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 Derek Boileau Lang KCB DSO MC (7 October 1913 − 7 April 2001) 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 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," fro ...

who 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 ...

and was later General officer commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of

Scottish Command Scottish Command or Army Headquarters Scotland (from 1972) is a command of the British Army. History Early history Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793. The Scottish District was comman ...

Military career

Derek Lang was born in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, Surrey, England, on 7 October 1913, the son of Derek Lang. He was educated at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 and ...

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 infantry a ...

. From there he 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 until ...

into the

Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders or 79th (The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1793. It amalgamated with the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Al ...

on 31 August 1933.Obituary: Lieutenant General Sir Derek Lang
The Independent, 13 April 2001 He served initially with the regiment's 1st Battalion before, promoted on 31 August 1936 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 ...

, he served with the 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

during the

Arab revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On t ...

. In February 1938 he was sent to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

where he became

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

to the regiment's 4th Battalion, a Territorial Army unit serving as part of the

51st (Highland) Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

, then commanded by

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 ...

Victor Fortune Major General Sir Victor Morven Fortune (21 August 1883 – 2 January 1949) was a senior officer of the British Army. He saw service in both World War I and World War II. He commanded the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division during the Battle o ...

. Still adjutant upon the outbreak of the

in September 1939, Lang was sent to France, along with the rest of the 51st Division, in January 1940, where it formed part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). However, Lang became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

in June after the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

invaded France. The 51st Division had been separated from the rest of the BEF earlier in the year, and, after hard fighting, retreated to

Saint-Valery-en-Caux Saint-Valery-en-Caux (, literally ''Saint-Valery in Pays de Caux, Caux'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region in northern France. The ad ...

, where most of the division surrendered on 12 June 1940, Lang being among 10,000 to surrender that day. After escaping and making his way to Palestine (for which 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 i ...

), he served with the 2nd Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, and served with the battalion until August 1941. He returned to the United Kingdom and, eventually, went on to be

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, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from July 1944. The battalion was a TA unit formed in 1939 as a second line duplicate of the 4th Battalion and now formed part of the 152nd Brigade, commanded by

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

James Cassels, of Major General

Tom Rennie Major-General Thomas Gordon Rennie CB DSO MBE (3 January 1900 – 24 March 1945) was a British Army officer who served with distinction during World War II. He was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 3rd Infantry Division during the ...

's 51st (Highland) Division. Both the original brigade and division had been captured, as had Lang himself, in France in June 1940 but had been reformed that August by redesignating the

9th (Highland) Infantry Division The 9th (Highland) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army, formed just prior to the start of the Second World War. In March 1939, after the re-emergence of Germany as a significant military power and its occupation of C ...

and, after having served in

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 ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, were now fighting in Normandy in the aftermath of the

D-Day 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 D ...

. Lang was to command the 5th Cameron Highlanders throughout the rest of the campaign in Northwest Europe until

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

(VE Day) in May 1945. He was awarded 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, typ ...

for his leadership of the battalion in 1944. In 1958 he became commanding officer of the 153rd Highland Brigade.Obituary: Lieutenant General Sir Derek Lang
''The Daily Telegraph'', 13 April 2001 He was made Chief of Staff at

in 1960, then General Officer Commanding

in March 1962 before moving on to a posting as Director of Army Training in 1964. He was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at

and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1966 and retired from the

in 1969. After retiring from the Army he was Secretary of

Stirling University The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...

from 1970 to 1973.

Family

In 1942 he married Massy Dawson and together they went on to have one son and two daughters before she died in 1953; in 1953 he married A.L.S. Shields but the marriage was dissolved in 1969; then in 1969 he married E.H. Balfour who died in 1982 and in 1983 he married Maartje McQueen. He died at Kirknewton in Midlothian on 7 April 2001.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Derek 1913 births 2001 deaths British Army lieutenant generals British Army personnel of World War II British military personnel of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine British escapees British World War II prisoners of war Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Deputy Lieutenants of Edinburgh Escapees from German detention Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Recipients of the Military Cross Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Military personnel from Guildford