Richard O'Connor

For the Australian politician, see Richard O'Connor (politician).

Sir Richard O'Connor
Nickname(s)	Dick
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1909 - 1948
Rank	General
Commands	Western Desert Force XIII Corps VIII Corps
Battles/wars	World War I World War II * Operation Compass * Operation Epsom * Operation Jupiter * Operation Goodwood * Operation Bluecoat * Operation Market Garden
Awards	Knight of the Order of the Thistle Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order & Bar Military Cross
Other work	Commandant of the Army Cadet Force, Scotland Colonel of the Cameronians Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO & Bar, MC, ADC (21 August 1889 – 17 June 1981) was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of World War II. He was the field commander for Operation Compass, in which his forces completely destroyed a much larger Italian army — a victory which nearly drove the Axis from Africa entirely, and in turn, led Adolf Hitler to send the German Africa Corps under Erwin Rommel to try and 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 in December 1943, and in 1944 commanded VIII Corps in Normandy and later during Operation Market Garden. In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India, and then headed the North Western Army in the closing days of British rule in the subcontinent.

In honour of his war service, O'Connor was recognised with the highest level of knighthood in two different orders of chivalry. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, French Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honour and served as Aide-de-camp to King George VI.

Early life and the First World War

O'Connor was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, on 21 August 1889. He attended Tonbridge Castle School in 1899 and The Towers School in Crowthorne in 1902. In 1903, after his father's death in an accident, he transferred to Wellington School in Somerset. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1908. In October of the following year he was billeted to the 2nd Battalion of the Cameronians. He would maintain close ties with the unit for the rest of his life. In January 1910, the battalion was posted to Colchester, where he received signals and rifle training. It was then stationed in Malta from 1911 to 1912 where O'Connor served as Regimental Signals Officer.

During World War I, O'Connor served as Signals Officer of 22 Brigade in the 7th Division and captain in command of 7th Division's Signals Company and brevet brigade major in 91 Brigade, 7th Division. He was awarded the Military Cross in February 1915. In March of that year he saw action at Arras and Bullecourt. O'Connor was awarded the DSO and appointed brevet lieutenant-colonel in command of 1st Infantry Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company, part of the 7th Division, in June 1917. In November, the division was ordered to support the Italians against the Austro-Hungarian forces at the River Piave which then formed part of the Italian Front. In late October 1918 the 2nd Battalion captured the island of Grave di Papadopoli on the Piave River for which O'Connor received the Italian Silver Medal of Honour and a bar to add to his DSO.

At the end of the war, O'Connor reverted to his rank of captain.

Inter-War years

From 1920 to 1921, O'Connor attended the Staff College, Camberley. O'Connor's other service in the years between the world wars included an appointment from 1921 to 1924 as brigade major of the Experimental Brigade (or 5 Brigade), which was formed to test methods and procedures for using tanks and aircraft in co-ordination with infantry and artillery.

He returned to his old unit, The Cameronians, as adjutant from 1924 to 1925. From 1925 to 1927 he served as a company commander at Sandhurst. He returned to the Staff College at Camberley as an instructor from 1927 to 1929. In 1930 O'Connor again served with the 1st Battalion of The Cameronians in Egypt and from 1931 to 1932 in Lucknow, India. From 1932 to 1934 he was a general staff officer, grade 2 at the War Office. He attended the Imperial Defence College in London in 1935. In October of that year, O'Connor, having been promoted brigadier, assumed command of the Peshawar Brigade in northwest India. In September 1938 O'Connor was promoted to major-general and appointed Commander of the 7th Division in Palestine, along with the additional responsibility as Military Governor of Jerusalem.

In August 1939, 7th Division was transferred to the fortress at Mersa Matruh, Egypt, where O'Connor was concerned with defending the area against a potential attack from the massed forces of the Italian Tenth Army over the border in Libya.

Italian Offensive and Operation Compass

The Italian Offensive and Operation Compass September 13 1940 – 7 February 1941 (Click to enlarge).

Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940 and, soon after, O'Connor was appointed Commander of the Western Desert Force. He was tasked by General Maitland Wilson, commander of the Army of the Nile, to protect Egypt and the Suez Canal from Italian attack.

On 13 September, Graziani struck: his leading divisions advanced sixty miles into Egypt where they reached the town of Sidi Barrani and, short of supplies, began to dig in. O'Connor then began to prepare for a counterattack. He had the 7th Armoured Division and the Indian 4th Infantry Division along with two brigades. In total he had around 36,000 men. The Italians had nearly five times as many troops along with hundreds more tanks and artillery pieces and the support of a much larger air force. Meanwhile, small raiding columns were sent out from the 7th Armoured and newly formed Long Range Desert Group to probe, harass, and disrupt the Italians (this marked the start of what became the Special Air Services). The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force supported by bombarding enemy strongpoints, airfields and rear areas.

A Matilda tank advances through Egypt as part of Operation Compass.

