Charles Walter Allfrey

Charles Allfrey

From left to right: Major General de Guingand, Air Vice-Marshal Broadhurst, General Montgomery, Lieutenant General Freyberg, Lieutenant General Allfrey and Lieutenant General Dempsey.
Born 24 October 1895
Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom
Died 2 November 1964 (aged 69)
Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1914–1948
Rank Lieutenant General
Unit Royal Artillery
Commands held 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division
V Corps
British Troops in Egypt
Battles/wars First World War
Second World War
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Walter Allfrey KBE CB DSO MC (24 October 1895 – 2 November 1964) was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First and Second World War, where he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) V Corps during the Italian Campaign.

Military career

Allfrey was born on 24 October 1895 in Southam, Northamptonshire, the son of Captain Henry Allfrey of the 60th Rifles and Kathleen Hankey.[1] He joined the British Army in August 1914 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in October 1914. Promoted to lieutenant on 9 June 1915, during the First World War he was wounded twice.[2] He was promoted to the acting rank of captain on 5 January 1917, and was promoted to the substantive rank on 3 November 1917.[1][3][4] Allfrey was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1918 for keeping his battery in action for an extended period of time even though it was under direct machine-gun and artillery fire from the enemy.[1] He was promoted to acting major on 17 December 1917 and reverted to his permanent rank of captain on 18 February 1919.[5][6]

Between the wars, Allfrey attended Staff College, Camberley after which he was seconded to the Colonial Office and seconded to the Iraqi Army in November 1930.[7] In Iraq, he won the DSO, and also spent three years instructing at the Staff College, Camberley.[1] He was brevetted to major on 1 January 1931 and promoted to the substantive rank on 10 August 1933.[8][9] He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1935 and promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 6 August 1939.[10][11]

At the start of the Second World War, Allfrey had just been promoted full colonel and held a senior staff job in the UK, continuing in this role in France and Belgium with the British Expeditionary Force. In February 1940 he returned to the UK to take up the post of Corps Commander Royal Artillery at II Corps in the rank of brigadier. On 19 July 1940, after a brief spell as CCRA at IV Corps, he was promoted to acting major-general to command Southwestern Area, Home Forces; in February 1941, he received command of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division.[12] He was promoted to temporary major-general on 19 July 1941.[13]

On 9 March 1942, Allfrey was promoted to acting lieutenant-general to take command of V Corps.[14] For nearly two and a half years he commanded V Corps in Operation Torch, the Tunisia Campaign; in particular his Corps holding off the last Axis attack - Operation Ochsenkopf in Spring 1943. On 9 March 1943, he was promoted to the war substantive rank of major-general and to the temporary rank of lieutenant-general.[15] He then went on to serve in the Italian Campaign and in August, he was made Companion of the Bath (CB) for his service in Tunisia. His rank of major-general was made substantive on 6 November.[16][17] In August 1944 he was rested from field command to become General Officer Commanding, British Troops in Egypt. During his tenure, he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), and his rank of lieutenant-general was made substantive (23 November 1946).[18] Egypt was his last posting and he retired from the army as a lieutenant-general in June 1948.[1]

In addition to his United Kingdom awards he was made Commander of the Legion of Merit by the United States Government in 1943 for his service in the Tunisian Campaign.[19]

Allfrey married Geraldine Clare Lucas-Scudamore in 1935, they had a son and a daughter. Allfrey died on 2 November 1964 in Bristol.[1]

Honours and awards

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "British Army officer histories". Unit Histories. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  2. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29226. p. 6799. 9 June 1915. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 29998. p. 2956. 23 March 1917. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30371. p. 11552. 6 November 1917. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 30526. p. 2045. 12 February 1918. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31681. p. 15403. 9 December 1919. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33679. p. 231. 9 January 1931. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33676. p. 61. 2 January 1931. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  9. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33977. p. 5952. 12 September 1933. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  10. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34120. p. 61. 1 January 1935. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  11. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34654. p. 5606. 15 August 1939. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  12. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 34911. p. 4729. 30 July 1940. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  13. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35224. p. 4202. 18 July 1941. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  14. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35501. p. 1375. 24 March 1942. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  15. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35948. p. 1351. 19 March 1943. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  16. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36120. p. 3521. 3 August 1943. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  17. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36270. p. 5277. 30 November 1943. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  18. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37803. p. 5893. 29 November 1946. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  19. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36125. p. 3579. 6 August 1943. Retrieved 24 August 2014.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Robert Pollok		 GOC 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division
1941–1942 		Succeeded by
Sir Ivor Thomas
Preceded by
Sir Edmond Schreiber		 GOC, V Corps
1942–1944 		Succeeded by
Sir Charles Keightley
Preceded by
Robert Stone		 GOC British Troops in Egypt
1944–1948 		Succeeded by
Richard Gale
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