Ouvry Lindfield Roberts

2021-08-15T03:00:58Z

2A00:23C5:B320:DF00:E5AD:5FE1:7647:A62F:

{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir Ouvry Roberts
|image= OuvryRoberts.jpg
|image_size= 300px
|alt=
|caption= Roberts greeting former [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] in [[British Malaya|Malaya]], 1945.
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1898|04|03|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Bogawantalawa]], [[British Ceylon]]
|death_date= {{death date and age|1986|03|16|1898|04|03|df=yes}}
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch= {{army|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears= 1917–1955
|rank= [[General (United Kingdom)|General]]
|servicenumber= 10009
|unit= [[Royal Engineers]]
|commands= [[Southern Command (United Kingdom)|Southern Command]] (1949–52) [[HQ Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland District]] (1948–49) [[XXXIV Corps (British India)|XXXIV Indian Corps]] (1945) [[23rd Infantry Division (India)|23rd Indian Infantry Division]] (1943–45) [[16th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|16th Infantry Brigade]] (1942) [[20th Indian Infantry Brigade]] (1941)
|battles= [[First World War]] [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] [[Second World War]]
|awards= [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]] [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Distinguished Service Order]] [[Mentioned in Despatches]]
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
[[General (United Kingdom)|General]] '''Sir Ouvry Lindfield Roberts''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|KBE|DSO}} (3 April 1898 – 16 March 1986) was a senior officer of the [[British Army]] and the [[British Indian Army]] during the [[First World War|First]] and [[Second World War]]s.

==Military career==
Educated at [[Cheltenham College]], the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]] and [[King's College, Cambridge]], Ouvry Roberts was [[Commissioned officer|commissioned]] into the [[Royal Engineers]] on 6 June 1917.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/summary/ro25-001.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref> He served on the North West Frontier of India during the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] in 1919 and in Waziristan 1919–21.<ref name="Half Yearly Army List January 1946">Half Yearly Army List January 1946</ref>

Roberts played [[first-class cricket]] for the [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|University of Cambridge]] in 1925, and for the [[Free Foresters Cricket Club|Free Foresters]] in 1926.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/32/32413/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Ouvry Roberts|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=6 April 2015}}</ref> After attending the [[Staff College, Camberley]] from 1934 to 1935, he served as Deputy Director of Military Operations and Intelligence in India from 17 September 1939 to 28 January 1941.<ref name=lh/><ref name="Half Yearly Army List January 1946"/>

In January 1941 Roberts was appointed GSO1 ([[Staff (military)|Chief Staff Officer]]) of the [[10th Indian Infantry Division]], which was then forming at Ahmednagar in India. Three months later the division was ordered to Iraq.<ref name="Mead395">Mead, p. 395.</ref> The RAF training base at Habbaniya, defended by 1,200 locally recruited Assyrians and Kurds and some armoured cars, was threatened by an Iraqi force in late April and three companies from 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment Lancaster were sent by air to reinforce the base. Roberts was sent to Habbaniya on 1 May to review the situation,<ref name="Mead396">Mead, p. 396.</ref> and assumed the ''[[de facto]]'' command of the land operations at [[RAF Habbaniya]] after the departure of Air Vice Marshal [[Harry George Smart]] who had been injured in a car accident.<ref>Lyman, ''Iraq 1941'', pg. 19</ref> Roberts was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] for commanding the ground forces defending RAF Habbaniya.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35396 |date=26 December 1941 |page=7333 |supp=y }}</ref>

Roberts commanded what became known as the "Habbaniya Brigade" and, on 19 May 1941, participated in the successful capture of [[Fallujah]].<ref>Lyman, ''Iraq 1941'', pg. 20</ref> The Habbaniya Brigade was formed in the week following the end of the Iraqi siege of the British garrison at Habbaniya. Roberts formed the brigade by grouping the infantry reinforcements from [[Basra]] (2/4 Gurkha) and from [[Kingcol]] (1 Essex).<ref>Lyman, ''Iraq 1941'', pg. 69</ref> Roberts returned to 10th Indian Division after completing what his divisional commander, Major General [[William Slim]], later described as "one of the best single-handed jobs any officer of his then rank had performed in the war".<ref>Slim, p. 301.</ref>

As chief staff officer, Roberts played an important role in the 10th Indian Division's involvement in the Euphrates expedition during the [[Syria–Lebanon campaign]] in July 1941 and the [[Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran]] a month later, earning him promotion to [[Commanding Officer]] of the division's 20th Indian Infantry Brigade in Iraq in January 1942.<ref name="Mead396"/>

