Quick Facts
Biography
Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Charles Acton Schreiber, KCB, DSO, KStJ, DL (30 April 1890 – 8 October 1972) was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First World War and the Second World War. In the latter he commanded the 45th Infantry Division, V Corps and the British First Army.
Military career
Born the son of Brigadier General Acton L. Schreiber CB, CMG, DSO, Edmond Schreiber was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Royal Field Artillery, becoming a lieutenant in 1912. He served in the First World War (1914–1918) with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, earning the Distinguished Service Order, being mentioned in dispatches and ending the war as a brevet major.
In the 1930s, during the interwar period, he served at the Staff College, Camberley, the War Office and the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness and was Brigadier Royal Artillery in Southern Command.
During the Second World War (1939–1945) Schreiber served with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France between 1939 and 1940. He became General Officer Commanding (GOC) 61st Infantry Division in 1940, GOC 45th Infantry Division later in 1940 and GOC 4th Infantry Division in 1941 before being promoted to take command of V Corps later that year. In 1942 he was appointed to command the British First Army (in reality an Anglo-American formation) which was to be the parent organisation for Allied forces in French North Africa after Operation Torch in November; however, he developed a kidney problem and became unfit for active service.
Restricted to non-field roles, he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Western Command in 1942 and of South Eastern Command in 1944. Between 1944 and 1946, Schreiber was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. He retired from the British Army after the war in 1947. Schreiber became a Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1944.
Retirement
He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Devon in 1948 and National President of the Old Contemptibles Association in 1960.
Family
Edmond Schreiber married Phyllis Barchard in 1916; there were two daughters.