Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell

Sir Archibald Wavell

Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell GCB GCSI GCIE CMG MC PC (born May 5, 1883 in Colchester , † May 24, 1950 in London ) was a British field marshal and viceroy of India . He was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the Middle East , Commander-in-Chief in India, and Commander of the US , British, Dutch , Australian Command in Southeast Asia ( ABDACOM ) during World War II .

Life

Wavell spent most of his childhood in India . Wavell's father was a major general in the British Army . Wavell followed his example and also opted for an army career.

He attended Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst . He then joined the Black Watch regiment in 1900 and fought in the Second Boer War . In 1903 he was transferred to India and fought in the Bazar Valley campaign of 1908. In 1911 Wavell spent a year as a British military observer in the Russian army .

Wavell worked as a staff officer when the First World War began. He was transferred to a combat unit and lost an eye in the Battle of Flanders in 1915. After his recovery he was sent to the Russian Army as a liaison officer in 1916 , this time to the front in Turkey. In 1918 he was transferred to the staff of Sir Edmund Allenby in Palestine .

Wavell was given various duties between the two world wars. In August 1937 he was sent back to Palestine where an uprising had started. In 1939 he was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), with which the suffix "Sir" was connected, and appointed Commander in Chief of the Middle East Command. This was his post when the Second World War broke out.

The theater of war in the Middle East was calm during the first months of the war. This changed with the Italian declaration of war in June 1940. The Italian forces in North Africa outnumbered the British by far. However, Wavell not only succeeded in repelling the Italian attacks, but he was also able to defeat the Italian troops and occupy their colonies in Ethiopia and Somaliland . In February 1941, it appeared that the British were on the verge of overrunning the last Italian forces in Libya . This would have driven the Axis powers from the last area they controlled in Africa.

But at the same time, Germans and Italians attacked Greece . Wavell was ordered to halt his advance into Libya and send troops to Greece. He did not agree with this decision, but complied with the order. The result was a disaster. The Germans had the opportunity to send reinforcements to the Italians in North Africa. The British again failed to organize an effective defense on mainland Greece. They were forced to withdraw to Crete with heavy losses . In addition, in a military coup, a faction friendly to the Axis powers took control of the government in Iraq. In March 1941 Wavell was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

Wavell was replaced by Sir Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces in the Middle East in July 1941, partly because of his hesitation during the crisis in Iraq . He was then transferred to India , where he served as Commander in Chief in India . He had the bad luck to the top of insufficient to re troops to be transferred equipped theater of war that changed shortly thereafter in a war zone. In December 1941, Japan declared war on the United Kingdom . Wavell was then appointed Commander in Chief of the Allied American, British, Dutch and Australian Forces ( ABDACOM ). However, after the Japanese defeated the ABDA forces, he was forced to evacuate the headquarters on Java .

Wavell, despite his personal abilities, did not have the means to defend the territory he was entrusted with, and so he was unable to prevent the Japanese army from taking Singapore , Malaya and Burma .

Wavell was again relieved from his post by Auchinleck, who had also suffered setbacks in North Africa at the time. In 1943 he was appointed Viscount Wavell , of Cyrenaica and of Winchester in the County of Southampton, to peer collected and Viceroy of India appointed. In the same year he was also Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire . His mission was to maintain the status quo in India until the end of the war; he remained in the post until he was replaced by Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1947.

Wavell is widely considered to be the finest Viceroy and Governor General of India. He was well prepared for the post when he took office and was able to gain a lot of sympathy from the Indians. His understanding of the situation in India and the failure of Winston Churchill to heed his requests and suggestions frustrated him. He was relieved when Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in July 1945 . However, he was unhappy that Attlee was reluctant to make decisions. He himself had applied several times to be relieved. However, these requests were denied in London. However, if Wavell had not stayed at his post, the general tension and internal unrest would have been more protracted and bloody. Wavell opposed the partition of India , knowing that it would lead to a bloodshed that could not be controlled by either the British or the Indians. He wished to be prepared for any eventuality and had made preparations for a possible partition of India. When it became clear with certainty that the British were pursuing a partition, he had already laid the foundation for the work of border commissioner Sir Cyril Radcliffe . This later became the so-called Radcliffe Line .

Wavell returned to England in 1947 and was promoted to Earl Wavell and Viscount Keren , of Eritrea and of Winchester in the County of Southampton. He died in 1950.

literature

• John Connell: Wavell. Scholar and Soldier, to June 1941. Collins, London 1964.
• Ronald Lewin: The chief. Field Marshal Lord Wavell, Commander-in-chief and Viceroy, 1939-1947. Hutchinson, London et al. 1980, ISBN 0-09-142500-X .
• Harold E. Raugh, Jr .: Wavell in the Middle East. 1939-1941. A study in Generalship. Brassey's, London et al. 1993, ISBN 0-08-040983-0 .

Web links

Commons : Archibald Wavell  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The small encyclopedia , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, volume 2, page 889

predecessor	Office	successor
Claude Auchinleck	Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces in India 1941–1942	Alan Hartley
Alan Hartley	Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces in India 1942–1943	Claude Auchinleck
Victor Alexander John Hope	Viceroy of India 1943–1947	Louis Mountbatten
New title created	Viscount Wavell 1943-1950	Archibald Wavell
New title created	Earl Wavell 1947-1950	Archibald Wavell