Field MarshalSir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck,GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE (/ˌɒxɪnˈlɛk/OKH-in-LEK; 21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981) was aBritish Indian Army commander who saw active service during theworld wars. A career soldier who spent much of his military career inIndia, he rose to become commander-in-chief of theIndian Army by early 1941 during the Second World War. In July 1941 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Middle East Theatre, but after initial successes the war in North Africa turned against the British-led forces under his command and he was relieved of the post in August 1942 during theNorth African campaign.
In June 1943, he was once again appointedCommander-in-Chief, India, where his support through the organisation of supply, maintenance and training for GeneralWilliam Slim'sFourteenth Army played an important role in its success. He served as commander-in-chief, India, until thePartition in 1947, when he assumed the role of supreme commander of all British forces in India and Pakistan until late 1948.
Born at 89 Victoria Road inAldershot,Hampshire, the son of John Claud Alexander Auchinleck and Mary Eleanor (Eyre) Auchinleck. His father, a colonel in theRoyal Horse Artillery of theBritish Army, was posted toBangalore inBritish India, with his family accompanying him, while Claude was very young. It was from here that he developed a love for the country that would last for most of his life.[20] Returning to England after the death of his father in 1892, Auchinleck attendedEagle House School atCrowthorne and thenWellington College on scholarships.[21] From there he went on to theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned as an unattached second lieutenant in theIndian Army on 21 January 1903,[22] and joined the62nd Punjabis in April 1904.[21][20] He soon learned several Indian languages,[23] and, able to speak fluently with his soldiers, he absorbed a knowledge of local dialects and customs: this familiarity engendered a lasting mutual respect, enhanced by his own personality.[24]
He was promoted tolieutenant on 21 April 1905,[25] and then spent the next two years inTibet andSikkim before moving toBenares in 1907 where he caughtdiphtheria.[21] After briefly serving with theRoyal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Aldershot he returned to Benares in 1909 and became adjutant of the 62nd Punjabis with promotion tocaptain on 21 January 1912.[26] Auchinleck was an activefreemason.[27][28]
Auchinleck saw active service in theFirst World War and was deployed with his regiment to defend theSuez Canal: in February 1915 he wasin action against theTurks atIsmailia.[21] His regiment moved intoAden to counter the Turkish threat there in July 1915.[21] The6th Indian Division, of which the 62nd Punjabis were a part, was landed atBasra on 31 December 1915 for theMesopotamian campaign.[21] In July 1916 Auchinleck was promoted actingmajor and made second in command of his battalion.[29] He took part in a series of fruitless attacks on the Turks at theBattle of Hanna in January 1916 and was one of the few British officers in his regiment to survive these actions.[21]
He became acting commanding officer of his battalion in February 1917 and led his regiment at theSecond Battle of Kut in February 1917 and theFall of Baghdad in March 1917.[21] Having beenmentioned in despatches and having received theDistinguished Service Order in 1917 for his service in Mesopotamia,[7] he was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 21 January 1918,[30] to temporary lieutenant-colonel on 23 May 1919[31] and tobrevetlieutenant-colonel on 15 November 1919 for his "distinguished service in Southern and Central Kurdistan" on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force.[32]
Auchinleck attended theStaff College, Quetta, between 1920 and 1921.[7] As a lieutenant colonel, he outranked most of his fellow students and even some members of the staff. Despite performing well there – passing the course and being among the top ten students – he was critical of many aspects of the college, which he believed to be too theoretical and with little emphasis being placed on matters such as supply and administration, both of which he thought had been mishandled in the campaign in Mesopotamia.[33] He married Jessie Stewart in 1921. Jessie had been born in 1900 inTacoma, Washington, to Alexander Stewart, head of theBlue Funnel Line that plied the west coast of the United States. When he died about 1919, their mother took her, her twin brother Alan and her younger brother Hepburne back to Bun Rannoch, the family estate at Innerhadden inPerthshire. Holidaying atGrasse on theFrench Riviera, Auchinleck, who was on leave from India at the time, met Jessie on the tennis courts. She was a high-spirited, blue-eyed beauty. Things moved quickly, and they were married within five months. Sixteen years younger than Auchinleck, Jessie became known as 'the little American girl' in India, but adapted readily to life there.[34] They had no children.[35]
