Andrew Thorne

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:EngvarB Script error: No such module "Infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". General Sir Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne, Script error: No such module "If empty". (20 September 1885 – 25 September 1970) was a senior British Army officer who served in the First and Second World Wars, where he commanded the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division during the Battle of France in mid-1940.

Family

Thorne was the son of Augustus Thorne, a barrister, and Mary Frances Nicol.[1] His nephew, Patrick Campbell-Preston, was the husband of Dame Frances Campbell-Preston.[2]Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Thorne married the Hon. Margaret Douglas-Pennant, daughter of George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn, on 29 July 1909 at the Guards' Chapel, Wellington Barracks, in London.[3]Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". They had six children, including Lieutenant Colonel Sir Peter Francis Thorne.[4]Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Military career

Educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Thorne was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Grenadier Guards on 2 March 1904.[5]Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". He served in the First World War, becoming a staff captain, having been promoted to the rank of captain on 22 March 1913,Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". then deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general and then deputy assistant quartermaster general in France. He became commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in 1916,[6] and saw action in the First Battle of Ypres in 1914[7] and Battle of the Somme in 1916, earning the Distinguished Service Order[8] and two Bars.[9] The citation for his first Bar, appearing in The London Gazette in July 1918, reads:

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Thorne was also awarded the Legion of Honour by the President of France in 1917,[10] and was promoted to acting lieutenant colonel in July that year as well.[11] In mid-October 1918 he became commander of the 184th Infantry Brigade and with it came the temporary rank of brigadier general. Just a month after his thirty-third birthday, he was one of the youngest generals in the British Army during the First World War.[6]Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

After the war Thorne became assistant military attaché at Washington, D.C. He then returned to the United Kingdom to attend a shortened course at the Staff College, Camberley.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". This was followed, in 1922, by him becoming a General Staff Officer (GSO) at London District. He served at the Staff College as an instructor from 1923 to 1925.[6][12] He was appointed military assistant to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office in 1925 and commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards again in 1927. In 1932, he was made military attaché in Berlin for three years, where he came to know Adolf Hitler and many of his senior officers personally.[7] He was commander of the 1st Guards Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1935, a temporary brigade commander in Palestine and Transjordan in 1936, and in 1938 he became Major General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding (GOC) London District.[6][12][5]

File:The Allied Armies in Britain, 1940-1945 H7233.jpg
At a tank demonstration February 1941, Thorne (far right) with Giffard Le Quesne Martel (Commander Royal Armoured Corps), Władysław Sikorski (C-in-C Polish Armed Forces), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Charles de Gaulle (C-in-C Free French Forces), February 1941.

In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Thorne became GOC 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division, which played an important role in the defence of the Dunkirk perimeter in 1940.[13] He then became GOC XII Corps. As GOC XII Corps, he founded the innovative XII Corps Observation Unit as a prototype of the Auxiliary Units guerrilla organisation.[14] He became GOC Scottish Command and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1941 and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1942 Birthday Honours.[15] Whilst in Scotland, he was involved in the creation of War Office Selection Boards and responsible for the Fortitude North deception plan, as well as preparation for the liberation of Norway.[6]

File:War Office Second World War Official Collection H14611.jpg
King George VI visiting Scottish Command in October 1941. Lieutenant General Thorne is stood on the far left.

Germany officially surrendered in Norway on 8 May 1945, and Thorne arrived in Norway on 13 May together with Crown Prince Olav. He brought with him a small military force—one tenth the size of the German military presence—and so had to rely on cooperation with paramilitary forces from the Norwegian resistance movement. He cooperated closely with Jens Chr. Hauge.[16]

After the end of the war in Europe, German prisoners in Norway were reportedly forced to clear minefields under British supervision. The Germans complained to Thorne but he dismissed the accusations arguing that the Germans prisoners were not prisoners of war but "disarmed forces who had surrendered unconditionally." By 1946, when the cleanup ended, 392 were injured and 275 had died; this was contrary to the terms of the Geneva Conventions.[17] He formally held the sovereignty of Norway until 7 June, when Haakon VII of Norway returned from his exile. Thorne remained in charge of dismantling the German presence in Norway until he left the country on 31 October 1945.[16]

Thorne retired in 1946.[6] He was chairman of the Anglo-Norse Society for some time,[16] and was at some point a deputy lieutenant of Berkshire.[5]

References

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  1. ↑ Old Etonian Association, The Eton Register, Part VII, 1899–1909 (Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co., 1922), p. 28.
  2. ↑ Harry Mount, "The Queen Mother's lady-in-waiting turns 100", The Oldie, 1 September 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  3. ↑ Arthur G. M. Hesilrige (ed.), Debrett's Baronatage, Knightage and Companionage (London, Dean & Son, 1922), p. 1946.
  4. ↑ Obituary, "Sir Peter Thorne", The Times, 30 March 2004. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. ↑ a b c Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  12. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ First World War
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  16. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Bibliography

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  • "THORNE, General Sir (Augustus Francis) Andrew (Nicol)". (2007). In Who Was Who. Online edition.
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External links

Military offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check GOC London District
1938–1939 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check GOC 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division
1939–1940 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
New command GOC XII Corps
1940–1941 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check GOC-in-C Scottish Command
1941–1945 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

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