Gerard Bucknall

Lieutenant-General Gerard Corfield Bucknall, CB, MC (1894 – 1980) was a British Army officer and corps commander during World War II.

In 1914, during the First World War, Bucknall was commissioned in The Middlesex Regiment with whom he served in France with some distinction. Between the wars he served with the Egyptian Army (Egypt was then de-facto part of the British Empire) and attended the Staff College, Camberley. He was commander of 2nd Battalion by the outbreak of the Second World War, to be succeeded by Brian Horrocks (who would later take up another of Bucknall's posts), by the time the British Expeditionary Force left for France. He was appointed GOC 53rd (Welsh) Division in 1941 before eventually seeing action in 1943 with the 5th Division in Sicily and Italy.

Bucknall impressed Montgomery and when he was appointed to command Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, he appointed Bucknall to command XXX Corps. However, Alan Brooke, the CIGS, believed Bucknall to be unsuitable for command at that level. By August 1944 Bucknall was removed from his command, due to the relatively poor performance of XXX Corps, to be replaced by Horrocks. Montgomery conceded that it had been a mistake to appoint him and Bucknall was given a command in Northern Ireland which he held until his retirement.

References

*"Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War", Nick Smart. ISBN 1-84415-049-6.
*"Caen 1944", Ken Ford. ISBN 1-84176-625-9