Montagu Brocas Burrows
Brocas Burrows | |
---|---|
Born | 31 October 1894 Reigate, Surrey, England |
Died | 17 January 1967 (aged 72) Marylebone, London, England |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1914–1946 |
Rank | Lieutenant-General |
Service number | 17658 |
Unit | 5th Dragoon Guards |
Commands held | 1st Motor Machine Brigade 26th Armoured Brigade 9th Armoured Division 11th Armoured Division West Africa Command |
Battles/wars | First World War Second World War |
Awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Military Cross Mentioned in dispatches (2) |
Lieutenant-General Montagu Brocas Burrows CB DSO MC (31 October 1894 – 17 January 1967) was a British Army officer who served in both world wars and became Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of West Africa Command from 1945 to 1946.
Early life[]
Montagu Brocas Burrows was born on 31 October 1894 in Reigate, Surrey, the son of Stephen Montagu Burrows and Isabella Christina née Cruickshank. He was educated at Eton College and Oxford University.[1]
Military career[]
Burrows was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 5th Dragoon Guards, British Army.[2] He served in the First World War and became a prisoner of war.[1] He was deployed to the Murmansk coast with the North Russia Expeditionary Force in 1918.[2] In the 1920s he played cricket for Surrey County Cricket Club.[1][3]
He remained in the army and continued to serve during the interwar period; he became adjutant at Oxford University Officers' Training Corps (OTC) in 1920 and an instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1922.[2] After attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1925 to 1926, he became brigade major with the Nowshera Infantry Brigade in India in 1928 and then joined the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot in 1930.[2] He was on the General Staff at the War Office from 1935 to 1938 when he became the military attaché in Rome.[2][3]
He also served in the Second World War, initially as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 9th Armoured Division, for which he was promoted to acting major-general on 1 December 1940,[4] in the United Kingdom from December 1940 to March 1942.[5] During this period he led Brocforce comprising the 9th East Surrey Regiment, two companies of artillery and a Pioneer battalion.[6] He was subsequently GOC 11th Armoured Division from October 1942 to December 1943 and was appointed Head of the British Military Mission to the Soviet Union in 1944.[2][3]
After the war he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of West Africa Command; he retired in 1946.[2][3]
Death[]
Burrows died on 17 January 1967 in Marylebone, London.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b c d Cricket Info
- ^ a b c d e f g Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ^ a b c d Smart, p. 52
- ^ "No. 35259". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 August 1941. p. 5006.
- ^ Escape to Action by Sir Brian Horrocks, Page 100 St. Martin's Press, 1961
- ^ Daniel, David Scott (1957). The History of the East Surrey Regiment. Vol. IV 1920–1952. London: Ernest Benn. p. 108. OCLC 492800784.
Bibliography[]
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
External links[]
- 1894 births
- 1967 deaths
- 5th Dragoon Guards officers
- 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards officers
- Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
- British Army generals of World War II
- British Army personnel of World War I
- British World War I prisoners of war
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley
- Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
- People educated at Eton College
- People from Reigate
- Recipients of the Military Cross
- Surrey cricketers
- World War I prisoners of war held by Germany
- Oxfordshire cricketers
- Combined Services cricketers
- Free Foresters cricketers
- British Army cricketers
- English cricketers
- Oxford University cricketers
- British Army generals
- British military attachés
- Military personnel from Surrey