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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|British Army general (1897–1979)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}<br />
{{Infobox military person<br />
|name=John Grover<br />
|image=John-Malcolm-Lawrence-Grover.jpg<br />
|image_size=175px<br />
|caption=<br />
|birth_date=6 February 1897<br />
|death_date= 11 June 1979 (aged 82)<br />
|placeofburial_label=<br />
|placeofburial=<br />
|birth_place=[[Murree]], [[Bengal]], [[British Raj|British India]]<br />
|death_place=[[Crowborough]], [[East Sussex]], [[England]]<ref name="deaths">{{cite news |title= Deaths |work=[[The Times]] |date= 14 June 1979|page= 16}}</ref><br />
|nickname=<br />
|allegiance={{flag|United Kingdom}}<br />
|branch={{army|United Kingdom}}<br />
|serviceyears=1914−1948<br />
|servicenumber=10337<br />
|rank=[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]]<br />
|unit=[[King's Shropshire Light Infantry]]<br />
|commands=1st Battalion, [[King's Shropshire Light Infantry]]<br/>[[11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East|11th Infantry Brigade]]<br/>[[29th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|29th Infantry Brigade Group]]<br/>[[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Infantry Division]]<br />
|battles=[[World War I]]<br/>[[World War II]]<br />
|awards=[[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Military Cross]]<br />
|relations=<br />
|laterwork=<br />
}}<br />
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]] '''John Malcolm Lawrence Grover''' [[Order of the Bath|CB]] [[Military Cross|MC]] (6 February 1897 – 11 June 1979) was a [[British Army]] [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] who commanded the [[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Infantry Division]] in the [[Burma campaign]], including in the [[Battle of Kohima]], during [[World War II]].<br />
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==Early life and military career==<br />
Grover was born in British India, the son of General Sir [[Malcolm Henry Grover]] and Helen Grace Lawrence, granddaughter of Sir [[George St Patrick Lawrence]].<ref name="birth">''India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947''</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage |date=1898 |publisher=Burke's Peerage Limited. |page=865 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NlhQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA865 |language=en}}</ref> He was educated at [[Winchester College]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], Grover was, at the age of just 17, [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] into the [[King's Shropshire Light Infantry]] (KSLI) on 15 December 1914, four months after the outbreak of [[World War I]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29007|page=10696|date=15 December 1914}}</ref> After turning 18, he was posted to the regiment's 1st Battalion in 1915, then serving on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] as part of the [[16th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|16th Brigade]] of the [[6th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|6th Division]], a [[Regular army|Regular Army]] formation, which had sustained heavy losses. Serving with his battalion for the rest of the war, Grover was awarded the [[Military Cross]] for his service<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31219|supp=y|page=3240|date=7 March 1919}}</ref> and was [[wounded in action]] three times during the conflict.{{sfn|Keane|2010|p=458}}{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=131}}<br />
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==Between the wars==<br />
Remaining in the army during the [[interwar period]], spent mostly as a [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] with his battalion in [[British Raj|India]], Grover married in 1930. He became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, India, and saw service on the North-west Frontier from 1930 to 1931. He attended the [[Pakistan Command and Staff College|Staff College, Quetta]] from 1932 to 1933, and, after serving as a staff officer with [[Aldershot Command]] and commanding the KSLI [[regimental depot]], he became [[Commanding officer|Commanding Officer]] (CO) of the 1st Battalion, KSLI in 1938, which had just arrived in England from India.<ref name=dk>[http://www.generals.dk/general/Grover/John_Malcolm_Lawrence/Great_Britain.html Generals.dk]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/053-1.htm|title=1st Battalion, The King's Shropshire Light Infantry|publisher=Regiments.org|accessdate=8 September 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051122160929/http://regiments.org/deploy/uk/reg-inf/053-1.htm|archivedate=22 November 2005}}</ref>{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=131}}<br />
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==Second World War==<br />
Shortly after the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]], in September 1939, Grover, still CO of the battalion, now serving as part of the [[3rd Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|3rd Brigade]] of [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]] [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|The Hon. Harold Alexander]]'s [[History of the British 1st Division during the World Wars|1st Division]], led it overseas to France, where it formed part of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War II)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF).{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=131}} There was no immediate action, however, and the battalion spent the first few months of its time in France digging defensive positions in expectation of a repeat of the [[trench warfare]] of World War I. From 18 to 28 December Grover took over as acting commander of the 3rd Brigade, and soon afterwards was posted to Major General [[Harold Franklyn]]'s [[5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|5th Division]] as its [[Staff (military)|General Staff Officer Grade I]] (GSO1).<ref name=dk/><br />
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The 5th Division was also serving in France as part of the BEF. By May 1940 it was decided that the 5th Division should return to the United Kingdom as a reserve formation; this was soon countermanded. On the following day, 10 May, the Germans launched their long-waited assault in the West and the 5th Division was heavily engaged throughout the [[Battle of France]], in particular at the [[Battle of Arras (1940)|Battle of Arras]] and the [[Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal]], before being ordered to [[Battle of Dunkirk|retreat to Dunkirk]], where most of the division, by now heavily battered after sustaining severe casualties, was [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuated to England]], arriving there on the night of 31 May/1 June.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=131}}<br />
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[[File:King George VI (left) with Army officers at a railway station when he arrived to inspect troops of 2nd Infantry Division at Burford-on-the-Water and Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, 1 April 1942. H18399.jpg|thumb|left|[[George VI|King George VI]] (left) with Major General John Grover (right) and several officers at a railway station at Gloucestershire, 1 April 1942.]]<br />
