Gort, Field Marshal Lord

Gort, Field Marshal Lord (1886–1946),born John Vereker, Gort inherited an Irish viscountcy at sixteen. A First World War hero—holder of the Victoria Cross, three DSOs, and the MC (see decorations)—he was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) in 1937. At the war office he was, as one of his staff officers commented, ‘a fish out of water’, and his relations with the war minister, Hore-Belisha, were strained.

On 3 September 1939 he was delighted to be appointed C-in-C of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) whose existence and readiness were largely due to him. His courage during the fighting which preceded the fall of France in June 1940 is undisputed, but he had never commanded anything larger than a brigade and it has been said that his appointment was beyond him intellectually. Nevertheless, he acted decisively, and on his own respon sibility, when, on 25 May 1940, he plugged the gap about to be opened by a German pincers attack on the Belgian Army withdrawing northwards. By doing this, instead of obeying orders to attack southwards (the Weygand plan), he made the Dunkirk evacuation possible and saved the BEF from certain annihilation. He wanted to stay with his troops on the beaches, but, when ordered by Churchill, he handed over his command to Alexander and returned to England on 1 June. After some months as inspector-general of training, he was appointed C-in-C Gibraltar in April 1941 and then of Malta the following May. He successfully led the island's defence with such élan that in 1943 he was promoted field marshal. He left Malta in 1944 and finished the war as high commissioner and C-in-C in Palestine. He was knighted in 1940.

Bibliography

Colville, J. , Man of Valour (London, 1972).