The counteroffensive, Operation Compass, began on 8 December 1940. O'Connor's relatively small force of 31,000 men, 275 tanks and 120 artillery pieces, ably supported by an RAF wing and the Royal Navy, broke through a gap in the Italian defences at Sidi Barrani near the coast. The Desert Force cut a swath through the Italian rear areas, stitching its way between the desert and the coast, capturing strongpoint after strongpoint by cutting off and isolating them, The Italian guns proved to be no match for the heavy British Matilda tanks and their shells bounced off the armour. By mid-December the Italians had been pushed completely out of Egypt, leaving behind 38,000 prisoners and large stores of equipment.

The Desert Force paused to rest briefly before continuing the assault into Italian Libya against the remainder of Graziani's disorganised army. At that point, the Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Sir Archibald Wavell ordered the 4th Indian Division withdrawn to spearhead the invasion of Italian East Africa. This veteran division was to be replaced by the inexperienced 6th Australian Division, which, although tough, was untrained for desert warfare. Despite this setback, the offensive continued with minimum delay, and by the end of December the 6th Australian besieged and took Bardia, which fell along with 40,000 more prisoners and 400 guns.

In January 1941, the Western Desert Force was redesignated XIII Corps directly answerable to General Wavell, a move that O'Connor not only approved of but had suggested earlier. On 9 January, the offensive resumed. By 12 January the strategic fortress port of Tobruk was surrounded. On 22 January it fell and another 27,000 Italian POWs were taken along with valuable supplies, food, and weapons. On 26 January the remaining Italian divisions in eastern Libya began to retreat to the northwest along the coast. O'Connor promptly moved to pursue and cut them off, sending his armour southwest through the desert in a wide flanking movement, while the infantry gave chase along the coast to the north. The lightly armoured advance units of 4th Armoured Brigade arrived at Beda Fomm before the fleeing Italians on 5 February, blocking the main coast road and their route of escape. Two days later, after a costly and failed attempt to break through the blockade, and with the main British infantry force fast bearing down on them from Bengazi to the north, the demoralised, exhausted Italians unconditionally capitulated. O'Connor and Dorman-Smith cabled back to Wavell, "Fox killed in the open..."

In two months, the XIII Corps/Western Desert Force had advanced over 800 miles (1,300 km), destroyed an entire Italian army of ten divisions, taken over 130,000 prisoners, 400 tanks and 1,292 guns at the cost of 500 killed and 1,373 wounded. In recognition of this, O'Connor was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Bath, the first of his two knighthoods.

Reversal and capture

Rommel's first offensive — 24 March 1941 – 15 June 1941.

In a strategic sense, however, the victory of Operation Compass was not yet complete; the Italians still controlled most of Libya and possessed forces which would have to be dealt with. The Axis foothold in North Africa would remain a potential threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal so long as this situation continued. O'Connor was aware of this and urged Wavell to allow him to push on to Tripoli with all due haste to finish off the Italians. Wavell concurred, and XIII Corps resumed its advance. But O'Connor's new offensive would prove short-lived. When the corps reached El Agheila, just to the southwest of Beda Fomm, Churchill ordered the advance to halt there. The Axis had invaded Greece and Wavell was ordered to send all available forces there as soon as possible to oppose this. Wavell took the 6th Australian Division, along with part of 7th Armoured Division and most of the supplies and air support for this ultimately doomed operation.

But matters were soon to become much worse for the British. By March 1941, Hitler had dispatched General Erwin Rommel along with the German Africa Corps to bolster the all-but-defeated Italians. Wavell and O'Connor now faced a formidable foe under a commander whose cunning, resourcefulness, and daring would earn him the nickname "the Desert Fox". Rommel wasted little time in launching his own offensive and, by the end of March, had driven what was left of XIII Corps back from the El Agheila line, retaking Benghazi along with most of western Cyrenaica.

Justly alarmed by this sudden turn of events and with command responsibilities now stretching across the eastern Mediterranean, Wavell appointed Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame commander of British and Commonwealth troops in Egypt.

O'Connor (centre, middle distance) and other officers following their capture by the Germans.

O'Connor would spend the next two and a half years as a prisoner of war, mainly at the Castello di Vincigliata near Florence, Italy. Here he and Neame were in the company of such figures as Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and Air Vice Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd. Although the conditions of their imprisonment were not unpleasant, the officers soon formed an escape club and began planning a breakout. Their first attempt, a simple attempt to climb over the castle walls, resulted in a month's solitary confinement. The second attempt, by an escape tunnel built between October 1942 and March 1943, was initially successful. Boyd made it to Como near the Swiss border, but O'Connor and de Wiart were captured near Bologna in the Po Valley.

It was only after the Italian surrender in September 1943 that the final, successful, attempt was made. With help from the Italian resistance movement, O'Connor escaped while being transferred from Vincigliati. After a failed rendezvous with a submarine, he arrived by boat at Termoli, then went on to Bari where he was welcomed as a guest by General Alexander on 21 December 1943. Upon his return to Britain, O'Connor was presented with the knighthood he had been awarded in 1941 and promoted to lieutenant-general. Montgomery suggested that O'Connor be his successor as Eighth Army commander but that post was instead given to Oliver Leese and O'Connor was given a corps to command.

