Dudley Johnson (British Army officer)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person Major-General Dudley Graham Johnson, Template:Postnominals (13 February 1884 – 21 December 1975) was a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Military career

Major-General Bernard Montgomery (left), Lieutenant-General Sir Alan Brooke (centre), and Major-General Dudley Johnson (right) in France, c.1939–40.

Johnson served with the Wiltshire Regiment in the Second Boer War.<ref name=lh>Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives</ref> He transferred to the South Wales Borderers upon graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1903. He went to serve in the First World War, earning the Distinguished Service Order in 1915 for bravery in late 1914, with the citation reading:

Johnson was later awarded a bar to his DSO towards the end of the war, with the citation for the bar stating:

He was 34 years old, and an acting lieutenant-colonel in the South Wales Borderers, British Army, commanding the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment when the following deed took place at the Sambre Canal, France for which he was awarded the VC.

Between the wars he attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1923 to 1924Template:Sfn and held a number of instruction and staff posts before being appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment in 1928.<ref name=lh/> He commanded the 12th (Secunderabad) Infantry Brigade in 1933 and became General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 4th Division from 1938 to 1940.<ref name=lh/> He was replaced as divisional commander after the Battle of Dunkirk in June 1940 and made GOC Aldershot Command later on in 1940<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> before becoming Inspector of Infantry in 1941.<ref name=lh/> He retired in 1944 and was Colonel of the South Wales Borderers from 1944 to 1949.<ref name=lh/>

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the South Wales Borderers Museum, Brecon, Powys, Wales.

Family

Johnson was married to Marjorie Grisewood, who died in 1950. They had one son and two daughters and, after his wife's death, spent the last 25 years of his life a widower.

Bibliography

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External links

• Location of grave and VC medal (Hampshire)
• Generals of World War II

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