Andrew Thorne

Sir

Andrew Thorne
Thorne in Norway, May 1945
Nickname(s)"Bulgy"[1]
Born(1885-09-20)20 September 1885
Dornhurst, Sevenoaks, Kent, England[2]
Died25 September 1970(1970-09-25) (aged 85)
Spynie Hospital, Elgin, Moray, Scotland
Buried
St. Andrew's Churchyard, Sonning, Wokingham
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1904–1946
RankGeneral
Service number13980
UnitGrenadier Guards
CommandsScottish Command
XII Corps
48th (South Midland) Infantry Division
Brigade of Guards
1st Infantry Brigade (Guards)
184th Infantry Brigade
3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards
Battles / warsFirst World War
Arab revolt in Palestine
Second World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order & Two Bars
Mentioned in Despatches
Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland)
Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (Norway)
Legion of Honour (France)

General Sir Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne, KCB, CMG, DSO & Two Bars, DL (20 September 1885 – 25 September 1970) was a senior British Army officer who served in the First and Second World Wars, where he commanded the 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division during the Battle of France in mid-1940.

Family

Thorne was the son of Augustus Thorne, a barrister, and Mary Frances Nicol.[3] His nephew, Patrick Campbell-Preston, was the husband of Dame Frances Campbell-Preston.[4][5]

Thorne married the Hon. Margaret Douglas-Pennant, daughter of George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn, on 29 July 1909 at the Guards' Chapel, Wellington Barracks, in London.[6][7] They had six children, including Lieutenant Colonel Sir Peter Francis Thorne.[8][9]

Military career

Educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Thorne was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Grenadier Guards on 2 March 1904.[2][10] He served in the First World War, becoming a staff captain, having been promoted to the rank of captain on 22 March 1913,[11] then deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general and then deputy assistant quartermaster general in France. He became commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in 1916,[12] and saw action in the First Battle of Ypres in 1914[13] and Battle of the Somme in 1916, earning the Distinguished Service Order[14] and two Bars.[15] The citation for his first Bar, appearing in The London Gazette in July 1918, reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When his battalion had captured its objective in an attack he organised the consolidation of the position and supervised the placing of strong points under very heavy fire. It was mainly through his excellent dispositions that the battalion maintained its position against heavy enemy counter-attacks. He showed great coolness and ability.[16]

Thorne was also awarded the Legion of Honour by the President of France in 1917,[17] and was promoted to acting lieutenant colonel in July that year as well.[18] In mid-October 1918 he became commander of the 184th Infantry Brigade and with it came the temporary rank of brigadier general. Just a month after his thirty-third birthday, he was one of the youngest generals in the British Army during the First World War.[12][19]

After the war Thorne became assistant military attaché at Washington, D.C. He then returned to the United Kingdom to attend a shortened course at the Staff College, Camberley.[20] This was followed, in 1922, by him becoming a General Staff Officer (GSO) at London District. He served at the Staff College as an instructor from 1923 to 1925.[12][21] He was appointed military assistant to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office in 1925 and commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards again in 1927. In 1932, he was made military attaché in Berlin for three years, where he came to know Adolf Hitler and many of his senior officers personally.[13] He was commander of the 1st Guards Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1935, a temporary brigade commander in Palestine and Transjordan in 1936, and in 1938 he became Major General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding (GOC) London District.[12][21][2]

At a tank demonstration February 1941, Thorne (far right) with Giffard Le Quesne Martel (Commander Royal Armoured Corps), Władysław Sikorski (C-in-C Polish Armed Forces), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Charles de Gaulle (C-in-C Free French Forces), February 1941.

