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 ...

Pierse Joseph Mackesy, (5 April 1883 – 8 June 1956), born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland 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, early 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 ...

, led the attempt to recapture Narvik in April–May 1940 in the ill-fated Norwegian campaign.

Biography

Mackesy was the son of Lieutenant-General William Henry Mackesy, and was educated at St Paul's and RMA, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant on 23 August 1902. Mackesy became a survey specialist in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1911. The first eighteen months of his

First World War 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 ...

service were in West Africa. Thereafter he served in France, where he was awarded the MC. As a captain he was Officer Commanding 518th (1/4th London) Field Company, Royal Engineers, from 1 June 1917 to 22 March 1918. A staff officer with the North Russia Relief Force in 1919, he was appointed a Companion of 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 ...

before joining the Military Mission to South Russia in 1920. A student at the Staff College, Camberley between 1920 and 1921, he married in 1923 and, after a variety of postings at home and abroad, including service at the

Staff College, Quetta ( ''romanized'': Pir Sho Biyamooz Saadi)English: Grow old, learning Saadi ur, سیکھتے ہوئے عمر رسیدہ ہو جاؤ، سعدی , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'' in Deolali, British India) , closed ...

as a General Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2), he was appointed to command

3rd Infantry Brigade The 3rd Infantry Brigade was a Regular Army infantry brigade of the British Army, part of the 1st Infantry Division. Originally formed in 1809, during the Peninsular War, the brigade had a long history, seeing action in the Second Anglo-Afg ...

at Borden in 1935. In Palestine between 1935 and 1938, he was promoted

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 ...

in 1937 and, appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in 1938. He became GOC

49th (West Riding) Division The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division fought in the First World War in the trenches of the Western Front, in the fields of France and Flanders. During the Second World War, the divis ...

in May 1938. He was also an adviser to the New Zealand government on defence. He returned to England at the start of the

and re-assumed command of his division. Destined to be sent to France to form part of Adam's III Corps of the BEF, 49th Division was instead held at home in readiness for operations in Scandinavia. As the Russo-Finish 'winter war' only interested the British government to the extent that it offered a pretext for interrupting the traffic of iron ore to Germany, 'Pat' Mackesy, with his experience of war in arctic conditions, was an obvious choice as commander of an expeditionary force. In the event British intervention in Scandinavia happened not, as was planned, to forestall German action but as a response to the German invasion of Norway. Mackesy, with one infantry brigade constituting 'Avonforce', was sent to invest the port of Narvik. Enraging

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

by refusing to commit his troops to 'the sheer bloody murder' of an 'arctic Gallipoli', Mackesy was recalled home and, amidst Churchillian mutterings about his 'feebleness and downright cowardice', was spared a court martial but never held command again. Retired from the army in November 1940, Mackesy served for a while on various

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 ...

committees and was an occasional contributor to the ''Daily Telegraph''. Considered a drunkard and a security risk by Brooke, his mail was regularly intercepted. A Southwold borough councillor from 1946, he was subsequently mayor of the town on two separate occasions, as well as being a member of the East Suffolk County Council. His son, Dr

Piers Mackesy Piers Gerald Mackesy (15 September 1924 – 30 June 2014) was a British military historian who taught at the University of Oxford. Early life and education Piers Mackesy was born in Cults, near Aberdeen in Scotland, the son of Major-General Pi ...

(1924–2014), was a noted military historian.Obituary: Dr Piers Mackesy, ''The Scotsman'' 24 July 2014.
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References

Bibliography

* T.K. Derry, ''History of the Second World War: The Campaign in Norway'', London, HM Stationery Office, 1952. * Alan H. Maude (ed.), ''The History of the 47th (London) Division 1914–1919'', London: Amalgamated Press, 1922/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2002, . *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackesy, Pierse Joseph 1883 births 1956 deaths Academics of the Staff College, Quetta British Army major generals Royal Engineers officers Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Army personnel of World War I British Army generals of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath British Army personnel of the Russian Civil War Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley People educated at St Paul's School, London Military personnel from Dublin (city) British military personnel of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Members of East Suffolk County Council