Lieutenant-General Herbert William Lumsden, was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars. He commanded the 1st Armoured Division in the Western Desert campaign, and later commanded X Corps at the Second Battle of El Alamein, before being relieved by his superior, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery. He was killed in action by the Japanese in early 1945, becoming the most senior combat casualty of the British Army of the Second World War.
Lumsden after his promotion to lieutenant-general, 6 September 1942
Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery with his three corps commanders in late 1942: Lieutenant-Generals Herbert Lumsden, Sir Oliver Leese and Brian Horrocks
A conference between Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg and Lieutenant-General Lumsden, near Halfaya Pass before the army commander passed into Cyrenacia, 24 November 1942.
1st Armoured Division (United Kingdom)
The 1st Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army. It was formed as the Mobile Division on 24 November 1937, after several years of debate on the creation of such a formation. It was then renamed, in April 1939, the 1st Armoured Division. Following the start of the Second World War, in September 1939, subordinate units and formations were withdrawn from the division to reinforce others. Then, in May 1940, the division was deployed to France and then fought in the Battle of France. After several engagements and heavy tank losses, it was forced to withdraw to the UK, in June, during Operation Aerial. In late 1941, the division was sent to North Africa where it took part in the Western Desert campaign, notably fighting at the Battle of Gazala, and the First and the Second Battles of El Alamein.
A Vickers Mk VI light tank of the 3rd (The King's Own) Hussars, c. 1937, the main tank of the 1st and 2nd Light Brigades
An example of the Vickers Medium Mark II, an obsolete tank by 1938, and what the Tank Brigade was initially equipped with
A Cruiser Mk IV knocked out during the fighting on 27 May
Divisional tank transporters, moving Cruiser Mk IVs, July 1941