Harold Alexander English field marshal Date of Birth: 10.12.1891 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Harold Alexander

Harold Alexander was an English field marshal, born on December 10, 1891 in Tyrone, Ireland. He attended Harrow and Sandhurst colleges, and later the Staff College (1927) and the Imperial Defence College (1930). Alexander served in the First World War and was a member of the British military mission in Poland from 1918 to 1919. From 1934 to 1938, he commanded an infantry brigade that suppressed the Indian nationalist movement.

At the start of the Second World War, Alexander commanded the 1st Infantry Division and later the army corps of the British Expeditionary Force in France. He played a crucial role in the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. From 1941 to 1942, he commanded British forces in Burma. In August 1942, he assumed leadership of the British Middle East Command and coordinated the actions of Allied forces in North Africa in 1942-43. He was awarded the title of Lord Tunis for his leadership in the North African campaign.

In 1943, Alexander commanded the 18th Army Group in Tunisia and later the 15th Army Group, which landed in Sicily and Italy. From December 1943, he served as the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the Mediterranean theater of operations. After the war, he served as the Governor General of Canada from 1946 to 1952 and as the Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 1954. He retired in 1954.