CommandMiddle East Command
The Middle East Command 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.The...
in July 1941; Wavell took up Auchinleck's post as C-in-C of the Indian Army, swapping jobs with him.
As C-in-C Middle East Auchinleck, based in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, held responsibility not just for North Africa but also for Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and the Middle East; the Eighth Army confronting the German Afrika Corps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
and the Italian Army
Italian Army
The Italian Army is the ground defence force of the Italian Armed Forces. It is all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel, numbering 108,355 in 2010. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank, and among its aircraft...
was commanded successively by Sir Alan Cunningham
Alan Gordon Cunningham
General Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham GCMG, KCB, DSO, MC was a British Army officer, noted for victories over Italian forces in the East African Campaign during the Second World War. Later he was the seventh and last High Commissioner of Palestine...
and Neil Ritchie
Neil Ritchie
General Sir Neil Methuen Ritchie GBE, KCB, DSO, MC, KStJ was a senior British army officer during the Second World War.-Military career:...
. The first major offensive by Eighth Army following Auchinleck's appointment, Operation Crusader
Operation Crusader
Operation Crusader was a military operation by the British Eighth Army between 18 November–30 December 1941. The operation successfully relieved the 1941 Siege of Tobruk....
in November 1941 resulted in the defeat of much of the British armour and the breakdown of Cunningham. Auchinleck relieved Cunningham, and ordered the battle to continue. Despite heavy losses, the Eighth Army drove the Axis forces back to El Agheila. Auchinleck then appointed Ritchie to command Eighth Army. While Auchinleck resumed overall strategic direction of the Middle East theatre, he continued to dictate operational matters to Ritchie.
Auchinleck appears to have believed that enemy had been defeated, writing on 12 January 1942 that the Axis forces were "beginning to feel the strain" and were "hard pressed". In fact Afrika Korps had been reinforced, and a few days after Auchinleck's wildly optimistic appreciation, struck at the dispersed and weakened British forces, driving them back to the Gazala positions near Tobruk
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
. The British Chief of Imperial General staff, Alan Brooke, wrote in his diary that it was "Nothing less than bad generalship on the part of Auchinleck". Rommel
Rommel
Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...
's attack at the Battle of Gazala
Battle of Gazala
The Battle of Gazala was an important battle of the Second World War Western Desert Campaign, fought around the port of Tobruk in Libya from 26 May-21 June 1942...
of 26 May 1942 resulted in a significant defeat for the British. Once more, Auchinleck's appreciation of the situation was faulty (Auchinleck had believed the Axis forces would attack the centre of the British line, whereas Rommel's attack outflanked the British from the south). The Eighth Army retreated into Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
; Tobruk
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
fell on 21 June.
Once more Auchinleck stepped in to take direct command of the Eighth Army, having lost confidence in Ritchie's ability to control and direct his forces. Auchinleck discarded Ritchie's plan to stand at Mersa Matruh, deciding to fight only a delaying action there, while withdrawing to the more easily defendable position at El Alamein
El Alamein
El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.- Climate :...
. Here Auchinleck tailored a defence that took advantage of the terrain and the fresh troops at his disposal, stopping the exhausted German/Italian advance in the First Battle of El Alamein
First Battle of El Alamein
The First Battle of El Alamein was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought between Axis forces of the Panzer Army Africa commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Allied forces The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert...
. Enjoying a considerable superiority of material and men over the weak German/Italian forces, Auchinleck organised a series of counter-attacks. Poorly conceived and badly coordinated, these attacks achieved little.
"The Auk", as he was known, appointed a number of senior commanders who proved to be unsuitable for their positions, and command arrangements were often characterised by bitter personality clashes. Auchinleck was an Indian Army officer and was criticised for apparently having little direct experience or understanding of British and Dominion troops. His controversial chief of operations, Major-General Dorman-Smith
Eric Dorman-Smith
Eric Edward Dorman-Smith , later de-Anglicised to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was a British Army soldier who served with distinction in World War I, and then seems to have become something of a bête noire to the British military establishment because of his lively mind, and unorthodox...
, was regarded with considerable distrust by many of the senior commanders in Eighth Army. By July 1942 Auchinleck had lost the confidence of Dominion commanders and relations with his British commanders had become strained.
Like his foe Rommel (and his predecessor Wavell and successor Montgomery), Auchinleck was subjected to constant political interference, having to weather a barrage of hectoring telegrams and instructions from Prime Minister Churchill throughout late 1941 and the spring and summer of 1942. Churchill constantly sought an offensive from Auchinleck, and was (understandably) downcast at the military reverses in Egypt and Cyrenaica. Churchill was desperate for some sort of British victory before the planned Allied landings in North Africa, Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, scheduled for November 1942. He badgered Auchinleck immediately after the Eighth Army had all but exhausted itself after the first battle of El Alamein. Churchill and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Alan Brooke, flew to Cairo in early August 1942, to meet Auchinleck, but it was now obvious that he had lost the confidence of both men.
