Pierse Joseph Mackesy
| Pierse Mackesy | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | "Pat" |
| Born |
5 April 1883 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died |
8 June 1956 (aged 73) Osborne House, East Cowes, Isle of Wight (formerly of Southwold, Suffolk) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 British Army |
| Years of service | 1902–1940 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | Royal Engineers |
| Commands held |
3rd Infantry Brigade 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division |
| Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
| Awards |
Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Military Cross Mentioned in dispatches (2) |
Major General Pierse Joseph Mackesy CB DSO MC (5 April 1883 – 8 June 1956), born in Dublin, Ireland[1] was a British Army officer who, early in World War II, led the attempt to recapture Narvik in April–May 1940 in the ill-fated Norwegian Campaign.[2][1]
Biography
Quoted from Nick Smart, Biographical Dictionary of British Generals during the Second World War, pp. 200-201
"The son of a lieutenant general, Mackesy was educated at St Paul's and RMA, Woolwich. Commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1902, he became a survey specialist in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1911. The first eighteen months of his First War service were in West Africa. Thereafter he served in France, where he was awarded the MC.
A staff officer with the North Russia Relief Force in 1919, he was admitted to the DSO before joining the Military Mission to South Russia in 1920. A student at the Staff College, Camberley 1920−1921, he married in 1923 and, after a variety of postings at home and abroad, was appointed to command 3rd Infantry Brigade at Borden in 1935. In Palestine 1935−1938, he was promoted major general in 1937 and, appointed CB in 1938, was made GOC 49th (West Riding) Division and area. Adviser to the New Zealand government on defence. In 1939 he returned to England at war's beginning and re-assumed command of his division.
Destined to be sent to France to form part of Adam's III Corps of the BEF, 49th Division was instead held at home in readiness for operations in Scandinavia. As the Russo-Finish 'winter war' only interested the British government to the extent that it offered a pretext for interrupting the traffic of iron ore to Germany, 'Pat' Mackesy, with his experience of war in arctic conditions, was an obvious choice as commander of an expeditionary force. In the event British intervention in Scandanavia happened not, as was planned, to forestall German action but as a response to the German invasion of Norway. Mackesy, with one infantry brigade, was sent to invest the port of Narvik.
Enraging Churchill by refusing to commit his troops to 'the sheer bloody murder' of an 'arctic Gallipoli', Mackesy was recalled home and, amidst Churchillian mutterings about his 'feebleness and downright cowardice', was spared a court martial but never held command again.
Retired from the army in November 1940, Mackesy served for a while on various War Office committees and was an occasional contributor to the Daily Telegraph. Considered a drunkard and a security risk by Brooke, his mail was regularly intercepted. A Southwold borough councillor from 1946, he was subsequently mayor of the town on two separate occasions, as well as being a member of the East Suffolk County Council."
References
- 1 2 "British Army officer histories". Unit Histories. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
- ↑ Roger T. Stearn, (2004) ‘Mackesy, Pierse Joseph (1883–1956)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
Bibliography
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
External links
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Kelly |
GOC 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division 1938–1940 |
Succeeded by Henry Curtis |