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32-661: Thus, a general might be the GOC British II Corps (a three-star appointment) or GOC British 7th Armoured Division (a two-star appointment). A general officer heading a particularly large or important command, such as Middle East Command or the Allied Armies in Italy , may be called a general officer commanding-in-chief ( GOC-in-C ). The governor of the Imperial Fortress colony of Bermuda

64-643: A new force, and he handed over temporary command of II Corps to Maj-Gen Bernard Montgomery of 3rd Division. Under Montgomery, II Corps was evacuated from Dunkirk in June 1940. Order of Battle at Dunkirk GOC : Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke (until 30 May 1940) Maj-General Bernard Montgomery (acting from 30 May 1940) After commanding forces in the United Kingdom , from Lower Hare Park near Newmarket within Eastern Command , II Corps

96-519: Is flag officer commanding (FOC) and that for air force officers is air officer commanding (AOC). In the case of flag and air officers heading a large or important command, the term is flag officer commanding-in-chief (FOC-in-C) and air officer commanding-in-chief (AOC-in-C). In the United States Armed Forces , the equivalent is commanding general (CG). II Corps (United Kingdom) Second World War The II Corps

128-566: The Battle of Le Cateau which allowed most of its surviving forces to escape. It remained on the Western Front throughout the war. It was forced into retreat, with the soldiers exhaust The composition of army corps changed frequently. Some representative orders of battle for II Corps are given here. Order of Battle at Mons 23 August 1914: GOC : Lieut-Gen Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien (Took command 21 August 1914) Order of Battle on

160-746: The British Army of the Rhine . After the invasion had ended and the United Nations Emergency Force was arriving under the Canadian Army general E. L. M. Burns , Stockwell returned to the UK, where II Corps was disbanded by being reintegrated back into I Corps. Commanders have included: Edward Stanhope Edward Stanhope PC (24 September 1840 – 21 December 1893) was a British Conservative Party politician who

192-663: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at the end of September 1939 and at once moved up to the Belgium–France border . It took part in the advance into Belgium to resist the German invasion , and was then pushed back with the rest of the BEF to Dunkirk during the Battle of France . During the retreat, II Corps covered the vulnerable left flank of the BEF. On 29 May 1940, Brooke was ordered back to Britain to form

224-547: The Second World War , II Corps was mobilised at Salisbury with two unprepared infantry divisions, under the command of Lieut-General Sir Alan Brooke from Southern Command . II Corps' insignia, designed by its Chief of Staff, Vyvyan Pope , was a visual pun on the name of its commander, who was also a keen fisherman: it depicted a red leaping salmon upon three wavy blue bands against a white background, all in an oblong red border. The corps crossed to France to join

256-600: The Board of Trade , and in 1878 moved up to Under-Secretary of State for India , where he was a key assistant to India Secretary Lord Cranbrook . After the Tories' fall from power in 1880, Stanhope supported Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote against younger Tories led by Lord Randolph Churchill in internal Conservative party squabbling. When the Conservatives returned to the power, Stanhope became vice-president of

288-511: The British Army for a century, except for ad hoc corps assembled during annual manoeuvres (e.g. Army Manoeuvres of 1913 ). In 1876 a mobilization scheme for eight army corps was published, with 'Second Corps' based at Aldershot and composed of regular and militia troops. In 1880 its organization was: This scheme had been dropped by 1881. The Stanhope Memorandum of 1891 (drawn up by Edward Stanhope when secretary of state for war) laid down

320-592: The Committee of Council on Education , with a seat in the cabinet, and almost immediately thereafter President of the Board of Trade . He moved up to major cabinet office in Salisbury's second government, serving first as Colonial Secretary from 1886 to 1887 and then as Secretary of State for War from 1887 to 1892 following a cabinet reshuffle in January 1887. As War Secretary, Stanhope fought for reform against

352-599: The Gentlemen of the South and the last for I Zingari. He played association football at school and remained a "keen fisherman and high class shot" throughout his life. In 1874 Stanhope was elected to the House of Commons for Mid Lincolnshire , a seat he held until 1885, and then represented Horncastle until his death. He soon rose to a position of prominence within the party. In 1875, he became Parliamentary Secretary to

