Harold Franklyn

General Sir Harold Edmund Franklyn KCB DSO MC (28 November 1885 – 31 March 1963) was a British Army officer who commanded 5th Infantry Division.

Military career
Born the son of Lieutenant General Sir William Franklyn and educated at Rugby School and the Royal Military College Sandhurst, Franklyn was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1905. He served in the Great War in France and Belgium and took part in the Battle of Arras and Third Battle of Ypres.

He became Commanding Officer of 1st Bn West Yorkshire Regiment in 1930. He transferred to the Sudan Defence Force in 1933, initially as a General Staff Officer and then from 1935 as Commandant. He was appointed General Officer Commanding 5th Infantry Division in 1938 and continued in that role into the Second World War, leading his division at the Battle of Arras. Although the battle failed to stop the German progress, it influenced Gerd von Rundstedt to halt the German armour advancing on the Aa river on 24 May. This allowed the French to establish defensive lines to the west of Dunkirk, permitting British and French forces to escape via the Channel port. He was appointed Commander of VIII Corps on the South coast of the United Kingdom in 1940, General Officer Commanding the British Troops in Northern Ireland in 1941 and Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces in 1943 before he retired in 1945.

In May 1946, he was appointed chairman of the Battles Nomenclature Committee for the Second World War.

Family
In 1913 he married Monica Belfield; they had one daughter and one son.