Auchinleck became temporary deputy assistant quartermaster general atArmy Headquarters in February 1923[36] and then second-in-command of his regiment, which in the 1923 reorganisation of theIndian Army had become the1st Punjab Regiment, in September 1925.[7] He attended theImperial Defence College in 1927 and, having been promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant-colonel on 21 January 1929[37] he was appointed to command his regiment.[7] Promoted to fullcolonel on 1 February 1930 with seniority from 15 November 1923,[38] he became an instructor at the Staff College, Quetta in February 1930[39] where he remained until April 1933.[40]
He was promoted to temporarybrigadier on 1 July 1933[41] and given command of thePeshawar Brigade, which was active in the pacification of the adjacent tribal areas during the Mohmand and Bajaur Operations between July and October 1933: during his period of command he wasmentioned in despatches.[8] He led a second punitive expedition during theSecond Mohmand Campaign in August 1935 for which he was again mentioned in despatches, promoted tomajor-general on 30 November 1935[42] and appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Star of India on 8 May 1936.[6]
On leaving his brigade command in April 1936, Auchinleck was on the unemployed list (on half pay)[43] until September 1936 when he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Director of Staff Duties inDelhi.[44] He was then appointed to command the Meerut District in India in July 1938.[45] In 1938 Auchinleck was appointed to chair a committee to consider the modernisation, composition and re-equipment of theBritish Indian Army: the committee's recommendations formed the basis of the 1939Chatfield Report which outlined the transformation of the Indian Army – it grew from 183,000 in 1939 to over 2,250,000 men by the end of the war.[46]
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On the outbreak of war, Auchinleck was appointed to command theIndian 3rd Infantry Division, but in January 1940 was summoned to the United Kingdom to commandIV Corps, the only time in the war that a wholly British corps was commanded by an Indian Army officer.[47] He received promotion to actinglieutenant general on 1 February 1940[48] and to the substantive rank of lieutenant general on 16 March 1940.[49] In May 1940 Auchinleck took over command of the Anglo-French ground forces during theNorwegian campaign,[47] a military operation that was doomed to fail.[49]
Auchinleck arrived inGreenock, after the fall of Norway, on 12 June, by which time theBattle of France was nearing its end, with the majority of the BEF in France having beenevacuated from the port of Dunkirk, with the French surrender only a few days away. Due to these reasons, all attention was now given to the defence of the UK which many believed would soon be invaded by the Germans (seeOperation Sea Lion).[50] In mid-June he was given command of the recently establishedV Corps, then serving inSouthern Command under Lieutenant GeneralSir Alan Brooke. His stay was not to be for very long, however, as, just a few weeks later, Brooke succeeded GeneralSir Edmund Ironside asCommander-in-Chief, Home Forces, with Auchinleck succeeding Brooke as GOC-in-C of Southern Command,[51] responsible for the defence ofSouthern England, where the expected invasion would come from.[52] The recently vacated V Corps was taken over by Lieutenant GeneralBernard Montgomery, who disliked Auchinleck intensely, possibly due to his disdain for the Indian Army and its officers.[50] The relationship between the two future field marshals was not easy, with Montgomery later writing:
In the 5th Corps I first served under Auchinleck, who had the Southern Command; I cannot recall that we ever agreed on anything.[53]
Many of Montgomery's actions in the next few weeks and months could be considered as insubordination, with one incident in particular standing out, when Montgomery went over Auchinleck's head directly to theAdjutant-General on issues related to officers and men being transferred to and from Montgomery's V Corps.[50][49] Auchinleck was not to deal with this behaviour for long as in December he was ordered to succeed his friend, GeneralSir Robert Cassels, asCommander-in-Chief, India.[54][55] By now known throughout the army as "the Auk", he was destined to encounter Montgomery again, although the circumstances there would not be at all pleasant.[56]
