Vyvyan Pope

Lieutenant-General Vyvyan Vavasour Pope DSO MC (30 September 1891 - 5 October 1941) was a British Army Officer who commanded XXX Corps during World War II.

Military career

Pope was commissioned into the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1912 and served in World War I and then in North Russia after the War.^[1] He transferred to the Royal Tank Corps in 1920.^[1] He served as a General Staff Officer at Southern Command and at the War Office beetween the wars.^[1] He served in World War II as Commander of 3rd Armoured Brigade^[2] in the UK from December 1939 and then became Inspector of the Royal Armoured Corps in April 1940.^[1] He went to France as Advisor on Armoured Fighting Vehicles for the British Expeditionary Force later that month and then took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 before becoming Director of Armoured Fighting Vehicles in June 1940.^[1] He was appointed General Officer Commanding XXX Corps in August 1941 but was killed in an air crash in Egypt two months later.^[1]

References

• Man of armour: a study of Lieut-General Vyvyan Pope and the development of armoured warfare by Ronald Lewin, London, Published by Leo Cooper, 1976