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Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden - The most senior British Army combat casualty of the Second World War
19/10/2023
Second World War United Kingdom
By Megan

United Kingdom

Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden
2147053
View record on CWGC
Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden

Herbert fought on the Western Front during the First World War with the Royal Artillery and was wounded in action.

After the war he remained in the military and by the outbreak of the Second World War he had risen to the rank of Colonel, commanding the 12th Royal Lancers.

He was evacuated from Dunkirk with his unit and was promoted again to command the 1st Armoured Division in the North African campaign under General Montgomery. In January 1943, he was made special military representative to the American General, Douglas MacArthur.

On 6 January 1945, he was killed by a Japanese kamikaze plane while on the bridge of the battleship USS New Mexico.

He is the most senior British Army combat casualty of the Second World War.

Because the names on the memorial are ordered by unit order of precedence, rank and then alpha, Herbert is the first name on the Brookwood 1939-1945 memorial.

Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden (copyright unknown)