Promoted to fullgeneral on 26 December,[57] Auchinleck returned to India in January 1941 to assume his new appointment, in which position he was also appointed to the Executive Council of theViceroy of India[58] and appointedADC General to the King,[59] a ceremonial position he was to hold until after the end of the war.[60] In April he succeeded Lieutenant General SirTravers Clarke as colonel of theRoyal Inniskilling Fusiliers.[61]
In April 1941,RAF Habbaniya was threatened by the new pro-Axis regime ofRashid Ali. This large Royal Air Force station was west of Baghdad inIraq and GeneralArchibald Wavell, Commander-in-ChiefMiddle East Command, was reluctant to intervene, despite the urgings ofWinston Churchill, because of his pressing commitments in the Western Desert and Greece. Auchinleck, however, acted decisively, sending the 1st Battalion of theKing's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) by air to Habbaniya and shipping the10th Indian Infantry Division by sea toBasra. Wavell was prevailed upon by London to sendHabforce, a relief column, from theBritish Mandate of Palestine but by the time it arrived in Habbaniya on 18 May theAnglo-Iraqi War was virtually over.[62]
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Following the see-saw of Allied and Axis successes and reverses in North Africa, Auchinleck was appointed to succeed GeneralSir Archibald Wavell as Commander-in-ChiefMiddle East Command in July 1941;[63] Wavell took up Auchinleck's post as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, swapping jobs with him.[64]
As Commander-in-Chief Middle East, Auchinleck, based inCairo, held responsibility not just for North Africa but also forPersia and the Middle East. He launched an offensive in theWestern Desert,Operation Crusader, in November 1941: despite some tactical reverses during the fighting which resulted in Auchinleck replacing the Eighth Army commanderAlan Cunningham withNeil Ritchie, by the end of Decemberthe besieged garrison ofTobruk had been relieved and Rommel obliged to withdraw to El Agheila. Auchinleck appears to have believed that the enemy had been defeated, writing on 12 January 1942 that the Axis forces were "beginning to feel the strain" and were "hard pressed".[65]
In fact the Axis forces had managed to withdraw in good order and a few days after Auchinleck's optimistic appreciation, having reorganised and been reinforced, struck at the dispersed and weakened British forces, driving them back to the Gazala positions nearTobruk.[66] The British Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), GeneralSir Alan Brooke, wrote in his diary that it was "nothing less than bad generalship on the part of Auchinleck. He has been overconfident and has believed everything his overoptimistic [DMI] Shearer has told him". Brooke commented that Auchinleck "could have been one of the finest of commanders" but lacked the ability to select the men to serve him. Brooke sent him one of his best armoured division commandersRichard McCreery, whose advice was ignored in favour of that of Auchinleck's controversial chief of operations, Major-GeneralDorman-Smith.[67]
Rommel's attack at theBattle of Gazala of 26 May 1942 resulted in a significant defeat for the British. Auchinleck's appreciation of the situation written to Ritchie on 20 May had suggested that the armoured reserves be concentrated in a position suitable to meet both a flanking attack around the south of the front or a direct attack through the centre (which was the likelihood more favoured by Auchinleck).[68] In the event, Ritchie chose a more dispersed and rearward positioning of his two armoured divisions[69] and when the attack in the centre came, it proved to be a diversion and the main attack, by Rommel's armoured formations, came round the southern flank. Poor initial positioning and subsequent handling and coordination of Allied formations by Ritchie and his corps commanders resulted in their heavy defeat and the Eighth Army retreating intoEgypt;Tobruk fell to the Axis on 21 June 1942.[70]
On 24 June Auchinleck stepped in to take direct command of the Eighth Army, having lost confidence inNeil Ritchie's ability to control and direct his forces. Auchinleck discarded Ritchie's plan to stand atMersa Matruh, deciding to fight only a delaying action there, while withdrawing to the more easily defendable position atEl Alamein. Here Auchinleck tailored a defence that took advantage of the terrain and the fresh troops at his disposal, stopping the exhausted German/Italian advance in theFirst Battle of El Alamein. Enjoying a considerable superiority of material and men over the weak German/Italian forces, Auchinleck organised a series of counter-attacks. Poorly conceived and badly coordinated, these attacks achieved little.[71]
