Allegiance United Kingdom Died 1949 Service/branch British Army | Years of service 1900–1940 Rank Major-general Battles and wars World War I, World War II | |
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Commands held 10th Brigade
50th (Northumbrian) Motorised Division
23rd (Northumbrian) Motorised Division Battles/wars First World War
Second World War Unit Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Awards Order of the Bath, Order of St Michael and St George, Distinguished Service Order | ||
Major General William Norman Herbert CB, CMG, DSO & Bar (1880–1949) was a senior British Army officer who served as colonel of the Northumberland Fusiliers and commanded the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division in the Battle of France during the Second Second World.
Military career
Herbert entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Northumberland Fusiliers on 11 August 1900. He served in the First World War as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers in which capacity he captured an enemy position together with fifty-nine prisoners for which he was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order in January 1919.
He became a staff officer at Northern Command in 1930, commander of 10th Brigade in March 1932 and General Officer Commanding (GOC) 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division in February 1935. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1935 and colonel of the Northumberland Fusiliers on 5 July 1935.
Although he retired in February 1939, he was recalled during the Second World War as GOC 23rd (Northumbrian) Division to lead the deployment of that formation as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the Battle of France in April 1940. He retired for a second time when the division was disbanded on 30 June 1940.