World War I generals who served in World War II



The following article includes World War I generals and admirals who also served in some capacity with their country's military during World War II, either in command of frontline troops, as reservists, in an administrative role, or in an honorary position as in the case of von Bohm-Ermoli. A few, such as Mannerheim or Smuts, had been generals before the war, but the majority were promoted after 1914. This list excludes World War I veterans who were promoted to general after 1918, such as George S. Patton, Charles De Gaulle, or Bernard Montgomery, and generals from countries that participated in World War I but were neutral during World War II, such as Turkish field marshal Fevzi Çakmak.

United Kingdom

 * William Bartholomew - Brigadier general in Egyptian Expeditionary Force 1917-18. In charge of Northern Command from 1937 until retirement in 1940.
 * Robert Brooke-Popham - Royal Flying Corps temproray Brigadier general from 1916-1919, then air commodore. Commander in chief of the British Far East Command from 1940-42.
 * John Dill - Brigadier general in 1918. Commander of I Corps September 1939 - April 1940. CIGS and promoted to Field Marshal in 1941 sent to US as representative.
 * Hugh Dowding - Promoted in 1917 to temporary Brigadier general in the Royal Flying Corps. Air Chief Marshal in the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain.
 * Edward Ellington - Temporary Brigadier general serving at War Office in 1918. Inspector general of the RAF 1939-40.
 * Alexander Godley - Major general from 1910-33, later came out of retirement to command a Home Guard platoon.
 * John Hearson - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1918. Commanded No. 1 (Air Defence) Group from 1937 until retiring in 1940.
 * Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside - Temporary Brigadier general in 1918. Chief of Imperial General Staff 1939-1940. Sent to France, commanded BEF up to beginning of Dunkirk evacuation. Then Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces before retiring.
 * Roger Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes - Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1917. Served in Belgian Army 1939-40, and as the first British director of combined operations 1940-41.
 * Christopher Lloyd Courtney - Acting Brigadier general with RAF 1918. Air Member for Supply and Organisation 1940-45.
 * Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt - Promoted to Brigadier general as Inspector of Training with the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. At start of war replaced and became Inspector-General of the RAF Longest serving RAF Air Marshal at the time of his retirement in November 1945.
 * John Miles Steel - Brigadier general with the RAF April 1918. Air Force Officer Commanding RAF Home Command 1939-40.
 * Cyril Newall, First Baron Newall - Brigadier general with the RAF 1917-18. Chief of air staff in the early years of World War II, later appointed Governor General to New Zealand.
 * Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell - Appointed April 1918 to temporary Brigadier general in Palestine, commanded the Indian Army from 1941-43. Later served as Viceroy of India.
 * Tom Webb-Bowen - Promoted to Brigadier general 1915. Retired 1933. Recalled to be Duty Air Commodore with RAF Fighter Command from 1939. Served during the Battle of Britain.

United States

 * William Durward Connor - Promoted to Brigadier general in October 1918. Superintendent of West Point until 1938, recalled to active service 1941-42.
 * Malin Craig - Temporary Brigadier general in July 1918. Head of War Department Personnel Board 1941-45.
 * Guy Henry - Olympic equestrian champion in 1912, and Brigadier general during World War I. Served in the European and Italian theaters of World War II and retired in 1948.
 * Charles D. Herron - Brigadier general 1917-18. Served on Personnel Board 1942-46.
 * Douglas MacArthur - Promoted to Brigadier general in June 1918. Commanded American troops in the Pacific War from 1941-45, and later participated in the Korean War.
 * Lesley J. McNair - Youngest American general of World War I. Killed in action in 1944.

Russia and Soviet Union
See Also Tsarist officers in the Red Army
 * Mikhail Dmitrievich Bonch-Bruevich - Promoted to Major General in Imperial Russian army August 1917. Lieutenant general in the Red Army 1944-45.
 * Nikolai Fedorovich Drozdov - Major General in Tsarist army 1910-18. Red Army commander 1918-53, promoted to Colonel-General of artillery 1944.
 * Pyotr Pavolvich Kitkin - Promoted to Rear Admiral in July 1917. Commanded the Soviet ship Svir 1941-43, and appointed head of a department researching mine clearing 1944-46.
 * Dmitry Nikolayevich Nadyozhny - Russo-Japanese War veteran, promoted to Major general in 1915. Served in the Red Army during Russian Civil War and as an instructor in the early years of the Great Patriotic War.
 * Aleksandr Nemits - Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1917 shortly before the Revolution. Head of naval academy during Great Patriotic War, retired from Navy in 1947.
 * Alexander Samoylo - Major General of General Staff in Tsarist Army 1916-17. Lieutenant general of aviation in Red Army 1940-45.

France

 * Maurice Gamelin - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1916, oversaw the unsuccessful defence of France in 1940.
 * Henri Philippe Petain - Brigadier general in 1914, later collaborated with the Nazis as head of the Vichy regime.
 * Maxime Weygand - Promoted to General de Brigade in 1916, later worked for Petain's Vichy regime.

