John Hawkesworth (British Army officer)

Lieutenant General Sir John Ledlie Inglis Hawkesworth KBE CB DSO and Bar (19 February 1893 – 3 June 1945) was a senior British Army officer who served during both World War I and World War II, where he commanded the 46th Infantry Division throughout most of the Italian Campaign and later X Corps in Greece, before suffering from a fatal heart attack in June 1945.

Hawkesworth was born on 19 February 1893. He was educated at St Bees School, Cumberland from 1907–1912, where he excelled at rugby, playing in the School XV in 1911–1912. One of his team-mates was G.A. West, later Bishop of Rangoon. He then went up to The Queen's College, Oxford to read Modern History, at which he served in the Special Reserve.

He joined the unattached list of the Territorial Reserve on 23 January 1914, before being gazetted as a second lieutenant into the British Army's East Yorkshire Regiment on 15 August 1914. He served during World War I (1914–1918) on the Western Front, and was wounded three times, ending the war as a captain. In 1919 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and in 1921 was awarded the Croix de guerre by the French and also the Belgian War Cross.

He remained in the British Army during the interwar period, holding various junior regimental and staff postings until attending the Staff College, Camberley between 1927 and 1929, his graduation entitling him to use the post-nominals "psc" (passed staff college) after his name. He served as a staff captain at the War Office from 1920–1923, before being appointed Deputy Assistant to the Military Secretary 1923–1924. He served as brigade major of the 15th Infantry Brigade from 1930–1932, before becoming Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG) on the staff of Northern Command until 1934. He was on the directing staff of the Staff College, Camberley as a General Staff Officer, Grade 3 (GSO3) from 1934–1937 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel, becoming a GSO1 in 1937. On promotion he commanded the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment and was mentioned in despatches for service in Palestine.

In October 1939, during World War II (1939–1945) Hawkesworth was given command of the 12th Infantry Brigade, part of the 4th Infantry Division, and which was serving with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. He commanded the brigade throughout the Battle of France, finally being forced to retreat to Dunkirk where his brigade was evacuated to England at the end of May 1940, leaving France himself on 1 June. In August he was made CBE and was also mentioned in despatches for his service in France. In December he was appointed Director of Military Training at the War Office in the acting rank of major general in which role he was responsible for general military training for other ranks at a time when the British Army was growing rapidly.

In March 1942 Hawkesworth was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 4th Infantry Division shortly after which a tank brigade (the 21st) was substituted for one of the three infantry brigades (the 11th) to create a "mixed" division. In the New Years honours list of 1943 he was appointed CB. Hawkesworth landed with the division in Algeria in March 1943 and took part in the final stages of the Tunisia Campaign until the fighting ended in May, with the surrender of nearly 250,000 Axis soldiers who subsequently became prisoners of war (POWs). For his service in Tunisia Hawkesworth was awarded the DSO.

The 4th Division was rested for the Sicilian campaign but in August Hawkesworth took over as GOC of the 46th Infantry Division, a 2nd Line Territorial Army (TA) formation that had seen service in Tunisia alongside his 4th Division, which took part in the Allied invasion of Italy as part of Lieutenant General Richard McCreery's British X Corps, then serving under the American Fifth Army. After the capture of Naples in early October the division crossed the Volturno Line, with X Corps forming the left flank of the Fifth Army's advance to the Winter Line (also known as the Gustav Line). During the First Battle of Monte Cassino in January 1944 the division made an assault crossing of the Garigliano river. Lack of assault boats and heavy German resistance condemned it to failure, with heavy losses. In March the division was withdrawn to Egypt and Palestine to rest and refit, having sustained more than 5,000 casualties since landing at Salerno.

In May 1944 Hawkesworth spent a month in temporary command of the British 1st Infantry Division in the Anzio beachhead when the GOC, Major General Ronald Penney, fell ill. By July he was back in Italy with the 46th Division, now back up to strength, as part of the British Eighth Army's V Corps, under Lieutenant General Charles Keightley, on the Adriatic coast. The division was involved in heavy fighting during Operation Olive, the Eighth Army's major assault on the Gothic Line defences in September and October.

In November 1944 Hawkesworth was promoted to command X Corps when his predecessor, Lieutenant General McCreery, moved to take command of the Eighth Army. When the Axis forces withdrew from Greece, from October British troops under Lieutenant General Ronald Scobie were sent there to maintain internal stability. In late 1944 Hawkesworth and X Corps HQ were sent to help calm the Greek Civil War and to assume control of military operations so that Scobie could concentrate more on the highly complex and sensitive political aspects of the British involvement.

By March 1945 Hawkesworth and his HQ had returned to Italy. X Corps was in a reserve role and not involved in the final offensive in April 1945 which led to the surrender of Axis forces in Italy in early May.

By this time it had become apparent that Hawkesworth was suffering from a serious heart condition. He died on the way home to Britain, when he suffered a heart attack while on board his troopship which lay at Gibraltar, on 3 June 1945 at the age of fifty-two.

For his services in Italy he was awarded a second DSO and the United States Legion of Merit, Degree of Commander. He had also been mentioned in despatches in August 1944 for his services in the Italy theatre.

He left his wife, Helen Jane, and an only son, also named John, who at the time was also serving with the Grenadier Guards. On 10 August, General Mark Clark, commander of the American Fifth Army at Salerno and later commander of all Allied ground forces in Italy, sent a tribute from his headquarters in Vienna mourning the "loss of a most highly-valued friendship to his many comrades-in-arms in the Mediterranean theatre…We shall not forget General Hawkesworth, and England has our eternal gratitude for producing men of his staunch integrity and character." The post-war British Army had been deprived of a popular and able commander.

• Commissioned East Yorkshire Regiment, 1914
• Brigade major 15th Infantry Brigade, General Staff Northern Command 1930–1932
• Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General, Northern Command 1932–1934
• GSO2 at Staff College, Camberley 1934–1937
• Commander 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, Palestine 1937–1939
• Commander 12th Infantry Brigade, France 1939–1940
• Director of Military Training, War Office 1940–1942
• GOC 4th Infantry Division, North Africa 1942–1943
• GOC 46th Infantry Division, Italy 1943–1944
• GOC (T) 1st Infantry Division, Italy 1944
• GOC 46th Infantry Division, Italy 1944
• GOC X Corps, Italy–Greece 1944
• GOC-in-C Military Command Athens, Greece 1944–1945