Oliver Leese
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Lieutenant General Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese, 3rd Baronet, KCB, CBE, DSO (27 October 1884 - 22 January 1978) was a British general during World War II.
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[edit] Early years
Leese attended Ludgrove School and Eton College. At the start of First World War, he joined the army and he was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 15 May 1915. Leese was wounded three times during the Somme offensive in 1916, was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the DSO[1].
After the war, he remained in the army and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1927 to 1928.
[edit] World War II
In 1940, during the Second World War, he was in command of the 20th Guards Brigade defending Boulogne during the Battle of France. He was then promoted to major-general and was given command of the 15th (Scottish) Division in 1941. He was also given command of the Guards Armoured Division during its formation and training. Later that year he fought in North Africa during the battles against Rommel's Afrika Korps. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and given command of XXX Corps.
When Montgomery left the Eighth Army in January 1944 to prepare for the Allied invasion of Normandy Leese was appointed as his successor. Leese was commander of the Eighth Army at the Battle of Monte Cassino and at the Gothic Line later in 1944.
In September 1944 he was sent to Burma as the British Commander-in-Chief of Allied Land Forces, South-East Asia. He viewed the existing command structure as inefficient and proceeded to appoint former members of his Eighth Army staff. The methods of the two staffs differed and the newcomers were resented.
The commander of the Fourteenth Army, William Slim, had turned it into an effective military force and commanded a highly successful campaign from the relief of Imphal to the recapture of Rangoon including the effective destruction of the Japanese forces in Burma. Leese visited Slim and told him that he would be moved from his army command (and replaced by Philip Christison) to the force that would consolidate the British position in Burma.
There are differing perspectives on the subsequent events. Leese has recorded that he believed that Slim was exhausted and would welcome a less intense period of work. Leese did not have the necessary authority to remove Slim, and Slim exercised political influence to have the decision annulled. The other view is that Leese told Slim of his new appointment but Slim immediately took this to be an effective dismissal, and refused the new post. Once the news circulated within the Fourteenth Army, mutinies and mass resignations of officers were threatened.
Leese was obliged to reinstate Slim when the Supreme Commander South East Asia, Louis Mountbatten, refused to support him. Mountbatten subsequently approached the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Alan Brooke and they agreed that Leese should be removed. He was succeeded by Slim.
Leese had achieved success with the Eighth Army in North Africa and Italy, so he did not lack ability. Where he was deficient, in his post in South-East Asia, was in his knowledge of the intricacies of the local command environment and its personalities and in his ability to mould the existing staff into a different style of leadership and administration whilst reconciling antagonistic staffs into a unified organisation.
[edit] Post-war
He retired from the army in 1946 and became a noted horticulturist, writing books on cacti.
[edit] References
- Oliver Leese
- Leese's military career details
- Keegan, John [1991] (2005). Churchill's Generals. London: Cassell Military, pp. 214-224. ISBN 0-304-36712-5.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Bernard Law Montgomery |
Commander-in Chief, Eighth Army 31 December 1943 - 1 October 1944 |
Succeeded by Sir Richard McCreery |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by William Hargreaves Leese |
Baronet (of Send Holme) 1937–1978 |
Succeeded by Alexander William Leese |