In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Thorne became GOC 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division, which played an important role in the defence of the Dunkirk perimeter in 1940.[22] He then became GOC XII Corps before being appointed GOC Scottish Command and Governor of Edinburgh Castle from 1941 to 1945. As GOC XII Corps, he founded the innovative XII Corps Observation Unit as a prototype of the Auxiliary Units guerrilla organisation.[23] Whilst in Scotland, he was involved in the creation of War Office Selection Boards and responsible for the Fortitude North deception plan, as well as preparation for the liberation of Norway.[12]

King George VI visiting Scottish Command in October 1941. Lieutenant General Thorne is stood on the far left.

Germany officially surrendered in Norway on 8 May 1945, and Thorne arrived in Norway on 13 May together with Crown Prince Olav. He brought with him a small military force—one tenth the size of the German military presence—and so had to rely on cooperation with paramilitary forces from the Norwegian resistance movement. He cooperated closely with Jens Chr. Hauge.[24]

After the end of the war in Europe, German prisoners in Norway were reportedly forced to clear minefields under British supervision. The Germans complained to Thorne but he dismissed the accusations arguing that the Germans prisoners were not prisoners of war but "disarmed forces who had surrendered unconditionally." By 1946, when the cleanup ended, 392 were injured and 275 had died; this was contrary to the terms of the Geneva Conventions.[25] He formally held the sovereignty of Norway until 7 June, when Haakon VII of Norway returned from his exile. Thorne remained in charge of dismantling the German presence in Norway until he left the country on 31 October 1945.[24]

Thorne retired in 1946.[12] He was chairman of the Anglo-Norse Society for some time,[24] and was at some point a deputy lieutenant of Berkshire.[2]

References

  1. ^ Smart 2005, p. 309.
  2. ^ a b c d "British Army officer histories". Unit Histories. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  3. ^ Old Etonian Association, The Eton Register, Part VII, 1899–1909 (Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co., 1922), p. 28.
  4. ^ Harry Mount, "The Queen Mother's lady-in-waiting turns 100", The Oldie, 1 September 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  5. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 5.
  6. ^ Arthur G. M. Hesilrige (ed.), Debrett's Baronatage, Knightage and Companionage (London, Dean & Son, 1922), p. 1946.
  7. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 35.
  8. ^ Obituary, "Sir Peter Thorne", The Times, 30 March 2004. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  9. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 39.
  10. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 23.
  11. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 37.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Thorne, Sir (Augustus Francis) Andrew (Nicol) (1885–1970), General". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. King's College London. Archived from the original on 31 July 2007.
  13. ^ a b "General Sir Andrew Thorne KCB CB CMG DSO and two bars". Scots at War A – Z Index. Archived from the original on 29 September 2009.
  14. ^ "No. 12894". The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 January 1916. p. 92.
  15. ^ "No. 13212". The Edinburgh Gazette. 20 February 1918. p. 738.
  16. ^ "No. 30801". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 July 1918. p. 8439.
  17. ^ "No. 30184". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 July 1917. p. 7093.
  18. ^ "No. 30247". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 August 1917. p. 8670.
  19. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 73.
  20. ^ Lindsay 1987, p. 86.
  21. ^ a b "Biography of General Augustus Francis Andrew Nicol Thorne (1885–1970), Great Britain". generals.dk.
  22. ^ First World War
  23. ^ Atkin, Malcolm (2015). Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939 – 1945. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. pp. Chapter 5. ISBN 978-1-47383-377-7.
  24. ^ a b c Ringdal, Nils Johan (1995). "Thorne, Sir Andrew". In Dahl, Hans Fredrik (ed.). Norsk krigsleksikon 1940-45. Oslo: Cappelen. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  25. ^ Hunt, Vincent (2014). Fire and Ice: The Nazis' Scorched Earth Campaign in Norway. The History Press. ISBN 978-0750958073.

Bibliography

Military offices
Preceded by GOC London District
1938–1939 		Succeeded by
Sir Bertram Sergison-Brooke
Preceded by GOC 48th (South Midland) Infantry Division
1939–1940 		Succeeded by
New command GOC XII Corps
1940–1941 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC-in-C Scottish Command
1941–1945 		Succeeded by

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