Alfred Dudley Ward

General Sir Alfred Dudley Ward, GCB, KBE, DSO (27 January 1905 – 28 December 1991), was a British Army officer during the Second World War and later Governor of Gibraltar. He served as an ordinary soldier for three years before being sent for officer training in 1926. Slow peacetime career progression saw Ward achieving the rank of captain in only 1937 but the Second World War allowed him to demonstrate his high ability as both a staff officer and commander in the field. Receiving command of an infantry division at the unusually young age of 39 years and 3 months Ward went on to hold staff and field appointments at the highest levels after the war.

Military career
Educated at Wimborne Grammar School, Ward went on to serve in the army as an other rank for three years before entering Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. From Sandhurst he was commissioned into the Dorsetshire Regiment in January 1929. In December 1931 he was posted to India to be aide-de-camp to the Commander of the Lahore District, achieved promotion to lieutenant in January 1932 and completed his posting in September 1932. He went on to the Staff College, Quetta in 1935. In 1937, Ward was promoted to captain transferring to the King's Regiment (Liverpool) for an appropriate vacancy. In February 1939 he was seconded to India for staff service as a GSO3 but was recalled to London in July and by the outbreak of the Second World War he was serving as a GSO2 in the Directorate of Military Intelligence at the War Office in London. In May 1940 Ward was appointed an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, returning to the War Office a year later. In late 1941 he was selected for command and was posted to lead 43 Reconnaissance Regiment, initially the reconnaissance unit of 48th Infantry Division and then, from November 1941, of 43rd Infantry Division.

He became Brigadier General Staff (BGS) of XI Corps in July 1942. In September 1943 he swapped jobs with Roy Urquhart to take command of 231 Brigade which had seen recent action in Sicily. However, within a week of arriving he was ordered to swap jobs once more, this time with Gerard Bucknall, and took command of 17 Brigade, part of 5th Infantry Division, which he led in Italy. The brigade saw action during Eighth Army's advance from Foggia, notably on the Moro River in late 1943, before 5th Division was switched to Italy's western seabord, on the left flank of British X Corps which itself formed the left wing of US Fifth Army on the Gustav Line. Ward's brigade conducted an amphibious crossing of the Garigliano river on 17 January and was involved in heavy fighting until the end of the month. In 5 March Division was moved to the Anzio bridgehead and was involved in further heavy fighting in "The Wadis" on its left flank. Ward was awarded the DSO in April 1944.

Given the acting rank of major-general, highly unusual for someone still under the age of forty, Ward took command of the 4th Infantry Division in April 1944. Recently arrived in Italy from Egypt where it had been refitting since the Tunisian Campaign, the division had to be rapidly prepared and brought to peak fitness for the key role assigned it together with 8th Indian Infantry Division, that of creating bridgeheads across the Rapido river in the fourth Battle of Monte Cassino the following month. After successfully completing its task, the division was rested until late June when it rejoined the front line on the Trasimene Line.

In August the division found itself once more on the Adriatic coast taking part in Operation Olive, Eighth Army's attack on the Gothic Line. In December 1944 4th Division was moved to Greece, where it was involved in fighting against Communist partisans opposed to the new provisional government. By mid January order was restored and in April Ward handed over command of his division to become Chief of Staff to Ronald Scobie the British commander in Greece.

For his services in Italy Ward was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in April 1945 and Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in July of the same year. He also received the Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander) from the United States for his service to the Allied cause.

After the war, having demonstrated in the previous five years high competence as both a field commander and staff officer, Ward received appointments in both disciplines at the highest levels. He was promoted to substantive major-general in 1947 and appointed in quick succession as Director of Military Operations at the War Office and commandant of the Staff College, Camberley, in 1947 and 1948 respectively. He assumed command of I Corps in Germany in the rank of lieutenant-general and was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1953 New Year Honours. He returned to Britain in 1953 as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, relinquishing the post in October 1956. Ward returned to Germany in January 1957 as Commander-in-Chief of Northern Army Group and the British Army of the Rhine, was promoted to full general in February 1957, and held the post until January 1960. He left to become, in May 1960, Commander-in-Chief, British Forces Middle East which was re-designated Near East Command on vacating the appointment in May 1962. He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in June 1957 which was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the new year honours list in 1959 and from December 1958 to December 1961, he held the title of Aide-de-Camp General to Queen Elizabeth II.

He became Governor and Commander-in-Chief Gibraltar in June 1962, where he presided over the introduction of the 1964 constitution. The Dudley Ward Tunnel is named in his honour. He was also made a knight of the charitable Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1962.

Ward retired from the army in 1965. In retirement he served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk from 1968 until 1984.

Following convention for retired senior officers, Ward maintained links with the British Army through the honorary positions of Colonel Commandant of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and Colonel of the King's Regiment.