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384-799: The Second World War, as a genuine corps it was based in the Middle East , controlling British forces around the Suez Canal . Following the British withdrawal from Egypt , II Corps was also the controlling force for the invasion of the country during the Suez Crisis , seemingly controlling 3rd Infantry Division , under Major-General J.B. (Jack) Churcher, and 16th Parachute Brigade as well as 10th Armoured Division and 3 Commando Brigade . Lieutenant-General Hugh Stockwell commanded

416-621: The Somme (Battle of Bazentin Ridge 14–17 July 1916) GOC : Maj-Gen Claud Jacob From 12 May 1916 to October 1917, 1/1st Yorkshire Dragoons constituted II Corps Cavalry Regiment . The regiment returned in March 1918 as II Corps Cyclist Battalion . Order of Battle at the start of the final advance in Flanders (27 September 1918) GOC : Lieut-Gen Sir Claud Jacob On the outbreak of

448-737: The corps during 'Musketeer.' On 31 July 1956 Stockwell, then commanding I Corps in Germany, received a message from the War Office telling him to meet General Sir William Oliver , Vice-Chief of the Imperial General Staff, who flew to Germany to collect Stockwell so that he could be briefed by General Sir Gerald Templer , Chief of the Imperial General Staff , back in London. Briefing Stockwell personally, Templer told him to hand over command of I Corps, but to take sufficient men from

480-403: The corps staff as he would need to create another headquarters, II Corps, which was to "establish a planning cell in London as quickly as possible." Led by Kenneth Darling as Brigader, General Staff, this group was dispatched to London from West Germany on 4 August to begin setting up the corps headquarters and begin the initial planning. They were installed the next day, Bank Holiday Monday, in

512-582: The essentially notional 55th Division, the genuine 79th Armoured Division , and the notional 76th Infantry Division ; also apparently at times the genuine 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division , disbanded but notionally kept alive. It was notionally part of First Canadian Army in the deception Operation Trolleycar II (threatening an attack on the Germans in the Netherlands) in November 1944. After

544-568: The force, which would advance on Oslo . The corps was transferred to First United States Army Group (FUSAG) in early June 1944 and moved to Lincolnshire ; restored to Fourth Army when that formation joined FUSAG for Fortitude South II , headquarters now at Tunbridge Wells in Kent , with under command the British 55th and 58th divisions and the British 35th Armoured Brigade . It was notionally transferred to France in late September, consisting of

576-553: The genuine 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division in Northern Ireland , and the genuine 113th Independent Infantry Brigade in Orkney . Under Fortitude North II Corps was supposedly to attack Stavanger , with the 3rd Division (later the 58th) and supporting commandos and paratroops seizing the airfields, the 55th (West Lancashire) Division joining as followup; the genuine U.S. XV Corps from Northern Ireland would augment

608-575: The infantry divisions. On mobilisation in August 1914 it was decided that the BEF would have two-division army corps like the French armies with which the BEF was to operate but only one corps HQ existed, two were improvised. II Corps proceeded to France in August 1914 under the command of Sir James Grierson but Grierson died suddenly on the train to the front on 17 August. Sir John French ( GOCinC BEF) wanted Sir Herbert Plumer to succeed Grierson, but

640-658: The old underground wartime HQ under the Thames, the Montagu House Annex of the War Office. But as the planning continued Stockwell and his new headquarters were not controlling the formations which were to be involved: those in the Middle East and Cyprus were under GHQ Middle East Land Forces , while those in the UK and Germany were directed for these purposes by the War Office through either Home commands or

672-423: The policy that after providing for garrisons and India, the army should be able to mobilise three army corps for home defence, two of regular troops and one partly of militia, of three divisions each. Only after those commitments, it was hoped, two army corps might be organised for the unlikely eventuality of deployment abroad. The 1901 Army Estimates introduced by St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on

