Rupert Smith

Last updated

Sir Rupert Smith
Born (1943-12-13) 13 December 1943 (age 80) [1]
Chelmsford, Essex, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1962–2002
Rank General
Service number 477836
Commands held Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1998–01)
HQ Northern Ireland (1996–98)
UN forces in Bosnia (1995)
1st Armoured Division (1990–92)
Battles/wars The Troubles
Gulf War
Bosnian War
Kosovo War
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order & Bar
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Queen's Gallantry Medal
Legionnaire of the Legion of Merit (United States)
Order of King Abdulaziz, 3rd Class (Saudi Arabia)
Other workAuthor

General Sir Rupert Anthony Smith, KCB , DSO & Bar , OBE , QGM (born 13 December 1943) is a retired British Army officer and author of The Utility of Force . He was a senior commander during the Gulf War, for which he was recognised with the award of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), and again during the Bosnian War, for which he was recognised with the award of a bar to his DSO. He later became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Contents

Early life and education

Smith was born in Chelmsford, Essex, England on 13 December 1943, the son of Irving Smith and Joan Debenham. [1] His father was a New Zealand fighter ace in the Battle of Britain who later led No. 487 Squadron RNZAF before rising to group captain in the service of the Royal Air Force. [2]

Smith was educated at the Haileybury and Imperial Service College and later at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. [1]

Military career

Smith enlisted in 1962 and graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Parachute Regiment in December 1964. [3] He has served in East and South Africa, Arabia, the Caribbean, Northern Ireland, Europe and Malaysia. He was promoted lieutenant in June 1966, [4] captain in December 1970, [5] and major in December 1975. [6] In 1978, when a major, he was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for services in Northern Ireland. [7]

In June 1980 Smith was promoted to lieutenant colonel and, [8] having been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1982 New Year Honours, [9] was advanced in June 1985 to colonel. [10] His promotion to brigadier came in December 1986. [11]

In October 1990 Smith was promoted major general and assumed command of the 1st Armoured Division [12] [13] which he led during the Gulf War. For services during the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), [14] the United States Legion of Merit and the Saudi Order of King Abdulaziz, 3rd Class. [15] The citation for the DSO, published in the London Gazette reads:

Major General Smith has led the largest British armoured force deployed in action since World War II. He has done so with consummate skill and outstanding personal leadership and under direct enemy fire.

Within two weeks of taking over 1 Armoured Division in Germany, Major General Smith was despatched to the Gulf to command 35,000 men and women making up the British Ground Force contribution to Operation Granby. The force was made up of a wide variety of individuals, many never having served together before. He was given a two Brigade Division with exceptionally strong artillery and engineer support. Although he did not know it at the time, he had only six weeks to pull his force together, train it, and deploy it some 350 miles, and set up a close working relationship with the Americans under whose tactical control he was placed.

By the time the war started he had achieved all of these targets and had a first class fighting Division under his command.

During the land battle his Division was given a key role in the US VII Corps battle which involved a rapid exploitation of the minefield breach and a rapid advance to destroy some three Iraqi divisions. Failure to achieve it would have destroyed the main thrust of the Commander in Chiefs battle plan and could have resulted in grave and heavy US casualties.

With consummate personal attention to the detailed planning, and with outstanding personal leadership, Major General Smith swept his command through the breach and attacked the Iraqi division in detail. He personally led from the front with fearless disregard for the enemy anti tank fire, and despite the high threat of chemical weapons being used. With outstanding skill, and no little personal bravery, his Division achieved its objectives, secured the flank of VII Corps and enabled the main thrust of Desert Storm to sweep through and destroy the Iraqi rear divisions.

Major General Smith has led the major British land force operations on Operation Granby with a level of skill and personal bravery that is a credit to our nation. [14]

He became the first Assistant Chief of Defence Operations and Security at the UK Ministry of Defence in August 1992. [16] While there he was intimately involved in the UK's development of the strategy in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In January 1995 he was granted the acting rank of lieutenant general and appointed Commander Bosnia and Herzogovina Command [17] to command UNPROFOR in Sarajevo. His lieutenant general rank was made substantive in April 1995, [18] and he was awarded a Bar to his DSO in 1996 for his services in Bosnia and Herzegovina. [19] Knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1996 New Year Honours, [20] Smith was General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland from 1996 to 1998. [21] His final assignment, initially as an acting general, was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe between 1998 [22] and 2001, covering NATO's Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo war, and the development of the European Security and Defence Identity. His general's rank was made substantive on 1 January 1999. [23] His retirement from the army took effect in January 2002. [24]

He was appointed Honorary Colonel of Exeter University OTC in June 2003 [25] having held periods of tenure as Colonel Commandant Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (November 1992 [26] to November 1997 [27] ) and Colonel Commandant The Parachute Regiment (July 1993 [28] to September 1998 [29] ). He also held the appointment of Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen between August 2000 [30] and November 2001. [31]