From 1 July 1942 until 24 January 1943,<ref name="Mead396"/> Roberts was the Commanding Officer of the [[16th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|16th Infantry Brigade]] in [[Ceylon]].<ref name=lh/> As the threat of a Japanese invasion of Ceylon receded, 16th Infantry Brigade was redeployed in July 1943 while Roberts was appointed chief staff officer (Brigadier General Staff) of [[IV Corps (United Kingdom)|IV Corps]] at [[Imphal]] commanded by Lieutenant General [[Geoffry Scoones]]<ref name=lh/><ref name="Mead397">Mead, p. 397.</ref> and which formed part of Slim's [[Fourteenth Army (United Kingdom)|Fourteenth Army]].<ref name="Half Yearly Army List January 1946"/>

On 10 August 1943 Roberts was promoted to acting major general and appointed [[General Officer Commanding]] [[23rd Infantry Division (India)|23rd Indian Infantry Division]], part of IV Corps. The division's units were heavily involved in the decisive [[Battle of Imphal]] and the subsequent Allied advance into Burma. In August 1944 the division was withdrawn to India.<ref>Mead pp. 397–398.</ref> Roberts was made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] on 8 February 1945.<ref name="Half Yearly Army List January 1946"/> He was promoted substantive major general on 17 February with seniority from 5 June 1944.<ref name="Half Yearly Army List January 1946"/>

On 12 March 1945 Roberts was promoted acting lieutenant general and appointed General Officer Commanding [[XXXIV Corps (India)|XXXIV Indian Corps]], which was tasked with Operation Roger, an amphibious assault on the Kra Peninsula in Thailand. Events moved more rapidly than anticipated and Operation Roger was canceled. The corps was then tasked with Operation Zipper, an amphibious landing on the coast of [[British Malaya|Malaya]]. In the event, the landings, which took place in September 1945, were unopposed, taking place days after the Japanese surrender.<ref name=lh/><ref name="Half Yearly Army List January 1946"/><ref name="Mead398">Mead, p. 398.</ref>

After the war Roberts was appointed as Vice [[Adjutant-General]] at the [[War Office]] in 1945.<ref name=lh/> He became General Officer Commanding [[HQ Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland District]] in 1948 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of [[Southern Command (United Kingdom)|Southern Command]] in 1949.<ref name=lh/> He became [[Quartermaster-General to the Forces]] in 1952 and retired in 1955,<ref name=lh/> widely regarded as one of the high achievers of the Second World War.<ref name="Mead398"/>

Roberts was [[Aide-de-Camp General]] to [[Elizabeth II|the Queen]] from 1952 to 1955,<ref name=lh/> and [[Colonel Commandant]] the [[Royal Engineers]] from 1952 to 1962.<ref name=lh/>

==Retirement==
In retirement Roberts was a Director of Grosvenor Laing and then President of Grosvenor Laing from 1955 to 1960.<ref name=lh/>

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book| first=Robert|last=Lyman| series=Campaign Series| title=Iraq 1941: The Battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad| publisher=Osprey Publishing | location=Oxford| year=2006 | isbn=1-84176-991-6}}
*{{Cite book| first=Richard| last=Mead| title=Churchill's Lions: a biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II| year=2007| publisher=Spellmount| location=Stroud (UK)| isbn=978-1-86227-431-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Slim|first=William|author-link=William Slim|title=Defeat into Victory|location=London|publisher=Cassell|year=1956| oclc=253543428}}
*{{cite book| first=Nick| last=Smart| title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| isbn=1844150496| year=2005| location=Barnesley| publisher=Pen & Sword}}
*{{cite book| first=Archibald| last=Wavell| year=1946| author-link=Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell| title=Despatch on Operations in Iraq, East Syria and Iran from 10th April, 1941 to 12th January, 1942| publisher= War Office| location= London}} in {{London Gazette| issue=37685 |date=13 August 1946 | supp=y|pages=4093–4102}}

==External links==
*[https://generals.dk/general/Roberts/Ouvry_Lindfield/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Gerard Bucknall]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[HQ Northern Ireland|GOC British Army in Northern Ireland]]|years=1948–1949}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Reginald Denning|Sir Reginald Denning]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton|Sir John Harding]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Southern Command (United Kingdom)|GOC-in-C Southern Command]]|years=1949–1952}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ernest Down|Sir Ernest Down]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Ivor Thomas (British Army officer)|Sir Ivor Thomas]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Quartermaster-General to the Forces]]|years=1952–1955}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Maurice Chilton|Sir Maurice Chilton]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Ouvry Lindfield}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Cambridge University cricketers]]
[[Category:Free Foresters cricketers]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:People educated at Cheltenham College]]

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Ouvry Lindfield Roberts