"The Auk", as he was known, appointed a number of senior commanders who proved to be unsuitable for their positions, and command arrangements were often characterised by bitter personality clashes. Auchinleck was an Indian Army officer and was criticised for apparently having little direct experience or understanding of British and Dominion troops. Dorman-Smith was regarded with considerable distrust by many of the senior commanders in Eighth Army. By July 1942 Auchinleck had lost the confidence of Dominion commanders and relations with his British commanders had become strained.[note 2]
Like his foe Rommel (and his predecessor Wavell and successor Montgomery), Auchinleck was subjected to constant political interference, having to weather a barrage of hectoring telegrams and instructions from Prime Minister Churchill throughout late 1941 and the spring and summer of 1942. Churchill constantly sought an offensive from Auchinleck, and was downcast at the military reverses in Egypt and Cyrenaica. Churchill was desperate for some sort of British victory before the planned Allied landings in North Africa,Operation Torch, scheduled for November 1942. He badgered Auchinleck immediately after the Eighth Army had all but exhausted itself after the first battle of El Alamein. Churchill and theChief of the Imperial General Staff,Sir Alan Brooke, flew to Cairo in early August 1942 to meet Auchinleck, where it emerged he had lost the confidence of both men.[72] He was replaced as Commander-in-ChiefMiddle East Command by GeneralSir Harold Alexander (later Field Marshal TheEarl Alexander of Tunis).[73]
Joseph M. Horodyski and Maurice Remy both praise Auchinleck as an underrated military leader who contributed the most to the successful defence of El Alamein and consequently the final defeat of Rommel in Africa. The two historians also criticize Churchill for the unreasonable decision to put the blame on Auchinleck and to relieve him.[74][75]
Churchill offered Auchinleck command of the newly createdPersia and Iraq Command (this having been separated from Alexander's command), but Auchinleck declined this post, as he believed that separating the area from the Middle East Command was not good policy and the new arrangements would not be workable. He set his reasons out in his letter to theChief of the Imperial General Staff dated 14 August 1942.[76] Instead he returned to India, where he spent almost a year "unemployed" before in June 1943 being again appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.[77]
General Wavell meanwhile having been appointedViceroy, on this appointment it was announced that responsibility for the prosecution of the war with Japan would move from the Commander-in-Chief India to a newly created South East Asia Command. However, the appointment of the new command's Supreme Commander,ActingVice AdmiralLord Louis Mountbatten, was not announced until August 1943 and until Mountbatten could set up his headquarters and assume control (in November), Auchinleck retained responsibility for operations in India and Burma while conducting a review and revision of Allied plans based on the decisions taken by the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff at theQuadrant Conference, which ended in August.[78]
Following Mountbatten's arrival, Auchinleck, as Commander-in-Chief India once more, was responsible for the internal security of India, the defence of theNorth West Frontier and the buildup of India as a base, including most importantly the reorganisation of the Indian Army, the training of forces destined for SEAC and the lines of communication carrying men and material to the forward areas and to China. Auchinleck made the supply of Fourteenth Army, with probably the worst lines of communication of the war, his immediate priority;[79] asSir William Slim, commander of theFourteenth Army, was later to write:
It was a good day for us when he [Auchinleck] took command of India, our main base, recruiting area and training ground. The Fourteenth Army, from its birth to its final victory, owed much to his unselfish support and never-failing understanding. Without him and what he and the Army of India did for us we could not have existed, let alone conquered.[80]