Works

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg After Words interview with Smith on The Utility of Force, May 10, 2008, C-SPAN

A treatise on modern warfare, it explains why the best military forces in the world win their battles but lose the wars. This is due to the paradigm change in military activity, from industrial warfare to the paradigm identified in the book as "war amongst the people"—a situation in which an outcome cannot be resolved directly by military force. [33] The strategies for war amongst the people should be analysed as fighting and winning a linked series of confrontations rather than a series of battles. [34]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard O'Connor</span> British Army general (1889–1981)

General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, and commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War. He was the field commander for Operation Compass, in which his forces destroyed a much larger Italian army – a victory which nearly drove the Axis from Africa, and in turn, led Adolf Hitler to send the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel to try to reverse the situation. O'Connor was captured by a German reconnaissance patrol during the night of 7 April 1941 and spent over two years in an Italian prisoner of war camp. He eventually escaped after the fall of Mussolini in the autumn of 1943. In 1944 he commanded VIII Corps in the Battle of Normandy and later during Operation Market Garden. In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India and then, in the closing days of British rule in the subcontinent, he headed Northern Command. His final job in the army was Adjutant-General to the Forces in London, in charge of the British Army's administration, personnel and organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Gott</span> British Army general (1897–1942)

Lieutenant-General William Henry Ewart Gott,, nicknamed "Strafer", was a senior British Army officer who fought during both the First and the Second World Wars, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general while serving with the British Eighth Army in the Western Desert and North Africa from 1940 to 1942. In August 1942 he was appointed as successor to General Claude Auchinleck as commander of the Eighth Army but, on the way to take up his command, he was killed when his plane was shot down. His death led to the appointment of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery in his place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg</span> New Zealand soldier and viceroy (1889–1963)

Lieutenant-General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, was a British-born New Zealand soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, who served as the 7th governor-general of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willoughby Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie</span> British Army general and colonial administrator

Lieutenant-General Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie,, was a senior officer of the British Army who fought in both World Wars, following which he served terms as Governor of South Australia and the eighth Governor-General of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Neame</span> British Army general (1888–1978)

Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame, was a senior British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, and the winner of an Olympic Games gold medal; he is the only person to achieve both distinctions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Hull</span> British Army general (1907–1989)

Field Marshal Sir Richard Amyatt Hull, was a senior British Army officer. He was the last Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), holding the post from 1961 to 1964, and the first Chief of the General Staff (CGS), holding that post until 1965, and, as such, was the professional head of the British Army. He later became Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) from 1965 to 1967, the professional head of the entire British Armed Forces. He served with distinction during the Second World War, fighting from 1942 to 1945 in North Africa, Italy and Western Europe, became the youngest divisional commander in the British Army, and, after the war was over, he advised the British government on the response to the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Hoffmeister</span> Canadian army officer (1907–1999)

Major General Bertram Meryl Hoffmeister, was a Canadian Army officer, businessman, and conservationist. He served with distinction during the last two years of the Second World War, becoming, in Jack Granatstein's words, "the best Canadian fighting general of the war", rising from captain and a company commander in 1939 to major general and commander of the 5th Canadian (Armoured) Division in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Crocker</span> British Army general

General Sir John Tredinnick Crocker, was a senior British Army officer who fought in both world wars. He served as both a private soldier and a junior officer in the First World War. During the Second World War he served as a distinguished brigade, division and corps commander, where his most notable role was as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of I Corps during the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, leading the corps throughout the subsequent campaign in Western Europe until Victory in Europe Day (VE-Day) just over eleven months later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Adair</span> British Army general

Major-General Sir Allan Henry Shafto Adair, 6th Baronet, was a senior officer of the British Army who served in both World wars; as a company commander in the Grenadier Guards in the First World War, and as General Officer Commanding of the Guards Armoured Division in the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Keightley</span> British Army general and Governor of Gibraltar

General Sir Charles Frederic Keightley, was a senior British Army officer who served during and following the Second World War. After serving with distinction during the Second World War – becoming, in 1944, the youngest corps commander in the British Army – he had a distinguished postwar career and was the Governor of Gibraltar from 1958 to 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lashmer Whistler</span> British Army General (1898-1963)

General Sir Lashmer Gordon Whistler,, known as "Bolo", was a British Army officer who served in both the world wars. A junior officer during the First World War, during the Second World War he achieved senior rank serving with Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery in North Africa and North-western Europe from 1942 to 1945. Montgomery considered that Whistler "was about the best infantry brigade commander I knew". In peacetime, his outstanding powers of leadership were shown in a series of roles in the decolonisation process, and he reached the four-star rank of a full general, without having attended the Staff College, Camberley, then considered almost essential for an officer wishing to attain high rank, and which a significant majority of the British generals of the war had attended. This, in Richard Mead's words, was, "proof that lacking a Staff College qualification was no barrier to advancement for the right man."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Frederick Boyce Combe</span> British Army officer before and during the Second World War