He was replaced as C-in-C Middle East Command
Middle East Command
The Middle East Command 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.The...
by General Sir Harold Alexander (later Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis) and as GOC Eighth Army by Lieutenant-General William Gott
William Gott
Lieutenant-General William Henry Ewart Gott CB, CBE, DSO and bar, MC , nicknamed "Strafer", was a British Army officer during both the First and Second World Wars, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general when serving in the British Eighth Army.-Military career:Educated at Harrow School he was...
, who was killed in Egypt before taking up command. On Gott's death, Lieutenant-General (later Field Marshal Viscount) Bernard Montgomery was appointed commander of the Eighth Army.
India 1942–1945
Churchill offered Auchinleck command of the newly created Persia and Iraq CommandPersia and Iraq Command
The Persia and Iraq Command was a British Army Command established in September 1942 in Baghdad. Its primary role was to secure from land and air attack the oilfields and oil installations in Persia and Iraq...
(this having been hived off Alexander's command), but Auchinleck declined this post, as he believed that separating the area from the Middle East Command was not good policy and the new arrangements would not be workable. He set his reasons out in his letter to the CIGS dated 14 August 1942. The post was accepted in his stead by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson. Instead he returned to India, where he spent almost a year "unemployed" before in 1943 being again appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, General Wavell meanwhile having been appointed Viceroy
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
. C-in-C India had become a rear area appointment with the prosecution of the Burma Campaign
Burma Campaign
The Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was fought primarily between British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces against the forces of the Empire of Japan, Thailand, and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from...
the responsibility of the Supreme Commander, Admiral Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. Nevertheless, Auchinleck played an important role and made the supply of Fourteenth Army, with probably the worst lines of communication of the war, his immediate priority; as William Slim, commander of the Fourteenth Army was later to write:
Role in Partition of India
Auchinleck continued as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army after the end of the war helping, though much against his own convictions, to prepare the future Indian and Pakistani armies for the Partition of IndiaPartition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
(August 1947). In November 1945 he was forced to commute the sentence of transportation for life awarded to three officers of the Indian National Army
Indian National Army
The Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj was an armed force formed by Indian nationalists in 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. The aim of the army was to overthrow the British Raj in colonial India, with Japanese assistance...
in face of growing unease and unrest both within the Indian population, and the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
. In June 1946 he was promoted to field marshal but refused to accept a peerage, lest he be thought associated with a policy (i.e. Partition) that he thought fundamentally dishonourable. Having disagreed sharply with Lord Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, the last Viceroy of India, he resigned as C-in-C and retired in 1947.
Retirement
Lord Auckinleck attended the 1953 Spithead Review. He boarded the MV Caltex Bahrain, a merchant tanker of the Overseas Tankship Fleet.
In later years, he lived with his sister in Beccles, Suffolk until she died, after which he moved to Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
. There he lived quietly and alone in a modest flat for many years, (his wife having left him for Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse
Richard Peirse
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse KCB DSO AFC , was a senior Royal Air Force commander.-RAF career:...
in 1946), taking his morning coffee at the La Renaissance Café in the new part of the city where he was known simply as le marechal.
Auchinleck was befriended and aided by Corporal Malcolm James Millward, a serving soldier in the Queen's Regiment, for three and a half years up until his death on 23 March 1981 aged 96.
Memorials
Auchinleck was buried in Ben M'Sik European Cemetery, CasablancaCasablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves, and places of commemoration, of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars...
plot in the cemetery, coincidentally next to the grave of Raymond Steed
Raymond Steed
Raymond Victor Steed was the second youngest British services recruit to die during the Second World War. He was just 14 years and 207 days old when the ship on which he was a galley boy, SS Empire Morn, was blown up after it hit a U-boat mine on 26 April 1943...
who was the second youngest non-civilian Commonwealth casualty of the Second World War.
A memorial plaque was erected in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
. The tour guides relate how in 1979, as plaques for the other great Second World War military leaders were being installed, no one in the establishment had been in contact with his family for some years. Cathedral officials telephoned to enquire the date of his death only to be told "Auchinleck here – but I won't be keeping you much longer!"
Army career summary
- Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 1903
- Commissioned 62nd Punjabis62nd PunjabisThe 62nd Punjabis was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1759 as the 3rd Battalion of Coast Sepoys, and formed part of the Madras Army. It was designated as the 62nd Punjabis in 1903 and became 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to...
