Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Justice Crosland Tilly DSO MC (27 January 1888 – 5 January 1941) 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 commanded the 2nd Armoured Division during the early stages of 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 opposi ...

Military career

Born in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

in January 1888, and coming from a military family, Tilly was commissioned into the Leicestershire Regiment (later the

Royal Leicestershire Regiment The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both ...

) on 12 November 1907. His service in the years prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

were spent with the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within ...

British East Africa East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Bri ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> During the war he served on the Western Front with the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks ...

, being wounded, mentioned in dispatches, and being awarded both the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

and the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

. The citation for his DSO reads: Remaining in the army during the difficult interwar period, he married in 1919 before transferring to the

West Yorkshire Regiment ) , march = ''Ça Ira'' , battles = Namur FontenoyFalkirk Culloden Brandywine , anniversaries = Imphal (22 June) The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) (14th Foot) wa ...

, with which he served on the North West Frontier of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

until 1924. After transferring again, this time to the Royal Tank Corps (later the Royal Tank Regiment) in 1927, he attended the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness in 1931. After commanding the 5th Battalion, Tank Corps in 1934 he became Chief Instructor at the Royal Tank Corps Central School in

Bovington Bovington Camp () is a British Army military base in Dorset, England. Together with Lulworth Camp it forms part of Bovington Garrison. The garrison is home to The Armour Centre and contains two barracks complexes and two forest and heathland tr ...

in 1935 and then Chief Instructor of the Gunnery Wing at the Armoured Fighting Vehicles School at Lulworth in 1937. Tilly went on to be Commander of the 1st Tank Brigade from 1938 to 1939 and then served in the

. In May 1940 he was promoted to major general and made General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 2nd Armoured Division, holding this post until he was killed in a motor accident in January 1941, after his division had been sent to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. He left behind a widow and a daughter.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Generals of World War IILives of the First World War
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilly, Justice 1888 births 1941 deaths British Army generals of World War II Royal Leicestershire Regiment officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel killed in World War II British Army major generals Military personnel from Bedford Machine Gun Corps officers