Eric Bols

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Eric Bols
8 June 1904 – 14 June 1985
Place of birth Camberley, Surrey
Place of death  ?
Service/branch British Army
Rank Major-General
Unit Devonshire Regiment
Commands held British 6th Airborne Division
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Distinguished Service Order, Companion of the Order of the Bath, Silver Star [1]

Major-General Eric Bols, CB, DSO was an officer in the British Army, who was most notable for serving as the commanding officer of the British 6th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity in 1945. Born in Surrey in 1904, Bols joined the Army in 1924 and saw service in a number of areas of the British Empire during the inter-war period, including Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as Malta. He served as a Cadet Instructor at Sandhurst and attended courses at the British Army Staff College before being promoted to Captain.

When World War II began, Bols moved through several staff officer positions, serving in several instisutuons and Army formations before being promoted to Colonel and taking charge of all training for the troops under the command of 21st Army Group and helping to plan Operation Overlord. Bols was then promoted again and commanded a Brigade during the Allied advance through Western Europe, before taking command of the 6th Airborne Division in late 1944. He commanded the division when it participated in the Battle of the Bulge, as well as Operation Varsity, the airborne operation to cross the Rhine River, then led the division into northern Germany until the end of the conflict. After the end of World War II Bols commanded the 6th Airborne Division when it participated in peace-keeping duties in the Middle East, and then retired in 1948 as a Major-General. He died in 1985.

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[edit] Early life and career

Eric Bols was born in Camberley in Surrey in June 1904. His father, Louis Bols, was born in Quebec, and was the son of the Belgian Consul stationed in Quebec and later London. [2] Louis Bols, who held dual nationality in both Britain and Belgium, travelled around the world and mastered some even foreign languages, before eventually met his wife and settling down. He served during the First World War, acting as the Chief of Staff for General Allenby during the majority of the conflict. [3] Eric Bols was born when his father was attending Staff College, and was educated in several institutions, including Sandhurst before being commissioned as a Second-Lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment in 1924. [4] [5] In 1927, Second-lieutenant Bols was sent with his Regiment to China, first being stationed in Hong Kong but later moving to Shanghai, his Battalion being tasked with helping to keep the peace in the region. However, he did not stay for very long in China, with his early career being marked by a series of rapid transfers from region to region, and by 1928 he was stationed in Malta, where he found himself playing Polo with then-Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was also stationed on the island at the same time. [6] From here his career progressed rapidly, being selected to attend a signals course at Catterick and then becoming an Instructor at Sandhurst and attending the British Army Staff College at Camberley.[7] He was also promoted during this period to the rank of Captain, having to transfer to a different Regiment, this time the King's (Liverpool) Regiment, due to there being no positions free in the Devonshires. [8]

”I liked him a lot. He was very good with the young chaps and was popular[...]He had the ability to get on well with people who were a couple of decades younger than himself. He was very proud of the Grenadier Guards and made people look up and not down, but with no personal arrogance."
Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning on Eric Bols as a Cadet at Sandhurst. [9]

[edit] World War II

When the Second World War began in September 1939, Bols was serving as a Staff Officer with the Ceylon Defence Force. He went on to act as an Instructor at the Staff College in Camberley, a General Staff Officer (GSO) with the 51st (Highland) Division, then commanded the 3rd Reconnaissance Regiment and acted as the Colonel in charge of training for the 21st Army Group. [10] Bols was also involved in planning for Operation Overlord as well as helping to train the soldiers who would participate in the Invasion of Normandy. When the invasion began on 6 June 1944 Bols did not participate directly, being retained at the War Office as a staff officer, but was given command of a Brigade of the 3rd Division which he commanded as it fought during the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine. When he was finally offered the command of the 6th Airborne Division in 1944, he had not previously commanded a military formation as large as a Division. [11] Bols took command of the Division from General Gale, who had previously commanded the Division during Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings in Normandy, and assumed official command shortly before Christmas of 1944. [12] Bols commanded the division during the Battle of the Bulge when it supported American forces in repelling the German counter-offensive between December 1944 and January 1945, one of only a small number of British formations to do so.[13] The division conducted a counter-attack beginning 3 January alongside other British units, advancing against fierce German resistance until the divison linked up with elements of the United States Third Army.[14] Bols then commanded the division as it participated in Operation Varsity, the airborne assault over the Rhine River, alongside the US 17th Airborne Division in March 1945. [15] After the division had crossed the Rhine, it then advanced through the North German Plain until it linked up with Russian forces at Wismar on 2 May, being the first British unit to do so. [16]

[edit] Post World War II

At the end of the conflict, Bols had retained his rank of Major-General as well as command of the 6th Airborne Division, and on 21st September 1945 travelled to Egypt with his Headquarters staff, shortly after arriving at his final destination, Tel Aviv. The rest of the division shortly followed. [17] He commanded the division whilst it conducted peace-keeping duties in Palestine. [18] After three years service in the Middle East, Bols retired from the Army with the rank of Major-General in 1948.[19] In 1965, it was reported by The Times that the former Russian General and then Soviet Deputy Defense Minister Konstantin Rokossovsky argued in a journal article that Bols had attempted to use the 6th Airborne Division to 'infiltrate' Russian lines. Rokossovsky claimed that the division had manouvered behind Soviet troops advancing towards Lubeck, and Russian troops had only avoided opening fire on the airborne troops when they had recognized the British uniforms they wore.[20] Bols died on 14 June 1985 at his home at the age of 81.[21]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  2. ^ Dover, p. 156
  3. ^ Dover, p. 156
  4. ^ Dover, p. 157
  5. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  6. ^ Dover, p. 158
  7. ^ Dover, p. 158
  8. ^ Dover, p. 158
  9. ^ Dover, p. 157
  10. ^ Dover, p. 158
  11. ^ Dover, p. 160
  12. ^ Saunders, p. 299
  13. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  14. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  15. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  16. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  17. ^ Dover, p. 170
  18. ^ Dover, p. 170
  19. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985
  20. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. April 26, 1965
  21. ^ Obituaries: The Times, page 16. June 14, 1985

[edit] References

  • Dover, Major Victor (1981). The Sky Generals. Cassell. ISBN 0-30430-480-8. 
  • Saunders, Hilary St. George (1950). The Red Beret: The Story of the Parachute Regiment 1940-1945. Michael Joseph Ltd.