Milne, George

From the aristocratic kind. He graduated from high school in his hometown and the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich .

From 1885 he served in the Royal Artillery. Immediately after the assignment of the officer's rank, he was sent to British India , from 1889 he served in the Aldershot military camp in the metropolis, from 1895 - in coastal artillery in Malta , from 1897 - in Portsmouth . Graduated from Camberley Headquarters College in 1899 .

In 1898 he was enlisted in the British colonial military expedition of General Horace Kitchener to Sudan and took part in the battle of Omdurman ). Then transferred to South Africa and more than two years participated in the second Boer War . There he was an officer at Kitchener’s headquarters, since 1900 - assistant to the adjutant general. Made a quick career in this war - from the captain made through the rank of lieutenant colonel, and also awarded the Order.

Since 1903 - at the headquarters of the British troops in South Africa , Deputy Quartermaster General for Intelligence and the 2nd Officer of the General Staff. Since 1907, commanded a battery in the metropolis. In 1908 he was transferred to the headquarters of the territorial forces in Staffordshire . From 1909 he served as chief of staff of the 6th Irish Division in the Royal Mounted and Royal Field Artillery in Cork . Since 1914 - the head of the artillery of the 4th Infantry Division.

With the outbreak of World War I , he was transferred to France with the division and fought as part of the British Expeditionary Force. In 1915 he became chief of staff of the 3rd Army Corps, then chief of staff of the 2nd British Army. Participant in the Battle of Marne and the Battle of Ene .

At the end of 1915 he was appointed commander of the 27th Infantry Division, stationed in Thessaloniki . At the beginning of 1916, he commanded the 16th Army Corps on the Thessaloniki Front for a short time. Soon he became commander of British troops in the Balkan theater of operations , which by the end of 1917 consisted of 4 divisions and a number of individual units. The main task of this front was to divert the forces of the Central Powers from the Western Front, therefore no active hostilities were conducted in the Balkans. Since the composition of the Allied front was multinational, there were conflicts of commanders and shifting to each other the main burden of the upcoming operations. Milne occupied a separate sector of the front with his troops and often clashed with the command of the Thessaloniki Front (during the war they were commanded by French generals). Such his actions did not contribute to the successful conduct of combat operations. In April 1917, British units participated in the Allied offensive in the area of ​​Lake Dorian. In 1918, during the offensive at Vardar, the Bulgarian army was defeated and Bulgaria withdrew from the war.

After the war, he continued to command British troops in the Balkans and the Black Sea . Its units repeatedly landed in various ports in Ukraine, in the Crimea and in the Caucasus during the civil war in Russia , but they avoided active participation in military operations. In the Greek-Turkish war, Milne considered it necessary to support Greece . In May 1920, he headed the landing of British troops in Istanbul , by his order all Turkish units in the city were disarmed, and the deputies of the Turkish Majlis (Parliament) were dispersed by force, some of them were arrested. Such actions significantly spoiled the Anglo-Turkish relations. Perhaps that is why, when the collapse of the Greek plan for the defeat of the Turkish army became apparent in the same year, Milne was hastily recalled to England. Two years was listed in the reserve, occupying only the honorary post of lieutenant of the Tower of London .

Since 1922 - Commander of the Eastern Command. In 1923 - 1927, Adjutant General of King George V. Since 1926 - Chief of the Imperial General Staff. In 1928 he was promoted to field marshal . In this post was a supporter of the development of British armored forces. He managed to prevent the final disbandment of tank units in the British army, but due to a lack of understanding of their capabilities, all Milne’s plans for their development were not implemented. The only thing he managed to achieve was a serious increase in the number of armored vehicles, which strengthened the usual infantry units and also created separate armored vehicles. Subsequently, on the basis of the latter, British tank forces had to be recreated.

In 1933 he retired, while he was awarded the title of Baron Milne . In 1933 to 1938 he was governor and constable of the Tower. He occupied more than a dozen of honorary posts and positions. During World War II he enlisted in the National Guard. From 1941 to 1944 he was a war correspondent for the Sunday Chronicle .

• 1885 - second lieutenant
• ? - lieutenant
• 1895 - captain
• 1902 - lieutenant colonel (lieutenant colonel), bypassing the rank of major
• 1905 - Colonel
• 1913 - Brigadier General
• 1915 - Major General
• 1917 - Lieutenant General
• 1920 - general
• 1928 - Field Marshal

• Knight of the Great Cross of the Order of the Bath ( GCB , 1927 )
• Knight of the Big Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George ( GCMG , 1919 )
• Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( CWS , 1918 )
• Commander of the Order of the Bath ( CB , 1912 )
• Knight of the Order of Outstanding Merit ( DSO , 1902 )

• Zalessky K.A. Who was who in the First World War. - M .: AST ; Astrel, 2003. - 896 p. - 5000 copies - ISBN 5-17-019670-9 (ACT); ISBN 5-271-06895-1 (Astrel).
• The British Field Marshals 1736–1997 , Tony Heathcote, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 1999, ISBN 0-85052-696-5

• Biography of George Milne on the site "Chronos"