Field Marshal Sir William Slim (pictured here as a Major General)

Field Marshal William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim (6 August 1897 – 14 December 1970), British military commander and 13th Governor-General of Australia, was born near Bristol, Gloucestershire. William Slim File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... William Slim File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Governor-General of Australia is a position established by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act to sign legislation into law, appoint judges and ministers and perform many other important duties. ... Bristol is an English city and county and one of the two administrative centres of South West England (the other being Plymouth). ... Gloucestershire (pronounced [ ˈglɒstəʃəʳ]; GLOSS-ter-sher) is a ceremonial and administrative county in southwest England. ...

Early career

At the outbreak of World War I, Slim was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was badly wounded at Gallipoli, and later served in France and Mesopotamia. World War I was a basically European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns and poison gas. ... Gallipoli, called Gelibolu in modern Turkish, is a town in northwestern Turkey. ... Mesopotamia [mesuputāmēu] (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers or the Aramaic name Beth-Nahrin House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ...

In 1919 Slim was given the rank of captain in the British Indian Army, in which he served with Gurkha regiments until 1934. He taught at Camberley Military College from 1934 to 1937. In 1939 he was promoted to brigadier and became head of the Senior Officers' School at Belgaum, India. 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Indian Army in the time of the British Raj (1857–1947) See Indian Army for the post-independence (and post-partition) army of the Republic of India. ... Gurkha Soldiers (1896) British Army Gurkhas deployed to Sierra Leone, 2003 Gurkha (or Gorkha) are people from Nepal who take their name from the eighth century Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorkhnath. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Belgaum is a town in northwest Karnataka, India. ...

On the outbreak of the World War II Slim was given command of the Indian 10th Brigade and sent to Sudan, from where he took part in the East African Campaign helping to liberate Ethiopia from the Italians. He was wounded again in Eritrea. He then joined the staff of General Archibald Wavell in the Middle East Command. Promoted to Major-General, he commanded British forces in the Middle East Campaign commanding the Indian 10th Infantry Division in the Syria-Lebanon campaign and the invasion of Persia. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: Immense human sacrifice, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons - the atom bomb being the ultimate. ... The East African Campaign refers to the battles fought between the United Kingdom and Italy around the region of Italian East Africa during World War II. This campaign is often seen as part of the North African Campaign. ... Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (May 5, 1883 _ May 24, 1950) was a British General and the commander of British Army forces in the Middle East during World War II. He led British forces to victory over the Italians, only to be defeated by the German army. ... During World War II The British Middle East Command was based in Cairo with responsibility for the Middle East theatre which included North Africa, East Africa, Persia, the Middle East, and the British forces in the Balkans and Greece. ... The Middle East Campaign was a part of the Middle East Theatre of World War II Over view This campaign included: The British police actions in Palestine. ... The Syria-Lebanon campaign was the Allied invasion of Vichy French-controlled Syria and Lebanon in 1941, during World War II. The Allied offensive, also known as Operation Exporter, was aimed at preventing Nazi Germany from using Vichy territory as a springboard for attacks on the Allied stronghold of Egypt... Persia and Persian can refer to: the Western name for Iran. ...

Burma campaign

See South-East Asian Theatre of World War II and Burma Campaign

In March 1942, Slim was given command of BurCorps (consisting of the Indian 17th and Burmese 1st Division) in Burma, which was being attacked by the Japanese. Heavily outnumbered, he was soon forced to withdraw to India. The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was the name given to the campaigns of the Pacific War in India, Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Singapore. ... The Burma Campaign was a campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. // Allied Command Structure Initially command problems beset the Burma campaign. ... This article is about the year. ...

Having successfully brought the majority of his shattered command out of Burma, he took over XV Corps, which covered the coastal approaches from Burma to India, east of Chittagong. During this time he planned for a revolutionary new style of warfare—to negate the advantages the Japanese had in mobility on the offense and depth in defence. He also took to the task of training the rapidly-growing Eastern Army and restoring their confidence and abilities. Chittagong (Bengali: চট্টগ্রাম, Chaṭṭagrām) is the major sea-port and second largest city of Bangladesh. ...