VIII Corps and Normandy

The Normandy Campaign, 13 June to 30 June 1944.

On 21 January 1944 O'Connor became commander of VIII Corps. It consisted of the Guards Armoured Division, 11th Armoured Division, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division along with 6 Guards Tank Brigade, 8 Group Royal Artillery and 2 Household Cavalry Regiment.

On 11 June 1944, O'Connor and the leading elements of VIII Corps arrived in Normandy in the sector around Caen. Their first mission was to break out from the bridgehead established by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, cross the Odon and Orne rivers, then secure the high-ground positions northeast of Bretteville-sur-Laize and cut Caen off from the south. The breakout and river crossings were accomplished promptly. O'Connor's commanding officer and friend from his days in Palestine, Montgomery, congratulated him and his Corps on their success. But cutting off Caen would prove much harder (see Operation Epsom). VIII Corps was pushed back over the Orne. O'Connor tried to re-establish a bridgehead during Operation Jupiter, but met with little success.

The next major action for VIII Corps would be Operation Goodwood. The attack began on 18 July with a massive aerial bombardment by the 9th USAAF, and ended on 20 July with a successful three-pronged drive to capture Bras and Hubert-Folie on the right, Fontenay on the left and Bourguebus Ridge in the centre. This was followed by Operation Bluecoat, formulated by O'Connor himself. 15th (Scottish) Division attacked towards Vire to the east and west of Bois du Homme in order to facilitate the American advance in Operation Cobra. A swift drive was followed by fierce fighting to the south during the first two days of the advance, with both sides taking heavy losses.

As the allies prepared to pursue the Germans from France, O'Connor learned that VIII Corps would not take part in this phase of the campaign. VIII Corps was placed in reserve, replaced by XII Corps under Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie. His command was reduced in mid-August, with the transfer of 11th Armoured Division to XXX Corps and 15th (Scottish) Division to XII Corps. While in reserve, O'Connor maintained an active correspondence with Churchill, Montgomery and others, making suggestions for improvements of armoured vehicles and addressing various other problems such as combat fatigue. Some of his recommendations were followed up (such as for mounting "rams" on armoured vehicles in order to cope with the difficult hedgerow country), but most were ignored.

Operation Market Garden, India and afterwards

Operation Market Garden

O'Connor remained in command of VIII Corps, for the time being, and was given the task of supporting Horrocks' XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden, the plan by Montgomery to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands. Following their entry into Weert at the end of September, VIII Corps prepared for and took part in Operation Aintree, the advance towards Venray and Venlo beginning on 12 October.

On 27 November he received orders to take over from Lieutenant-General Sir Mosley Mayne as GOC-in-C, Eastern Army in India. This marked the end of a long and distinguished combat career.

In November 1945, O'Connor was promoted to full general and appointed GOC-in-C, North Western Army. In July 1946 he took over as Adjutant-General to the Forces and Aide de Camp General to the King. He spent much of this time visiting British troops stationed throughout India and the Far East. His career as Adjutant General was to be short-lived, however. After a disagreement over a cancelled demobilisation for troops stationed in the Far East, O'Connor offered his resignation in August 1947, which was accepted. Not long after this he was installed a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath.

In retirement

O'Connor retired in 1948 at the age of fifty-eight. Despite this, he maintained his links with the Army and took on other responsibilities. He was Commandant of the Army Cadet Force in Scotland from 1948 to 1959; Colonel of the Cameronians, 1951 to 1954; Lord Lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty from 1955 to 1964 and served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1964. His first wife, Jean, died in 1959. In 1963 he married Dorothy Russell. In July 1971 he was created Knight of the Thistle. He died in London on 17 June 1981

References

• "Papers of General Sir Richard O'Connor KT, GCB, DSO, MC (1889–1981)". King's College London Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
• Barclay, Cyril Nelson (1955). Against all odds: the story of the first offensive in Libya, 1940-41, including extracts from O'Connor's personal narrative. Sifton Praed & Co, London.
• Barnett, Corelli (Allen and Unwin). The Desert Generals (1st ed. ed.). ISBN 0-304-35280-2. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
• Baynes, John (1989). The Forgotten Victor : General Sir Richard O'Connor, KT, GCB, DSO, MC (1st ed. ed.). Potomac Books. ISBN 0-08-036269-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Docherty, Richard (2004). Ireland's Generals in the Second World War. Four Courts Press, Dublin. ISBN 1-85182-865-6.
• Dupuy, R. Ernest (1986). The Encyclopedia Of Military History: From 3500 B.C. To The Present (2nd revised edition ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 0-060-11139-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Keegan, John (ed) (1992). Churchill's Generals. Abacus. ISBN 0-349-11317-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
• Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Pen and Sword. ISBN 1-844-15049-6.