Australia

 * Thomas Blamey - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1918. Commanded Australian forces during the Pacific War and witnessed the Japanese surrender in 1945.
 * Gordon Bennett (general) - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1916. Participated in the Battle of Malaya and Battle of Singapore in 1942.
 * James Cannan - Brigadier general during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. Quartermaster general of the Second Australian Imperial Force 1942-45. Last surviving World War I general before his death in 1976.
 * Harry Chauvel - Boer War veteran, first Australian to be promoted to Lieutenant general in 1917. Served as inspector-general of Australian Volunteer Defence Corps from 1940-45.
 * Edmund Drake-Brockman - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1918, called up again from 1940-42.
 * John Gellibrand - Promoted to Major general in June 1918, briefly served as commandant of Volunteer Defence Corps in 1940.
 * James Heane - Promoted to temporary Brigadier general in 1916, later commanded New South Wales Volunteer Defence Corps from 1940-42.
 * Carl Jess - Brigadier general in 1918, Lt. general 1939-46.
 * Herbert Lloyd - Temporary Brigadier general in November 1918, appointed Director General of Army Recruiting in 1940.
 * Iven Mackay - Temporary Brigadier general in June 1918. Commanded troops in the New Guinea Campaign of 1943-44.
 * Brudenell White - Brigadier general in 1914. Killed in the Canberra air disaster of 1940.

New Zealand

 * Andrew Hamilton Russell - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1914, commanded New Zealand Mounted Rifles at Gallipoli. Inspector general of New Zealand Armed Forces 1939-41.
 * Robert Young (soldier) - Promoted to Brigadier general in 1917, and led 2nd Infantry Brigade during 1918 German Spring Offensive. Home Guard commander 1940-45.

South Africa

 * Jan Smuts - General during the Boer War (1899-1902), led South African troops in the East Africa Campaign of 1916, and served as a Field Marshal in the British Army from 1941-45. Later became prime minister of South Africa.

Canada

 * Alfred Critchley - Youngest British Army general of World War I. Commanded RAF No. 54 Reserve Group from 1939-43.

India

 * Robert Cassels - Promoted to temporary Brigadier general of Indian Army cavalry in 1917. Commander-in-Chief, India from 1935-41.

Belgium

 * Adrian Carton De Wiart - Promoted to brigadier general in the British Army three days before the Armistice in November 1918. Also a Mustang during the Boer War. Later served in the Polish Army during the Polish-Soviet War, and with the British in the 1940 Namsos Campaign and Second Sino-Japanese War.

Poland

 * Edward Rydz-Śmigły - Promoted to Brigadier general in Austro-Hungarian army in October 1918, joined Polish Army after the war and participated in the Polish-Soviet War. Commanded Polish troops during the German invasion of 1939, and later joined the Home Army partisans.

Greece

 * Ioannis Metaxas - Lieutenant general in 1916. Military dictator of Greece 1936-41, commanded Greek forces during Greco-Italian War of 1940.

Yugoslavia

 * Petar Bojović - General in Serbian army since 1905, promoted to Field Marshal in 1915 for leadership of Serb troops on Thessaloniki Front. Deputy chief of Yugoslavian Army in 1941, killed by Communist partisans in 1945.

Axis
The Imperial German Army promoted few new generals during World War I, and instead allocated the responsibilities and workload to lower ranking officers. The only notable World War I general still alive during the World War II era was Field Marshal August von Mackensen. The Nazis occasionally used him for a ceremonial role, for example during the funeral of Kaiser Bill, but due to his advanced age he never received an official position in the Wehrmacht.

Nazi Germany

 * Ludwig von Reuter - Konteradmiral since November 1916. Promoted to full admiral in 1939 by the Nazis.

Japan

 * Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu - Rear admiral since 1913. Member of Supreme War Council during Pacific War of 1941-45.
 * Prince Kan'in Kotohito - Major general since 1905, served on Supreme War Council 1912-45. Youngest Japanese Field Marshal.

Italy

 * Pietro Ago - Temporary Brigadier general in 1918. Member of Commission for Armed Forces 1939-45.
 * Pietro Badoglio - Promoted to Major General in 1916 and Lieutenant General in 1917. Chief of staff 1925-40.
 * Ugo Cavallero - Brigadier general in 1918, later oversaw 1941 invasion of Greece.

The former Austria-Hungary

 * Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli - General of Cavalry since 1912. After annexation of Sudetenland, made honorary Generalfeldmarschall in the German Wehrmacht from 1938 til death in 41.
 * Miklos Horthy - Austro-Hungarian Admiral of the Fleet 1918. Leader of Hungary during World War II.
 * Milan Emil Uzelac - Head of Austro-Hungarian Air Force 1912-18. Joined Yugoslavian Air Force 1919-23, honorary general in Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia 1941-45.

Bulgaria

 * Boris III of Bulgaria - Major general in 1918, later became Tsar of Bulgaria and declared war on Britain and America in 1941.

Romania

 * Henri Cihoski - Lieutenant general in 1917, member of Supreme Council for National Defence 1943-45.

Finland

 * Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim - Major General in the Imperial Russian Army from 1909-1918. Commander in chief of the Finnish armed forces during the Winter War. President of Finland 1944-46.