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 ...

Ridley Pakenham Pakenham-Walsh, (29 April 1888 – 3 November 1966) was a senior

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 served as Engineer-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of France and later as General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland District and

IX Corps 9 Corps, 9th Corps, Ninth Corps, or IX Corps may refer to: France * 9th Army Corps (France) * IX Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * IX Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial Germ ...

.Pakenham-Walsh, Vol IX, Appendix A.Smart, pp. 244−5.

Military career

After attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Pakenham-Walsh was commissioned into the Royal Engineers (RE) in 1908.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He became an instructor at the

Royal Military College, Duntroon lit: Learning promotes strength , established = , type = Military college , chancellor = , head_label = Commandant , head = Brigadier Ana Duncan , principal = , city = Campbell , state ...

in Australia in 1914. Pakenham-Walsh served in

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 ...

, in the Gallipoli campaign and on the Western Front. He was promoted to Captain on 18 December 1914, and to Acting Major on 9 January 1917 when he took command of a field company. He was awarded 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 ...

in the 1918 New Year Honours list. From 15 July 1918 until the end of the war he held the appointment of Commander, Royal Engineers, (CRE) to 3rd Division in the final Allied Hundred Days Offensive, with the rank of Acting

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. After the war he became British Representative at the International Commission in Teschen, Poland, and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1921 to 1922. He was then appointed an instructor in tactics at the School of Military Engineering (SME) in 1923. After attending the

Imperial Defence College The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

in 1931 he was appointed a General Staff Officer and then

Assistant Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

(Mobilisation) 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 ...

, before becoming Brigadier, General Staff, of Eastern Command in 1935. In June 1939 he took up the appointment of Commandant of the SME, which also carried the titles of Inspector, RE, and General Officer Commanding Chatham Area, but left these roles on the outbreak of

World War II 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 opposing ...

when he was appointed as Engineer-in-Chief for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). During the '

Phoney War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

' his office's work involved designing reinforced concrete defences around

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

. When the Phoney War ended with the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, the BEF abandoned these defences and advanced to aid the Belgians under the Anglo-French Plan D. However, the German breakthrough in the Ardennes threatened the BEF's flank and forced its withdrawal back into France. Soon the situation was so dangerous that Pakenham-Walsh was ordered to organise all the RE units employed at General Headquarters and on the

Lines of Communication A line of communication (or communications) is the route that connects an operating military unit with its supply base. Supplies and reinforcements are transported along the line of communication. Therefore, a secure and open line of communicati ...

into improvised infantry battalions to assist the defence. By 26 May the BEF was cut off and the decision had been made to evacuate it through Dunkirk. The commander of III Corps, Lt-Gen Sir Ronald Adam, was sent to command the British troops forming the perimeter covering the port and to coordinate the evacuation (

Operation Dynamo Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

) with the naval authorities, with Pakenham-Walsh to assist him. After the Dunkirk evacuation he was sent as Head of Mission to the United States, then became GOC Northern Ireland District in 1940–41. He was appointed GOC of

in 1941 and commander of Salisbury Plain District in 1941–3. Early in 1943 he was appointed Controller-General Army Provision, Eastern Group, in charge of procuring all kinds of military stores from Commonwealth and Allied sources east of

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

, and supplying them to the forces operating in that theatre. He retired in 1946. After retirement he was commissioned by the Institution of Royal Engineers to write the history of the Royal Engineers from 1938 to 1948, covering the whole of

. Hampered by arthritis this took him almost 10 years, but the two volumes were published in 1958. Pakenham-Walsh's name appears on a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

in Rathmichael Church in Shankill,

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

.Irish War Memorials
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Maj A.F. Becke, ''History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 1: The Regular British Divisions'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1934/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-38-X. * Maj L.F. Ellis
''History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1954/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2004, 978-1-85457-056-6.
* Maj-Gen R.P. Pakenham-Walsh, ''History of the Corps of Royal Engineers'', Vol VIII, ''1938–1948: Campaigns in France and Belgium, 1939–40. Norway, Middle East, East Africa, Western Desert, North West Africa, and Activities in the U.K.'', Chatham: Institution of Royal Engineers, 1958. * Maj-Gen R.P. Pakenham-Walsh, ''History of the Corps of Royal Engineers'', Vol IX, ''1938–1948: Campaigns in Sicily and Italy: the War Against Japan: North-west Europe 1944º–45: Minor and Non-Operational Areas: Post-War 1945–48'', Chatham: Institution of Royal Engineers, 1958. *

External links

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pakenham-Walsh, Ridley 1888 births 1966 deaths Military personnel from County Kilkenny British Army lieutenant generals British Army generals of World War II Royal Engineers officers Companions of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War I Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich People educated at Cheltenham College Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies People from County Kilkenny