However, XV Corps was taken from him by Noel Irwin, the incompetent commander of Eastern Army. Slim had been planning for XV Corps' advance into the Arakan Peninsula for nearly a year. His plan involved indirect approaches, resupply by the air, concentration in the attack and defence and integration at all levels between air and ground forces—Irwin threw all this out of the window and just went for a traditional, direct attack—which went disastrously wrong. Irwin then stepped back and ordered Slim to retake control of XV Corps. Arakan is a state in the North Western part of Myanmar, formerly Burma. ...

Once again, Slim was thrown in at the deep end with considerable portions of his corps already destroyed by the Japanese. Once again, Slim managed to extricate the majority of his force from a desperate situation.

Irwin initially blamed Slim for the disastrous Arakan Campaign, but justice was done and Slim was elevated to command the new Fourteenth Army—formed from IV Corps (Imphal), XV Corps (Arakan) and XXXIII Corps (reserve)—later joined by XXXIV Corps. The British Fourteenth Army, in spite of its name, was a multinational force: most of its units were from the Indian Army and there were also significant contributions from East African divisions within the British Army. ...

He quickly got on with the task of training his new army to take the fight to the enemy. The basic premise was that off-road mobility was paramount: Much heavy equipment was exchanged for mule- or air-transported equipment and motor transport was kept to a minimum and restricted to those vehicles that could cope with some of the worst combat terrain on earth. From now on there would be almost no non-combatants: All troops were trained to fight as infantrymen first and foremost. The new doctrine dictated that if the Japanese had cut the lines of communication, then they too were surrounded. All units were to form defensive 'boxes', to be resupplied by air and assisted by integrated close air support and armour. These boxes would then become the anvil, upon which the Japanese would be broken by the hammer coming down from the reserve formations.

This theory was put to the test in January 1944, when the Second Arakan Offensive was met by a Japanese counter-offensive, which quickly surrounded the Indian 7th Infantry Division and parts of the 5th Indian and West African 81st Divisions. The 7th Division's defence was based largely on the "Admin Box"—formed initially from drivers, cooks, suppliers, etc, who now fought as "Uncle Bill" had told them to do. They were supplied by air—negating the importance of their lost supply lines. The Japanese forces were then almost totally destroyed by the reserve divisions coming down from the north. 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

But the real test was now to commence—the Arakan had been a distraction. the main Japanese offensive was heading for Imphal—hundreds of miles to the north. Slim was initially caught off-balance, but rallied incredibly. He airlifted two entire veteran divisions (5th & 7th Indian) from battle in the Arakan, straight into another battle in the north. The Second Arakan Campaign was repeated on a much larger scale—desperate defensive actions were fought at places such as Imphal, Sangshak and Kohima, while the RAF and USAAF kept them resupplied from the air. The Battle of Imphal took place in Manipur district of North East India from April until June 1944. ... The Battle of Kohima was a battle of the Burma Campaign in World War II, fought around the town of Kohima in northeast India from April 4 to June 22, 1944. ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the UK Armed Forces. ... The United States Army Air Forces, or USAAF, was a part of the U.S. military during World War II. The direct precursor to the U.S. Air Force, the USAAF formally existed between 1941 and 1947. ...

Once again, the Japanese were broken upon the anvil by the hammer that Slim brought against them from colossal distances. These were the first major land defeats ever suffered by the IJA.

In 1945, Slim launched his greatest gamble—a blitzkrieg-style offensive into Burma, with lines of supply stretching almost to breaking point across hundreds of miles of trackless jungle. The Irrawaddy was crossed (with the longest Bailey bridge in the world at the time—most of which had been transported by mule and air) and the city of Meiktila was taken, followed by Mandalay. The Allies then switched to a mobile defence, sallying out and breaking Japanese attacking forces in isolation, maintaining the initiative at all times, backed up by possibly the best air-land co-operation seen in WWII—fully integrated air resupply and close air support, performed by both RAF and USAAF units. 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Blitzkrieg relied on close cooperation between infantry and panzers (tanks). ... The Irrawaddy (newer spelling Ayeyarwaddy) is a river that flows through the centre of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is Myanmars most important commercial waterway. ... Bailey bridge over the Coppename river at Witagron, Suriname. ... Mandalay is the second largest city (2000 pop. ...

With virtualy all major Japanese formations in Burma crushed, Rangoon was taken by a textbook combined land/air/sea operation in May 1945. Yangôn, formerly Rangoon, population 4,504,000 (2001), is the capital of Myanmar. ...

