Alfred Reade Godwin Austen

Early life and military career

The second son of Lieutenant Colonel A. G. Godwin-Austen, late the 24th and 89th, Reade Godwin-Austen was born in Frensham, Farnham, Surrey, on 17 April 1889. He was educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate and, later, at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst to pursue a military career, thereby following both his father and great-grandfather.

He was a great-grandson of Major General Sir Henry Godwin (1784–1853), who commanded the British and Indian forces in the Second Anglo-Burmese War. His uncle was Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, who gave his name to the second highest mountain in the Karakoram range; this mountain is now better known by the more neutral title: K2.

Upon passing out from Sandhurst, Godwin-Austen was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the South Wales Borderers in 1909. During his service in World War I he was awarded the Military Cross and twice mentioned in dispatches while serving as a staff officer with the 13th (Western) Division, a Kitchener's Army formation, in Gallipoli, Palestine and Mesopotamia.

Between the wars

He attended the Staff College, Camberley as a student, from 1924 to 1925, alongside fellow students such as Ivor Thomas, Noel Beresford-Peirse, Vyvyan Pope, Douglas Graham, Michael O'Moore Creagh, Daril Watson, Archibald Nye, Humfrey Gale and Noel Irwin. All of these men would rise to high command in the upcoming war. He then served in numerous staff positions at the War Office until receiving a position as an instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Due to a lack of promotion in his own regiment, Godwin-Austen transferred to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) and commanded the regiment's 2nd Battalion, from 1936 to 1937, before being employed with the British Military Mission to the Egyptian Army, from 1937 to 1938. His next appointment was, during the Arab revolt in Palestine, in successive command of the 13th and 14th Infantry Brigades, the latter post being held until August 1939, shortly before World War II began.

World War II

On the outbreak of war in September 1939, Godwin-Austen had just been promoted to major general to become General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 8th Infantry Division, in succession to Bernard Montgomery. The understrength division was responsible for internal security in the British Mandate of Palestine. After the division was disbanded in February 1940 he was nominated in July to command the 2nd (African) Division which was forming in Kenya.

Before taking up his command, however, he was sent in mid-August 1940 after the Italian Invasion of British Somaliland to take command of the British forces there. His withdrawal at the decisive Battle of Tug Argan was fatal to his attempt to defend the territory, but it allowed almost the entire Commonwealth contingent to withdraw to Berbera and evacuate by sea to Aden. Commonwealth losses in the short campaign are estimated to have been exceedingly light, about 260 (38 killed, 102 wounded and 120 missing).

The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, stung by the loss to British prestige, criticized General Sir Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of Middle East Command, concerning the loss of British Somaliland. It was Wavell's Middle East Command that was responsible for the loss of the colony. Because of the low casualty rate, Churchill fretted that the British had abandoned the colony without enough of a fight. He demanded the suspension of Godwin-Austen and the convening of a court of inquiry.

In response to this criticism, Wavell claimed that Somaliland was a textbook withdrawal in the face of superior numbers. He pointed out to Churchill that "A bloody butcher's bill is not the sign of a good tactician". According to Churchill's staff, Wavell's retort moved Churchill to greater fury than they had ever seen before. Wavell refused to accede to Churchill's demand and Godwin-Austen moved on to take command of his division in Kenya on 12 September. However, Churchill was to retain his grudge towards him.

During the East African Campaign he led the 2nd (African) Division (renamed 12th (African) Division) as part of East Africa Force, commanded by Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham, in its advance from Kenya into Italian East Africa. His division advanced into Italian Somaliland on 11 February and by late February had scored an emphatic victory over Italian forces at Gelib. Once Mogadishu had been taken, Cunningham swung his force inland across the Ogaden desert and into Ethiopia, entering the capital, Addis Ababa on 6 April.

At the end of the campaign he was promoted to his last fighting command, leading the Western Desert Force (which became XIII Corps) in the Western Desert Campaign in North Africa. During Operation Crusader he was vociferous in his opposition to the suggestion of Alan Cunningham, by now commanding Eighth Army and so once more his direct superior, that they should abandon the offensive after the setback of Rommel's "dash to the wire". The C-in-C Middle East, by then General Claude Auchinleck, chose to continue the offensive and Operation Crusader went on to relieve the siege of Tobruk and push the Axis forces back to El Agheila while Cunningham was relieved of his command.

When Rommel counterattacked in January 1942 the Allies were forced to retreat in some confusion. Godwin-Austen, seeing that one of his divisions, 4th Indian Infantry Division was under threat, after consulting with Cunningham's successor, Lieutenant General Neil Ritchie, ordered them to withdraw. However, Ritchie changed his mind and issued a countermand directly to the division's commander, Major General Francis Tuker. Feeling that Ritchie had by this action displayed a lack of confidence in him, he tendered his resignation to Auchinleck, which was reluctantly accepted. Tuker was later to write

His going was the latest of many misjudgments which had started to shake confidence in the leadership. We lost the wrong man.

In spite of support from General Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), and Sir James Grigg, the Secretary of State for War, Churchill was adamant that Godwin-Austen should not receive a new posting. Churchill relented in November after the intervention of the South African Field Marshal Jan Smuts and Godwin-Austen was appointed Director of Tactical Investigation at the War Office. He subsequently became Vice Quartermaster-General at the War Office and, as the war ended, the Quartermaster-General and then Principal Administrative Officer in India, reporting to the C-in-C, General Sir Claude Auchinleck.

Postwar

He was knighted in 1946 and retired from the army on 5 March 1947, after having achieved the rank of general. Serving as Chairman of the South-West Division of the National Coal Board, from 1946 to 1947, he was also Colonel of the South Wales Borderers from 1950 to 1954. Godwin-Austen, a bachelor, after suffering from a long illness, died in Maidenhead on 20 March 1963, just under a month from his 74th birthday.