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Just two weeks later Grover left the division, received promotion to [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]], and was posted to the [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th Division]], then commanded by Major General [[Dudley Graham Johnson|Dudley Johnson]] (but soon replaced by Major General [[Ralph Eastwood]]), to command the [[11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East|11th Brigade]], taking over from Brigadier [[Kenneth Anderson (British Army officer)|Kenneth Anderson]]. Like the 5th Division, the 4th had also recently returned from France, sustained heavy casualties, and needed to refit. The brigade, stationed along with the rest of the division in Southern England, was now given anti-invasion duties and training to repel an expected [[Operation Sea Lion|German invasion]]. Grover remained there until January 1941 and, after handing over the 11th Brigade to Brigadier [[Vyvyan Evelegh]], he was posted to the [[29th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|29th Infantry Brigade Group]], succeeding Brigadier [[Oliver Leese|Sir Oliver Leese]].{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=131}}<ref name=dk/> The brigade was formerly an independent formation, comprising four Regular battalions and supporting troops, all of whom had returned from service in India in July 1940 after Dunkirk, and was serving as part of Major General Leese's [[West Sussex County Division]]. Grover trained the brigade throughout most of the year until, in October, he handed over to Brigadier [[Francis Festing]], formerly CO of the 2nd Battalion, [[East Lancashire Regiment]].{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=131}}<br />
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[[File:British Generals 1939-1945 IND3712.jpg|thumb|right|Lieutenant General Montagu Stopford, GOC XXXIII Indian Corps (right), confers with Major General John Grover, GOC 2nd Division (left) and Brigadier Joseph Salomons, then commanding the 9th Indian Brigade (centre), after the opening of the Imphal-Kohima road, June 1944.]]<br />
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He devised and implemented a strategy to remove the Japanese from the [[Kohima]] region of India leading to the defeat of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] at the [[Battle of Kohima]] between April and June 1944.<ref>[http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4C2B25FC-2E6C-45F9-B785-8A75139E9A0A/0/ww2_kohima.pdf The Battle of Kohima, North East India, 4 April – 22 June 1944] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806001743/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4C2B25FC-2E6C-45F9-B785-8A75139E9A0A/0/ww2_kohima.pdf |date= 6 August 2009 }}</ref> During the battle Grover's division suffered very heavy casualties, in May losing all three infantry brigade commanders, but gaining the division's third [[Victoria Cross]] (VC) of the war, belonging to Captain [[John Niel Randle|John Randle]] of the 2nd Battalion, [[Royal Norfolk Regiment]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=36833|supp=y|page=5673|date=8 December 1944}}</ref><br />
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Despite being victorious in this battle, he was removed from command on 4 July 1944 by Lieutenant General [[Montagu Stopford|Stopford]], the corps commander, who was unhappy with Grover's methods. His replacement as GOC of the 2nd Division was Major General [[Cameron Nicholson]].{{sfn|Swinson|2015|p=315}} Grover went on to be Director of Army Welfare Services at the [[War Office]] in 1944 before retiring from the army in 1948.<ref name=dk/><br />
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==Postwar==<br />
He became [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]] of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1947, holding this post until 1955.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britisharmedforces.org/li_pages/regiments/ksli/shrop_colonels.htm |title=The King's Shropshire Light Infantry |access-date=27 August 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720170119/http://www.britisharmedforces.org/li_pages/regiments/ksli/shrop_colonels.htm |archive-date=20 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kohima, a memorial to General Grover was unveiled at Jotsama on the site of his 2nd Division Headquarters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nagalandpost.com/channelnews/state/StateNews.aspx?news=TkVXUzEwMDA1ODI1Nw%3D%3D |title=Nagaland Post |access-date=22 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080115/http://www.nagalandpost.com/channelnews/state/StateNews.aspx?news=TkVXUzEwMDA1ODI1Nw%3D%3D |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist|30em}}<br />
<br />
==Bibliography==<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Keane |first=Fergal |authorlink=Fergal Keane |year=2010 |title=Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944 |publisher=HarperPress |location=London |isbn=978-0-00-713240-9}}<br />
*{{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}}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Swinson|first=Arthur|authorlink=Arthur Swinson |year=2015 |title=Kohima |publisher=Head of Zeus |location=London |isbn=9781784081782}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80000045 Imperial War Museum Interview]<br />
*[https://generals.dk/general/Grover/John_Malcolm_Lawrence/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]<br />
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{{s-start}}<br />
{{s-mil}}<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Daril Watson]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=[[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|GOC 2nd Infantry Division]]|years=1941−1944}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Cameron Nicholson]]}}<br />
|-<br />
{{s-hon}}<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Charles Grant (British Army officer)|Sir Charles Grant]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=[[King's Shropshire Light Infantry|Colonel of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry]]|years=1947−1955}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Ernest Down|Sir Ernest Down]]}}<br />
{{s-end}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grover, John}}<br />
[[Category:1897 births]]<br />
[[Category:1979 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]<br />
[[Category:British Army generals of World War II]]<br />
[[Category:King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers]]<br />
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]<br />
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Quetta]]<br />
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]<br />
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]<br />
[[Category:War Office personnel in World War II]]<br />
[[Category:People from Murree]]<br />
[[Category:British Army major generals]]<br />
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]</div>Bot