Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Charles Douglas Packard, (17 May 1903 – 2000) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who achieved high office in the 1950s.

Military career

After graduating from the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, Packard was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

on 29 August 1923.

Orde Wingate Major General Orde Charles Wingate, (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer known for his creation of the Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory during the Burma Campaign of the Second World ...

and

Richard Goodbody General Sir Richard Wakefield Goodbody, (12 April 1903 – 29 April 1981) was a senior British Army officer who served as Adjutant General from 1960 to 1963. Military career Educated at Rugby School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Ri ...

were among his fellow graduates, both of whom also rose to

general officer A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

's rank.Sir Charles Douglas Packard
Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 29 August 1925. Packard served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in the Middle East and Italy, becoming commander of the

1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery is a regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army. It currently serves in the armoured field artillery role, and is equipped with the AS90 self-propelled gun. The regiment is currently based at La ...

in 1942, commander Royal Artillery for the Tenth Army Group in 1943 and commander Royal Artillery for the 78th Division later in 1944. He was them appointed commander of the

36th Infantry Brigade The 36th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of British Army that fought in the First World War, as part of 12th (Eastern) Division, on the Western Front. The brigade also fought in the Second World War, with the 12th (Eastern) Infa ...

also in 1944 and Deputy Chief of Staff for the

15th Army Group The 15th Army Group was an Army Group in World War II, composed of the British Eighth and the U.S. Fifth Armies, which apart from troops from the British Empire and U.S.A., also had whole units from other allied countries/regions; like two of t ...

in 1945. He was promoted to the acting rank of major general on 11 September 1945, shortly after the war ended. After the war Packard was appointed Chief of Staff for the British Element of the

Allied Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Easter ...

for Austria before becoming Director of Military Intelligence at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in 1948. He was made commander of the British Military Mission to Greece in 1949 and Chief of Staff

Middle East Land Forces Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

in 1951. He became Vice Quartermaster General at the

in 1953 and Military Advisor to West African Governments in 1956. He went on to be General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland District in 1958 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Ireland Command in 1959. He retired in 1961.

Retirement

In 1962 Packard advised

Edgar Whitehead Sir Edgar Cuthbert Fremantle Whitehead, (8 February 1905 – 22 September 1971) was a Rhodesian politician. He was a longstanding member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly, although his career was interrupted by other posts and by ...

, Prime Minister of

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, on certain matters relating to the

British South Africa Police The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980). It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, from ...

then operating in Rhodesia.So far and no further: Rhodesia's bid for independence during the retreat from Empire 1959 to 1965 By J. R. T. Wood, Page 47
Trafford Publishing, 2005

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Packard, Douglas 1903 births 2000 deaths Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Army lieutenant generals Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Artillery officers British Army brigadiers of World War II