William Duthie Morgan

Sir William Morgan

In Italy, March 1945
Born 1891
Died 1977 (aged 85-86)
Allegiance United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Rank General
Commands held 10th Field Regiment
55th Division
Southern Command
Mediterranean Theater of Operations
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross
Mentioned in Despatches (Five times)[1]

General Sir William Duthie Morgan GCB DSO MC (1891–1977) was a British Army General during World War II.

Military career

Morgan was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1913.[2] He served in World War I winning the DSO at the Battle of Le Cateau in 1914 and later the MC[3] and was mentioned in despatches four times.[1] After the war his postings included active service in Waziristan and a period as a staff officer (GSO3) in the War Office in London.[1] In 1929 he was appointed military attaché at the British Embassy in Budapest in Hungary where he remained until 1931. In 1933 when he was posted as a major to 19th Field Brigade RA in Bordon[1] and in 1934 be became Chief Instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1]

In World War II Morgan (nicknamed Monkey) initially commanded 10th Field Regiment Royal Artillery with the British Expeditionary Force and then became the senior staff officer (GSO1) with 1st Division in France.[1] Back in the UK he was appointed to the rank of temporary brigadier to be Brigadier General Staff (BGS) of 1st Corps.[1][3] Having had his permanent rank advanced to full colonel in May 1941(with seniority back dated to 1939),[4] he was appointed acting major-general and named Commander[5] of 55th Division in that June. In October 1941 he was injured[1] and was forced to relinquish this appointment and revert to the rank of colonel on full pay.[6]

Returned to fitness, in September 1942 Morgan was appointed an acting lieutenant-general[7] to be Chief of the General Staff for Home Forces.[1][3] When British land forces were reorganised in July 1943 to create 21st Army Group for the planned invasion of northwest Europe, Morgan became Chief of Staff of the new army group.[1] His rank was upgraded to temporary lieutenant-general in September 1943[8] and he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1944 New Year's honours list.[9] In February 1944 he was made General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Southern Command.[1] While still appointed a temporary lieutenant-general, Morgan's permanent rank was advanced to major-general in May 1944.[10] In March 1945[11] he became Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean, Field Marshal Harold Alexander In May 1945, he accepted the surrender of all Axis Forces in Italy.[1][3] In September 1945 he was appointed Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for the Mediterranean Theatre and then in October succeeded Alexander as Supreme Allied Commander.[1][3] Also in October he was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.[12] The Morgan Line, which at one time demarcated the boundary between Italy and Yugoslavia, was named after him.[13] In August 1946 Morgan's rank of lieutenant-general was made permanent (with seniority backdated to the end of 1944)[14] and in November 1946 was promoted to general.[1][15]

In 1947 Morgan was made Commander of British Army Staff in Washington, D.C.[1] and Army member of the Joint Staff Mission to the United States.[3] In this capacity Morgan was offered access to the atomic bomb by General Dwight Eisenhower as an incentive to persuade Britain to give up its own programme.[16] His knighthood was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1949 New Year Honours[17] and he retired from the army in June 1950.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Houterman, Hans; Koppes, Jeroen. "World War II unit histories and officers". Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  2. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 28683. p. 497. 21 January 1913. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35157. p. 2648. 6 May 1941. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35192. p. 3440. 13 June 1941. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35337. p. 6427. 4 November 1941. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35740. p. 4431. 9 October 1942. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36186. p. 4295. 24 September 1943. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  9. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36309. p. 4. 31 December 1943. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  10. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 36519. p. 2273. 16 May 1944. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  11. ↑ Jackson, p. 196.
  12. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37310. p. 5097. 16 October 1945. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  13. ↑ White's Political Dictionary, 1947
  14. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37701. p. 4295. 23 August 1946. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  15. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37796. p. 5769. 22 November 1946. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  16. ↑ Bomb offer exposed 6 December 1992
  17. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38493. p. 2. 31 December 1948. Retrieved 18 August 2010.

Bibliography

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Charles Loyd		 GOC-in-C Southern Command
1944–1945 		Succeeded by
Sir Sidney Kirkman