Mead, Richard The Last Great Cavalryman. The Life of General Sir Richard McCreery. Commander Eight Army

Dick McCreery enlisted in the 12th Royal Lancers in 1915 and served on the Western Front, where he was decorated and survived wounds. In 1938 he joined the staff of the 1st Division under Alexander before being given command of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. He was awarded the DSO for his leadership during the retreat to Dunkirk in May/June 1940. In North Africa McCreery was dismissed by Auchinleck, with whom he had major differences, but while waiting for a plane home he was discovered by Alexander, who made him his chief of staff. Many (but not Montgomery - the two did not get on) credit him with the solution to the victory at El Alamein. He was promoted to commander of the X. Corps in Salerno, which he commanded during the advance to the Gothic Line. In September 1944, he replaced Leese as commander of the 8th Army. It was his brilliant plan that closed the Argenta Gap and drove the Germans back across the Po to Austria. He became British High Commissioner in Austria, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and British military representative to the United Nations. He retired in 1949. Although not a public figure, McCreery was a key figure in the development of armoured warfare, a brilliant tactician and one of the most important British combat generals of the Second World War. This is an overdue tribute to his contribution to victory.