Claude Auchinleck (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981) was Commander-in-Chief, India and a Field Marshal of the United Kingdom during World War II.
Biography[]
Auchinleck was a career soldier who saw action in World War I. He was posted to India in the late 1920s and was made chief of the General Staff of the Indian Army in 1936. He returned to England in 1940 to take part in the Anglo-French Narvik operation in Norway that May and then oversaw the beaten force's evacuation the following month. He subsequently returned to India to take command of the British forces stationed there but was soon on the move again - this time to the strategically vital Middle East.
Auchinleck was made commander-in-chief, Middle East in June 1941 and he was fully backed by Churchill but the latter's support ebbed away over the next few months as the former refused to order an attack due to shortages of men and equipment. The fall of Tobruk in January 1942 weakened Auchinleck's position further and, although he redeemed himself considerably with a victory of sorts at the First Battle of El Alamein in June, when Rommel's drive towards Egypt was halted, Auchinleck was replaced by Alexander the next month. He served in India for the remainder of the conflict.