Colin Callander
Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Bishop Callander KCB KBE MC (13 March 1897 – 31 May 1979) was a senior British Army officer who went on to be Military Secretary.
Sir Colin Callander | |
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Birth name | Colin Bishop Callander |
Born | 13 March 1897 Ilminster, Somerset, England |
Died | 31 May 1979 82)[1] Cranbrook, Kent, England[2] | (aged
Allegiance | |
Service/ | |
Years of service | 1915–1957 |
Rank | Lieutenant-General |
Unit | Royal Munster Fusiliers Leicestershire Regiment |
Commands held | 1/5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment 159th Infantry Brigade 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division 76th Infantry Division 4th Infantry Division 2nd Division |
Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross |
Military career
Educated at Ilminster Grammar School,[3] Callander was commissioned into the Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1915 during the First World War.[4] He transferred to the Leicestershire Regiment in 1922[4] and went to the North West Frontier in India in 1938.[4]
He served during the Second World War becoming General Officer Commanding (GOC) 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division in May 1943 and GOC 76th Infantry Division in December 1943, before being assigned GOC 4th Division in Greece in December 1944.[4] In 1945 he took the unconditional surrender at Knossos of German Forces serving in Crete under General Benthag.[5]
He became GOC 2nd Division in the British Army of the Rhine in 1949 and Director General of Military Training at the War Office in 1948.[4] He was appointed Military Secretary in 1954 and retired in 1957.[4] From 1954 to 1963 he was Colonel of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.[6]
References
- England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995
- "Obituary". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 2 June 1979. p. 12.
- "Ilminster Grammar School". Archived from the original on 26 July 2008.
- "Colin Callander". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
- Beevor, Antony (2005). Crete: The Battle and the Resistance. John Murray. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-7195-6831-2.
- "The Leicestershire Regiment". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2016.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
External links
Military offices | ||
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Preceded by Charles Wainwright |
GOC 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division May–December 1943 |
Succeeded by Cyril Lomax (as GOC East Anglia District) |
Preceded by William Ozanne |
GOC 76th Infantry Division 1943–1944 |
Succeeded by John Utterson-Kelso |
Preceded by Alfred Dudley Ward |
GOC 4th Infantry Division 1945–1946 |
Succeeded by Ernest Down |
Preceded by Philip Balfour |
GOC 2nd Division 1949–1951 |
Succeeded by Basil Coad |
Preceded by Sir Euan Miller |
Military Secretary 1954–1957 |
Succeeded by Sir Hugh Stockwell |
Preceded by Harold Pinder |
Colonel of the Royal Leicestershire Reginent 1954–1963 |
Succeeded by Sir Douglas Kendrew |