, India, 1904 - Promoted Lieutenant, 1905
- Promoted Captain, 1912
- Promoted Acting Major, second in command 62nd Punjab Regiment, 1916
- Acting Lieutenant-Colonel, temporary commander 62nd Punjab Regiment, 1917
- Promoted Major, GSO2 MesopotamiaMesopotamiaMesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, 1918 - Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, GSO1 Mesopotamia, 1919
- Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, Kurdistan, 1919
- Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, India, 1923–1924
- Imperial Defence College, 1927
- Commanding Officer 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment1st Punjab RegimentThe 1st Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on Partition of India in 1947, and amalgamated with the 14th, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments in 1956, to form the Punjab Regiment....
, 1929–1930 - Promoted Colonel, 1930
- Instructor at Command and Staff CollegeCommand and Staff CollegeThe Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...
, QuettaQuettais the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
, India, 1930–1933 - Honorary Colonel 1st Battalion 1st Punjab Regiment, 1933
- Temporary Brigadier, Commanding Officer Peshawar Brigade, 1933–1936
- Promoted Major-General, 1935
- Deputy Chief General Staff, India, 1936–1938
- Chairman, Expert Committee on the Defence of India, 1938
- District Officer Commanding Meerut District, India, 1938–1939
- General Officer Commanding 3rd Indian Infantry Division, 1939–1940
- Honorary Colonel 1st battalion 4th Bombay Grenadiers4th Bombay GrenadiersThe 4th Bombay Grenadiers were an infantry regiment of the pre-independence Indian Army, formed on 1 March 1922 as part of the reforms of the Indian Army that took place after the end of the First World War. Following this, the Regiment spent the next fifteen years serving in British Somaliland in...
, 1939 - General Officer Commanding IV Corps, 1940
- Promoted Lieutenant-General, 1940
- General Officer Commanding Northern Norway, 1940
- General Officer Commanding V CorpsV 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...
, 1940 - General Officer Commander-in-Chief Southern CommandSouthern Command (United Kingdom)-History:The Command was established in 1905 from the Second Army Corps and was initially based at Tidworth but in 1949 moved to Fugglestone Farm near Wilton in Wiltshire....
, 1940 - Commander-in-Chief, IndiaCommander-in-Chief, IndiaDuring the period of the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India was the supreme commander of the Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his staff were based at General Headquarters, India, and liaised with the civilian Governor-General of India...
, Promoted General, 1941 - Honorary Colonel Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1941
- Commander-in-Chief Middle East CommandMiddle East CommandThe Middle East Command 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.The...
, 1941–1942 - Aide-de-Camp General to the King, 1941–1946
- Temporary General Officer Commanding Eighth ArmyEighth 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....
, 1942 - Commander-in-Chief, India, 1943–1947
- Honorary Colonel 4th Bombay Grenadiers, 1944
- Promoted Field Marshal, 1946
- Supreme Commander in India & Pakistan, 1947
- Colonel 1st Punjab Regiment, 1947
- Retired 1947
Styles
- 1884–1903: Claude John Eyre Auchinleck
- 1903–1905: Second LieutenantSecond LieutenantSecond lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
Claude John Eyre Auchinleck - 1905–1912: LieutenantLieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Claude John Eyre Auchinleck - 1912–1916: Captain Claude John Eyre Auchinleck
- 1916–1917: Captain (Actg. MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
) Claude John Eyre Auchinleck - 1917–1918: Captain (Actg. Lieutenant-Colonel) Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, DSODistinguished 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...
- 1918–1919: Major Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, DSO
- 1919–1929: Major (Bvt. Lieutenant-Colonel) Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, DSO, OBE
- 1929-1930: Lieutenant-Colonel Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, DSO, OBE
- 1930–1933: ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, DSO, OBE - 1933–1934: Colonel (Temp. BrigadierBrigadierBrigadier 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....
) Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, DSO, OBE - 1934–1935: Colonel (Temp. Brigadier) Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, CBOrder of the BathThe 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...
, DSO, OBE - 1935–1936: Major-General Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, CB, DSO, OBE
- 1936–1940: Major-General Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, CB, CSI, DSO, OBE
- 1940–1941: Lieutenant-General Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCIE, CB, CSI, DSO, OBE
- 1941–1945: GeneralGeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCIE, CB, CSI, DSO, OBE - 1945–1946: General Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE
- 1946–1981: Field MarshalField MarshalField Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE
Publications
. (Auchinleck's Official Middle East Despatch published after the war in ). (Auchinleck's Official Middle East Despatch published after the war in ). (Auchinleck's Official Indo-Burma Despatch published after the war in )External links
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