Frederick E. Morgan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frederick E. Morgan

Sir Frederick Edgeworth Morgan, KCB, (5 February 1894, Paddock Wood, Kent, England - 19 March 1967, Northwood, Middlesex), was a British lieutenant-general in the Second World War, who was the original planner of Operation Overlord.

Morgan was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1913 and fought in France and Belgium throughout World War I.

Morgan served in France in 1940 as commander of a group of the British 1st Armoured Division. In May 1942 he was appointed to command the 1st Corps District, which included Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. In October of that year he was made commander of I Corps and placed under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was given the task of preparing a subsidiary landing in the western Mediterranean either to reinforce the initial landings or to deal with a German thrust through Spain. When neither operation proved necessary, he was directed to plan the invasion of Sardinia. In time this was abandoned and he was directed to plan the invasion of Sicily. This project was later given to the armies in North Africa. In the spring of 1943 he became Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC) and as such directed planning for the invasion of northwest Europe. He served in 1944 and 1945 as Deputy Chief of Staff, SHAEF.

Morgan also served as the Chief of Operations for UNRRA in Germany, but was fired after repeatedly making accusations against Jewish displaced persons that were broadly interpreted as offensive (Wyman pps 144-145).

In his autobiography, "The Moon's A Balloon", Academy award winning actor, David Niven credits Morgan as the man who promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned him as a liaison officer with the American Army after serving in a British motor reconnaissance company.