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 ...

Thomas Gordon Rennie CB DSO MBE (3 January 1900 – 24 March 1945) 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 Gurkha ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

who served with distinction during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 3rd Infantry Division during the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

in June 1944. He was injured on 13 June but recovered quickly and was given command of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, which he led for the rest of the campaign in Western Europe until he was killed in action during

Operation Plunder Operation Plunder was a military operation to cross the Rhine on the night of 23 March 1945, launched by the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. The crossing of the river was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the river Li ...

, the Allied crossing of the

River Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

, in March 1945.

Military career

Brigadier T G Rennie, Dso, Mbe - 154 Brigade, 51st Highland Division Art

Educated at

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 0 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. ...

and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

, Rennie was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

into the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) on 16 July 1919.Loretto Roll of Honour
After attending the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, whic ...

from 1933 to 1934, he saw active service 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 opposi ...

, was taken prisoner at Saint-Valery-en-Caux during the final stages of the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

in June 1940, but then escaped nine days later. He was made

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

(CO) of the 5th Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) in 1942, leading the battalion at the

Second Battle of El Alamein The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented th ...

in October 1942,Exhibition: "They got a huge reception at St Valery" Breakout from Normandy
and then becoming Commander of the 154th Infantry Brigade and leading that formation for the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...

in July 1943. The British Army in the United Kingdom 1939-45 H38094

Towards the end of 1943 it was decided to withdraw the 51st Division, together with three other battle-experienced formations, back to Britain in order to strengthen the Anglo-Canadian

21st Army Group The 21st Army Group was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established in ...

for the

Allied invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Nor ...

, scheduled to take place in the spring of 1944. Rennie's brigade therefore arrived in England in late November. On 12 December Rennie was promoted to the acting rank of major-general and received a new appointment as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 3rd Infantry Division. The 3rd Division was one of the original divisions of the Regular Army and had fought under Montgomery's command with the BEF in 1940. Since then it had not served overseas and had only seen service in the United Kingdom until being transferred in mid-1943 to the 21st Army Group, then commanded by General Sir Bernard Paget. As a result, by the time Rennie succeeded Major-General William Ramsden as GOC, he found the division, then training in

combined operations In current military use, combined operations are operations conducted by forces of two or more allied nations acting together for the accomplishment of a common strategy, a strategic and operational and sometimes tactical cooperation. Interact ...

in Scotland, to be extremely well trained but almost completely lacking in experience in battle. In April 1944 the division was sent to

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes ...

to begin its final preparations for the invasion of Normandy, where it was to be one of the assaulting formations for the initial stages of the invasion. He was then made General Officer Commanding 51st (Highland) Infantry Division but in March 1945, after crossing the Rhine, he was killed by mortar fire. He left behind a widow and two children. He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

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External links

British Army Officers 1939−1945
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rennie, Tom 1900 births 1945 deaths British escapees Black Watch officers British Army generals of World War II British Army personnel killed in World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh People from Fuzhou Generals from Fujian