Gerald Lathbury

General Gerald William Lathbury

Sir Gerald William Lathbury , GCB , DSO , MBE (born July 14, 1906 in Murree , British India , today: Punjab , Pakistan , † May 16, 1978 in Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire , England ) was a British officer in the British Army , who was last as general between 1961 and 1965 Quartermaster-General to the Forces . He was then governor of Gibraltar between 1965 and 1969 .

Life

Officer training and World War II

Gerald William Lathbury, son of Colonel Henry Oscar Lathbury, began officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) after attending Wellington College in Crowthorne . After graduation, he found numerous posts in the British Army , namely in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry , in the Royal West African Frontier Force and in the Gold Coast Regiment . After 1936-1937, the Staff College, Camberley had graduated, he became the 8th Infantry Brigade (8th Infantry Brigade) of the 3rd Infantry Division ( 3rd Division ) and then to the 48th (South Midland) Division added before use as commander of 3 Paratrooper Battalion 3 PARA (3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment) followed.

During the Second World War Lathbury was between 8 December 1942 and 25 April 1943 Commander ( Commanding Officer ) of the 3rd Parachute Brigade (3rd Parachute Brigade) . He then acted from April 28, 1943 to September 19, 1944 as the commander of the 1st Parachute Brigade (1st Parachute Brigade) , with which he participated in the Tunisian campaign (April to May 1943), the Allied landing in Sicily ( Operation Husky , 10. July to August 17, 1943) and the local Operation Fustian on Simeto (July 13 to 16, 1943). He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his services . During Operation Market Garden he took part in the Battle of Arnhem (September 17-27, 1944). He was wounded on September 19, 1944 and became a German prisoner of war , from which he managed to escape shortly afterwards. Then he and Major Digby Tatham-Warter were one of the co-organizers of Operation Pegasus , the crossing of the Rhine near Renkum on the night of October 22nd to 23rd, 1944. He was then between October 23rd, 1944 and June 1st, 1945 used as commander of the 1st Paratrooper Brigade in north-western Europe .

Post War, General and Governor of Gibraltar

After the war, Gerald Lathbury was on July 2, 1945. Commander of the British Mandate of Palestine stationed 3rd Parachute Brigade before he as Major General (Major-General) in December 1948, Major General Robert Urquhart as Commanding General GOC ( General Officer Commanding ) of the 16th Airborne Division (16th Airborne Division) . He remained in this post until October 1951, whereupon Major General Geoffrey Bourne took his place. He himself then succeeded Major General Alfred Dudley Ward as Commandant of Staff College Camberley in November 1951 and held this position until his replacement by Major General Charles Phibbs Jones in January 1954. He was then in 1954 successor to Major General in January Alexander Douglas Campbell Vice-Adjutant General , and until as such to his replacement by Major General Edric Bastyan in the Army Human Resources in the Ministry of War ( War Office ) responsible.

In May 1955, Lieutenant General (Lieutenant General) Lathbury successor of General George Erskine as commander in chief of the East commands (General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, East Africa Command) and remained in that post until July 1957, after Major General Nigel Tapp his successor started. During this time he was beaten on May 31, 1956 to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KBE) and from then on carried the suffix "Sir". In November 1957 he replaced Lieutenant General James Cassels as Director-General of Military Training in the War Department and held this position until he was replaced by Lieutenant General John d'Arcy Anderson in December 1959.

Gerald Lathbury itself has served as the General in January 1960 again General James Cassels as commander in chief of the Army Command East (General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command) , and retained this use until November 1961 which provides that in January 1962 General Roderick McLeod began his successor. Most recently he took over the post of Quartermaster-General to the Forces from General Cecil Sugden in November 1965 and held this position until he retired in January 1965, after which General Charles Leslie Richardson became his successor there. During this time he served simultaneously as aide-de-camp of Queen Elizabeth II. And also got on 2 June 1962, the Grand Cross ( Knight Grand Cross ) awarded the Order of the Bath (GCB).

On August 5, 1965, Gerald William Lathbury, who was also a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), succeeded Alfred Dudley Ward as Governor of Gibraltar . He held the office until March 1969 and was then replaced by Varyl Begg . From his marriage to Jean Thin, the daughter Virginia Catherine Lathbury was born.

Web links

• General Sir Gerald William Lathbury, on thepeerage.com , accessed January 12, 2019.
• Entry in generals.de
• SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Operation Market Guard was formed in 1977 A Bridge Too Far filmed in which Gerald Lathbury of Donald Douglas was shown.
2. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 209
3. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 292
4. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 39
5. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 39
6. ↑ KNIGHTS AND DAMES (leighrayment.com)
7. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 33
8. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 80
9. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 8
10. ↑ KNIGHTS AND DAMES (leighrayment.com)
11. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS: SINCE 1860 , p. 143
12. ↑ Gibraltar: Governors (rulers.org)

predecessor	Office	successor
Alfred Dudley Ward	Governor of Gibraltar 1965–1969	Varyl Begg