Auchinleck suffered a personal disappointment when his wife Jessie left him for his friend,Air Chief MarshalSir Richard Peirse. Peirse and Auchinleck had been students together at the Imperial Defence College, but that was long before. Peirse was now Allied Air Commander-in-Chief, South-East Asia, and also based in India. The affair became known to Mountbatten in early 1944, and he passed the information to the chief of the RAF,Sir Charles Portal, hoping that Peirse would be recalled. The affair was common knowledge by September 1944, and Peirse was neglecting his duties. Mountbatten sent Peirse and Lady Auchinleck back to England on 28 November 1944,[81] where they lived together at a Brighton hotel. Peirse had his marriage dissolved, and Auchinleck obtained a divorce in 1946.[82] Auchinleck was reportedly very badly affected. According to his sister, he was never the same after the break-up.[83] He always carried a photograph of Jessie in his wallet even after the divorce.[83]
There is scholarly dispute whether Auchinleck was homosexual. His biographer, Philip Warner, addressed the rumours but dismissed them;[84] however historian Ronald Hyam has alleged that "sexually based moral-revulsion" was the reason for Montgomery's inability to get on with Auchinleck, and further, that Auchinleck was "let off with a high-level warning" over his relationships with Indian boys.[85]
Auchinleck continued as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army after the end of the war[86] helping, though much against his own convictions, to prepare the future Indian and Pakistani armies for thePartition of India: in November 1945 he was forced to commute the more serious judicial sentences awarded against officers of theIndian National Army in face of growing unease and unrest both within the Indian population, and theBritish Indian Army.[73] On 1 June 1946 he was promoted tofield marshal,[87] but he refused to accept a peerage, lest he be thought associated with a policy (i.e. Partition) that he thought fundamentally dishonourable.[79]
Sending a report to the British Government on 28 September 1947, Field Marshal Auchinleck wrote: "I have no hesitation, whatever, in affirming that the present Indian Cabinet are implacably determined to do all in their power to prevent the establishment of theDominion of Pakistan on firm basis." He stated in the second, political part of his assessment, "Since 15th August, the situation has steadily deteriorated and the Indian leaders, cabinet ministers, civil officials and others have persistently tried to obstruct the work of partition of the armed forces."[88][89]
When partition was effected in August 1947, Auchinleck was appointed Supreme Commander of all British forces remaining in India and Pakistan[90] and remained in this role until the winding up and closure of the Supreme H.Q. at the end of November 1947.[91] This marked his effective retirement from the army (although technically field marshals in the British Army never retire, remaining on the active list on half pay[92]). He left India on 1 December.[91]
After a brief period in Italy in connection with an unsuccessful business project, Auchinleck retired to London, where he occupied himself with a number of charitable and business interests and became a respectably skilled watercolour painter.[93] In 1960 he settled inBeccles in the county of Suffolk, remaining there for seven years until, at the age of eighty-four, he decided to emigrate and set up home inMarrakesh,[94] where he died on 23 March 1981.[95]
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Auchinleck is buried inBen M'Sik European Cemetery,Casablanca, in theCommonwealth War Graves Commission plot in the cemetery, next to the grave ofRaymond Steed who was the second youngest non-civilian Commonwealth casualty of the Second World War.[96]
A memorial plaque was erected in the crypt ofSt Paul's Cathedral. A bronze statue of Auchinleck can be seen on Broad Street adjacent to Auchinleck House, Five Ways, Birmingham.[97]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Francis Venning | Commander,Peshawar Brigade 1933–1936 | Succeeded by |
| New command | GOC IV Corps February–May 1940 | Succeeded by |
| GOC V Corps June–July 1940 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | GOC-in-C Southern Command July–December 1940 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | C-in-C India 1941 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | C-in-C Middle East 1941–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | GOC Eighth Army June–August 1942 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, India 1943–1947 | Post abolished |
| New title | Supreme Commander, India and Pakistan August–November 1947 | Post abolished merged with the offices of theGovernor-General of India and theGovernor-General of Pakistan |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Colonel of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers 1941–1947 | Succeeded by Eric Edward James Moore |
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