Post World War II

After the war Slim became commander of Allied Land Forces in South-East Asia. In 1948 he returned to England where he became head of the Imperial Defence College and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff. In 1953 he was promoted to Field Marshal, and accepted the post of Governor-General of Australia, without retiring from the Army. His correct title while Governor-General was therefore Field Marshal Sir William Slim. 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) was the title of the professional head of the British Army from 1908 to 1964. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Note: This article is about the military usage of the word marshal. For other usages, see the end of this article. ...

Although public opinion in Australia was not as keen on British Governors-General as it had been before the war, Slim was a popular choice since he was an authentic war hero who had fought alongside Australians at Gallipoli and in the Middle East. In 1954 he was able to welcome Queen Elizabeth II on the first visit by a reigning monarch to Australia. 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), styled HM The Queen (born 21 April 1926) is the Queen regnant and head of state of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent...

Slim's duties as Governor-General were entirely ceremonial and there were no controversies during his term. The Liberal leader Robert Menzies held office throughout Slim's time in Australia. In 1959 he retired and returned to Britain, where he published his highly acclaimed memoirs, Unofficial History and Defeat Into Victory. In 1960 he became 1st Viscount Slim. He died in London in December 1970. The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian liberal conservative political party. ... Rt Hon Robert Menzies The Right Honourable Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, KT, CH, QC (20 December 1894 – 14 May 1978), Australian politician, was the twelfth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia serving eighteen and a half years. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... St. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Bibliography

• "Defeat into Victory" by Field Marshall Sir William Slim; NY: Buccaneer Books ISBN 1568490771, Cooper Square Press ISBN 0815410220; London: Cassell ISBN 0304291145, Pan ISBN 033039066X.

Governors-General of Australia
Hopetoun | Tennyson | Northcote | Dudley | Denman | Munro-Ferguson | Forster | Stonehaven | Isaacs | Gowrie | Gloucester | McKell Slim | Dunrossil | De L'Isle | Casey | Hasluck | Kerr | Cowen | Stephen | Hayden | Deane | Hollingworth | Jeffery

The Governor-General of Australia is a position established by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act to sign legislation into law, appoint judges and ministers and perform many other important duties. ... Australian National Flag For more information, see Australian Government, Flying the Flag - Its an Honour!. Created by User:E Pluribus Anthony File links The following pages link to this file: Australia Politics of Australia Ashmore and Cartier Islands Australian Labor Party Australian Democrats Australian Capital Territory Talk:Australian rules... The Marquess of Linlithgow, taken in 1902 when, as Earl of Hopetoun, he was Governor-general of Australia The Right Honourable The 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (John Adrian Louis Hope) ( 25 September 1860 - 29 February 1908 ), first Governor-General of Australia, was born at Queensferry, Linlithgowshire, Scotland, on 25 September... 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Lord Gowrie Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie VC, KBE, PC (6 July 1872 - 2 May 1955), tenth Governor-General of Australia, was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England, the second son of the 8th Baron Ruthven. ... His Royal Highness The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (Henry William Frederick Albert Windsor) (31 March 1900 - 10 June 1974), was the third son of King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary, the brother of King Edward VIII (later Duke of Windsor) and King George VI, and... Sir William McKell William John McKell (26 September 1891 - 11 January 1985), twelfth Governor-General of Australia, was born in Pambula New South Wales, the son of a butcher. ... Field Marshal Sir William Slim (pictured here as a Major General) Field Marshal William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim (6 August 1897 - 14 December 1970), British military commander and 13th Governor-General of Australia, was born near Bristol, Gloucestershire. ... 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Bernard Law Montgomery Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (November 17, 1887 - March 24, 1976) was a British Army officer, most noted for his involvement in World War II and often referred to as Monty. ... Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) was the title of the professional head of the British Army from 1908 to 1964. ... Sir William McKell William John McKell (26 September 1891 - 11 January 1985), twelfth Governor-General of Australia, was born in Pambula New South Wales, the son of a butcher. ... The Governor-General of Australia is a position established by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act to sign legislation into law, appoint judges and ministers and perform many other important duties. ... Lord Dunrossil William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil (8 October 1893 - 3 February 1961), 14th Governor-General of Australia, was born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh University. ...