Ernest Dunlop Swinton

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Ernest Dunlop Swinton

Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton KBE , CB , DSO (born October 21, 1868 in Bangalore , British India , † January 15, 1951 in Oxford ) was a British officer in the British Army , most recently major-general , and author .

Life

Swinton was born the son of a judge in British India and joined the Royal Engineers as an officer in 1888 after training at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich . He was a participant in the Second Boer War , for which he was awarded the DSO, and then began a second career as a military writer. In 1910 he was transferred to the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defense , where he wrote about the Russo-Japanese War, and in 1913 became assistant secretary of that institution. At the beginning of World War I , he served as the deputy director of rail transport.

Benjamin Holt and Ernest Dunlop Swinton in Stockton, California, April 1918

After the outbreak of war he was sent to France as a war correspondent and wrote under the author name Eyewitness about what was happening at the front. Here, inspired by the American Holt Caterpillar , he developed the idea for armored and armed track-driven vehicles. Swinton was just one of many people in several countries who had similar ideas, but he was fortunate to have access to high-ranking soldiers and politicians. However, he failed to convince anyone to adopt his idea.

Meanwhile, Winston Churchill , Chief of the British Navy, had discussions with naval officers who had experience operating wheeled armored vehicles in Belgium. He set up a committee to develop armored vehicles that could cross battlefields. The result was the first British tank.

Swinton, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, was tasked with training the first British tank units. The name Tank for the British tanks comes from his suggestion. After the American entry into the war in 1917, he traveled to the United States to advertise the war bonds .

From 1925 to 1939 he was Chichele Professor of Military History at the University of Oxford . From 1934 to 1938 he was Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Corps . Swinton was married with three children.

Works (selection)

  • The Defense of Duffer's Drift , pseudonym of "Lieutenant Backsight Forethought" BF.
  • The Green Curve , 1909, pseudonym of "O'le Luk-Oie"
  • Tab Dope , 1915, pseudonym of "O'le Luk-Oie"
  • The Study of War , 1926
  • Eyewitness , 1932
  • To Eastern Odyssey , 1935
  • Over My Shoulder , 1951

Prizes and awards (selection)

See also

literature

  • JP Harris: Men, Ideas, and Tanks: British Military Thought and Armored Forces, 1903-1939. Manchester University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-7190-4814-1 .
  • Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Wood, Justin D. Murphy (Eds.): The European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis, 1999, ISBN 0-8153-3351-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Swinton, Ernest Dunlop
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British officer
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Bangalore , India
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1951
Place of death Oxford