Archibald Wavell (5th May 1883- 24 May 1950) was a British Field Marshal who served in both World War I and World War II. Before the World War I he served in the Second Boer War and the Bazaar Valley Campaign, and in World War I he got injured during the Second Battle Of Ypres. In Africa he led British Forces to victory against the Kingdom of Italy only to be defeated by forces from Nazi Germany during Operation Compass. He was later credited with the loss of Burma to the Empire of Japan.
Early Life[]
Born a son of Archibald Graham Wavell he attended Eaton House followed by the Summer Fields boarding school near Oxford. His headmaster, Dr. Fearon, had advised his father that there was no need to send him into the Army as he had "sufficient ability to make his way in other walks of life".
World War I[]
During World War I, Wavell was sent off to France but was later injured at the Second Battle Of Ypres, resulting in him receiving the Military Cross. He later returned in late 1915 to help the Russians in the Caucasus.
World War II[]
The Italian forces in North and East Africa greatly outnumbered the British and Wavell's policy was therefore one of "flexible containment" to buy time to build up adequate forces to take the offensive. Having fallen back in front of Italian advances from Libya, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Wavell mounted successful offensives into Libya (Operation Compass) in December 1940 and Eritrea and Ethiopia in January 1941.
However, Wavell was later told to halt Operation Compass to reinforce Greece against the Axis invasion. The Germans and Italians were given a chance to reinforce their lines and push the British back to the Egyptian border. Leaving Tobruk under siege. In Greece, his forces was forced to pull back to the island of Crete and later also had to fully abandon Greece itself.
Wavell in effect swapped jobs with Auchinleck, transferring to India where he became Commander-in-Chief, India and a member of the Governor General's Executive Council.Initially his command covered India and Iraq so that within a month of taking charge he launched Iraqforce to invade Iran in co-operation with the Russians in order to secure the oilfields and the lines of communication to the Soviet Union. Wavell once again had the misfortune of being placed in charge of an undermanned theatre which became a war zone when the Japanese declared war on the United Kingdom in December 1941. Later, after the loss of both Malaysia and the East Indies, he was put in defense of Burma. In order to wrest some of the initiative from the Japanese, Wavell ordered the Eastern Army in India to mount an offensive in the Arakan, which commenced in September. After some initial success the Japanese counter-attacked, and by March 1943 the position was untenable, and the remnants of the attacking force were withdrawn. Wavell relieved the Eastern Army commander, Noel Irwin, of his command and replaced him with George Giffard.
In January 1943, Wavell was promoted to field marshal and on 22 April he returned to London. On 4 May he had an audience with the King, before departing with Churchill for America, returning on 27 May.