Died 24 March 1945 Rank Major-General Years of service 1918-1945 | Service/branch British Army Allegiance United Kingdom Name Tom Rennie | |
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Unit Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) | ||
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Major-General Thomas Gordon Rennie CB DSO MBE (3 January 1900 – 24 March 1945) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 3rd Infantry Division and later the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division during World War II and was later killed in action during Operation Plunder, the crossing of the Rhine.
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Military career
Educated at Loretto School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Rennie was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) on 16 July 1919. Attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1933 to 1934, he saw active service in the Second World War, was taken prisoner at Saint-Valery-en-Caux during the final stages of the Battle of France in June 1940, but then escaped nine days later. He was made Commanding Officer (CO) of the 5th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) in 1942, leading the battalion at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, and then becoming Commander of the 154th Infantry Brigade and leading that formation for the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943.
In December 1943 he was appointed General Officer Commanding 3rd Infantry Division in which role he took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944. He was then made General Officer Commanding 51st (Highland) Infantry Division but in March 1945, after crossing the Rhine, he was killed by mortar fire.
He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.