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704-743: The reactionary high officers – most notably the Duke of Cambridge , the Commander in Chief, and Sir Garnet Wolseley , the Adjutant-General. In spite of his own inexperience in military affairs and this formidable opposition, Stanhope achieved a fair amount, although it was his Liberal successor, Henry Campbell-Bannerman , who managed to push Cambridge into retirement. Stanhope married Lucy Constance Egerton at Eaton Square in 1870. The couple had no children. In December 1893, Stanhope died suddenly of

736-484: The ridge at Waterloo , elements of the various corps were mixed up, and although he gave Hill command of the left wing, this included elements of I Corps. Subsequent to the battle, the corps structure was re-established for the advance into France, and Wellington issued orders through Hill and the other corps commanders. GOC : Lieut-Gen Lord Hill After the Waterloo campaign the army corps structure disappeared from

768-467: The secretary of state for war, Earl Kitchener , instead chose Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien , transferred from Southern Command . Smith-Dorrien caught up with his HQ at Bavai on 21 August. II Corps was first engaged two days later at the Battle of Mons and forced into the Great Retreat with the rest of the BEF. It later fought a delaying action against Alexander von Kluck 's German First Army in

800-403: The six regional commands, of which only I Corps ( Aldershot Command and II Corps ( Southern Command on Salisbury Plain) would be entirely formed of regular troops. However, these arrangements remained theoretical. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 established a six-division British Expeditionary Force (BEF) for deployment overseas, which did not envisage any intermediate headquarters between GHQ and

832-757: The training and operational commands of the Indian Army hold the title of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, abbreviated as GOC-in-C. There are seven appointments currently: Higher military commanders of the Indian Army who are in command of operational formations, such as a division or corps, or of static formations, such as subarea or Area, are also freferred to as General Officers Commanding or GOC; examples being GOC 12 Corps, GOC 3 Infantry Division, GOC Dakshin Maharashtra and Goa Subarea, GOC Uttar Bharat Area, etc. The equivalent term for naval officers

864-483: The weaker elements would be stiffened by more experienced or reliable troops. As he put it: "It was necessary to organize these troops in brigades, divisions, and corps d’armee with those better disciplined and more accustomed to war". He placed II Corps under the command of Lord Hill . However, Wellington did not use the corps as tactical entities, and continued his accustomed practice of issuing orders directly to divisional and lower commanders. When he drew up his army on

896-465: Was Secretary of State for War from 1887 to 1892. Born in Belgravia in London in 1840, Stanhope was the second son of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope , by his wife Emily Harriet, daughter of General Sir Edward Kerrison, 1st Baronet . Arthur Stanhope, 6th Earl Stanhope , was his elder brother and Philip Stanhope, 1st Baron Weardale , his younger brother. Educated at Harrow School , where he

928-476: Was also appointed commander-in-chief of the disproportionately-large Bermuda Garrison . From 1912, when Lieutenant-General Sir George Mackworth Bullock replaced the late Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Walter Kitchener , through the Second World War , the military office was titled General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Bermuda . GOC-in-Cs are usually one rank higher than a GOC with GOCs of corps -level formations reporting to them. The army commanders who head

960-704: Was an army corps of the British Army formed in both the First World War and the Second World War . There had also been a short-lived II Corps during the Waterloo Campaign . Assembling an army in the Southern Netherlands to fight Napoleon's resurgent forces in the spring of 1815, the Duke of Wellington formed it into army corps, deliberately mixing units from the Anglo-Hanoverian, Dutch and German contingents so that

992-471: Was being disbanded in early 1944 when selected to be one of the two corps comprising the notional British Fourth Army , which under the deception plan Fortitude North was supposed to attack Norway . For this operation II Corps was supposedly headquartered at Stirling in Scotland , and notionally consisted of the genuine 3rd Infantry Division (shortly replaced by the notional 58th Infantry Division ),

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1024-577: Was in the cricket XI in 1857, and Christ Church, Oxford , Stanhope studied law, being called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1865. He played some cricket at university without making the Oxford First XI , but in 1861 played a single first-class cricket match for Kent County Cricket Club . He played the game regularly for amateur sides such as I Zingari and Free Foresters and in 1879 made two further first-class appearances, one for

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