John Grover (British Army officer)

John Grover
Born 6 February 1897
Died 1979
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1914 - 1948
Rank Major-General
Commands held 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry
11th Infantry Brigade
2nd Division
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Battle of Kohima
Awards Companion of the Order of the Bath
Military Cross

Major-General John Malcolm Lawrence Grover CB MC (6 February 1897–1979) was a British Army officer who commanded 2nd Division in Burma during World War II.

Military career

Grover was commissioned into the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1914.[1] He was awarded the Military Cross for his service in World War I[2] having been wounded three times during the four years of War.[3] He became Commanding Officer of the 1st Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1938.[4] He served in World War II as Commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade from 1940 and as General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in Burma from 1941.[4] He devised and implemented a strategy to remove the Japanese from the Kohima region of India leading to the defeat of the Japanese at the Battle of Kohima in April 1944.[5] He went on to be Director of Army Welfare Services at the War Office in 1944 before retiring in 1948.[4]

He became Colonel of The King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1947.[6] In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kohima, a memorial to General Grover was unveiled at Jotsama on the site of his 2nd Division Headquarters.[7]

References

  1. The London Gazette: no. 29007. p. 10696. 15 December 1914. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  2. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 31219. p. 3240. 7 March 1919. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  3. Keane, Fergal (2010). Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944. London: HarperPress. ISBN 978-0-00-713240-9. p458.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Generals.dk
  5. The Battle of Kohima, North East India, 4 April – 22 June 1944
  6. The King's Shropshire Light Infantry
  7. Nagaland Post
Military offices
Preceded by
Daril Watson
General Officer Commanding the 2nd Division
19411944
Succeeded by
Cameron Nicholson