Major-General John Frederick Boyce Combe was a British Army officer before and during the Second World War. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service in the Western Desert campaign before being captured in April 1941 and spending nearly two and a half years as a prisoner of war in Italy. Released in September 1943 when Italy withdrew from the Axis, he made his way back to Allied territory and from October 1944 until the end of the war commanded an armoured brigade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Freeland</span> British Army general (1912–1979)

Lieutenant General Sir Ian Henry Freeland was a senior British Army officer, who served with distinction during World War II and most notably served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) and Director of Operations in security matters in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of rioting in 1969, and the beginning of the Troubles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cooper (British Army officer)</span> British Army officer, born 1955

Lieutenant General John Cooper, is a former senior British Army officer. From March 2008 he was the Deputy Commander of Multinational Force-Iraq (MNF-I), the operational-level headquarters in Iraq, and the Senior British Military Representative-Iraq. As Deputy Commander, he was the principal assistant to General Raymond T. Odierno of the United States Army. He stepped down on 4 March 2009, and retired from the army later that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hew Pike</span> British Army general (born 1943)

Lieutenant General Sir Hew William Royston Pike is a retired senior British Army officer known for his service in the Falklands War and for his command in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Binns</span>

Major General Graham John Binns, is a retired British Army officer. Binns served as General Officer Commanding 1st (UK) Armoured Division and then Commandant Joint Services Command and Staff College. He had previously commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade during Operation Telic 1 when the brigade took Basra in southern Iraq. He is the Honorary Colonel of The Yorkshire Regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Thorneloe</span> British Army soldier

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Stuart Michael Thorneloe, MBE was a British Army officer who was killed in action on 1 July 2009 near Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Thorneloe is the highest-ranking British Army officer to have been killed in action since Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones's death in 1982 during the Falklands War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horatius Murray</span> British Army general (1903–1989)

General Sir Horatius Murray, was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction during the Second World War and later in the Korean War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vyvyan Evelegh</span> British Army general (1898–1958)

Major General Vyvyan Evelegh, was a senior officer of the British Army during the Second World War, commanding the 78th Infantry Division and the 6th Armoured Division in Tunisia and Italy.

Raymond Briggs was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. During the latter he led the 1st Armoured Division at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942, and throughout the subsequent Tunisian campaign.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3664. ISBN   0-9711966-2-1.
  2. ↑ "Obituary: Irving Smith". The Guardian . 1 March 2000. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "No. 43576". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 February 1965. p. 1676.
  4. ↑ "No. 44023". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 1966. p. 7001.
  5. ↑ "No. 45257". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 December 1970. p. 13920.
  6. ↑ "No. 46773". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1975. p. 16371.
  7. ↑ "No. 47610". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 August 1978. p. 9495.
  8. ↑ "No. 48245". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 July 1980. p. 9716.
  9. ↑ "No. 48837". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1981. p. 6.
  10. ↑ "No. 50204". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 July 1985. p. 10106.
  11. ↑ "No. 50799". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 January 1987. p. 449.
  12. ↑ "No. 52359". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 December 1990. p. 19055.
  13. ↑ "No. 52317". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 October 1990. p. 16821.
  14. 1 2 "No. 52588". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 June 1991. p. 7.
  15. ↑ "No. 53326". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 June 1993. p. 9831.
  16. ↑ "No. 53028". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 August 1992. p. 14360.
  17. ↑ "No. 53933". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 January 1995. p. 963.
  18. ↑ "No. 54022". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 May 1995. p. 6339.
  19. ↑ "No. 54393". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 May 1996. p. 6547.
  20. ↑ "No. 54255". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1995. p. 2.
  21. ↑ "No. 54336". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 March 1996. p. 3327.
  22. ↑ "No. 55325". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 November 1998. p. 13067.
  23. ↑ "No. 55365". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 January 1999. p. 53.
  24. ↑ "No. 56459". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 January 2002. p. 781.
  25. ↑ "No. 56952". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 2003. p. 6799.
  26. ↑ "No. 53095". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 November 1992. p. 18427.
  27. ↑ "No. 54937". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 November 1997. p. 12372.
  28. ↑ "No. 53426". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 September 1993. p. 14962.
  29. ↑ "No. 55253". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 September 1998. p. 9957.
  30. ↑ "No. 55935". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 August 2000. p. 8748.
  31. ↑ "No. 56399". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 November 2001. p. 13956.
  32. ↑ Author page for General Sir Rupert Smith at Penguin books
  33. ↑ Gal Perl Finkel, How to win a modern war, The Jerusalem Post, 7 September 2016
  34. ↑ Confrontation Analysis by Professor Nigel Howard at CCRP
Military offices
Preceded by General Officer Commanding the 1st Armoured Division
1990–1992		Succeeded by
Preceded by General Officer Commanding the British Army in Northern Ireland
1996–1998		Succeeded by
Preceded by Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe
1998–2001		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.