Nickname(s) Bobby Died August 29, 1965 | Name George Erskine Allegiance United Kingdom | |
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Commands held 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps7th Armoured Division43rd (Wessex) Infantry DivisionCommander of British Forces in Hong KongBritish Troops in EgyptEastern CommandEast Africa CommandSouthern Command Battles/wars World War IWorld War IIMau Mau Uprising Similar People Waruhiu Itote, Dedan Kimathi, Fritz Bayerlein, Stanley Mathenge, Musa Mwariama | ||
General Sir George Watkin Eben James Erskine GCB KBE DSO (23 August 1899 – 29 August 1965) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 7th Armoured Division during World War II.
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Background
Erskine was the son of Major General George Elphinstone Erskine by his second wife Eva Constance Sarah, daughter of Canon Ebenezer Wood Edwards. He was a descendant of the noted 18th-century jurist John Erskine of Carnock.
Military career
Erskine entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the King's Royal Rifle Corps in 1918. He served during World War I in France and Belgium and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1929 to 1930. During the 1930s he served in India but returned to Britain in 1937 to become Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General at Eastern Command. In 1939 he became a General Staff Officer for 1st London Division of the Territorial Army (TA). In 1941 he was appointed Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps who were then part of 69th Infantry Brigade and deployed to North Africa, where he earned his Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1942. He was then appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7th Armoured Division and served in North Africa, Italy and Normandy between 1943 and 1944.
During the Battle of Normandy in June and July 1944, however, the British Second Army commander, Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, was unimpressed with the 7th Armoured's performance and VIII Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Richard N. O'Connor, considered his direction of the division during Operation Goodwood as excessively cautious. Shortly afterwards, in the difficult bocage country during Operation Bluecoat, the 7th Armoured Division failed to gain its objectives and Erskine was replaced by Gerald Lloyd-Verney. In spite of his indifferent performance as a field commander Erskine had qualities which suited him to other roles so that this episode proved only a temporary setback to his career. He became Head of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Mission to Belgium in 1944 and then GOC 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division in 1945.
After the war Erskine was Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong in 1946, Director General of the Territorial Army in 1948 to 1949 and GOC British Troops in Egypt in 1949. Returning to the United Kingdom, he became GOC-in-Chief, Eastern Command in 1952. In 1953 he was appointed GOC-in-Chief, East Africa Command where he was responsible for managing the response to the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya and led Operation Anvil in Nairobi in April 1954. He was GOC-in-Chief, Southern Command from 1955 to 1958 when he retired. He was an Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen from 1955 to 1965.
Erskine was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1950, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1952 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1955. From 1958 to 1963 he was Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Jersey.
Family
Erskine married Ruby de la Rue, daughter of Sir Evelyn de la Rue, 2nd Baronet, in 1930. They had two sons and one daughter.