Walter Kirke
Sir Walter Kirke | |
---|---|
![]() Gen. Sir Walter Kirke | |
Born | 19 January 1877 |
Died | 2 September 1949 (aged 72) |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | ![]() |
Years of service | 1896–1940 |
Rank | General |
Commands held | 5th Infantry Division Western Command Territorial Army Home Guard |
Battles/wars | First World War Second World War |
Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order |
General Sir Walter Mervyn St George Kirke, GCB, CMG, DSO (19 January 1877 – 2 September 1949) was the Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces during the Second World War.
Military career[]
Born the second son of Colonel St. George Mervyn Kirke RE and his wife Sarah, Walter Kirke was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 21 September 1896.[1] He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 September 1899, and to captain on 4 December 1901 while serving in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India between 1901 and 1902.[1][2] From July 1902 he was seconded for service with the Burma Military Police.[3]
He served in the First World War as a General Staff Officer at GHQ in France and Belgium.[1] In 1916 he learned that German soldiers were intercepting British field telephone conversations and acted to secure them.[4] In 1918 he became deputy director of Military Operations at the War Office and was then moved to Aldershot in 1922.[1] In 1924 he was appointed Head of the British Military Mission to Finland and in 1925 President of Inter-Allied Commission of Investigation for Hungary.[1]
Then in 1926 he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff for India moving on to be General Officer Commanding 5th Division in 1929.[1] In 1933 he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Western Command and in 1936 he became Director-General of the Territorial Army.[1]
He served in the Second World War initially as Inspector-General of Home Defence and then as Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces.[5] in that role he always thought that the threat of a German invasion was exaggerated.[6] He retired in 1940.[1]
He was also an Aide-de-Camp General to the King from 1937 to 1940.[7]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ^ Hart′s Army list, 1903
- ^ "No. 27498". The London Gazette. 25 November 1902. p. 7938.
- ^ Beach, Jim; Bruce, James (2 January 2020). "British signals intelligence in the trenches, 1915–1918: part 1, listening sets". Journal of Intelligence History. 19 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1080/16161262.2019.1659580. ISSN 1616-1262.
- ^ World War II: Great Britain at War Daily Telegraph, 4 September 1939
- ^ The home guard: a military and political history By S. P. Mackenzie, Page 19. Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-19-820577-7
- ^ Army List July 1940
Further reading[]
- Private Papers of General Sir Walter Kirke GCB CMG DSO can be found in the Imperial War Museum, Documents and Sound section, ref: Documents.20171 (82/28/1 & Con Shelf).
- 1877 births
- 1949 deaths
- Royal Artillery officers
- British Army personnel of World War I
- British Army generals of World War II
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
- Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order