British Army general (1915–2002)
Lieutenant General Sir Napier Crookenden KCB DSO OBE DL (31 August 1915 − 31 October 2002) was a British Army General who reached high office in the 1960s.
Military career Educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst ,[2] Crookenden was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment in August 1935.[3] [4] [5]
He served in the Second World War as a brigade major in the 6th Airlanding Brigade in 1943 planning and implementing glider assaults to secure bridges over the River Orne on the day of the Normandy landings .[2] He served as commanding officer of 9th (Eastern and Home Counties) Parachute Battalion between 1944 and 1946[4] leading his regiment in the Battle of the Bulge and then the crossing of the River Rhine .[2]
He was Director of Operations during the Malayan Emergency between 1952 and 1954 and served as Commander of 16th Parachute Brigade from 1960 to 1961.[4] He went to the Imperial Defence College in 1962.[4] He was appointed Director of Land/Air Warfare at the Ministry of Defence in 1964 and then Commandant at the Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham in 1967.[4] He became the last General Officer Commanding -in-Chief of Western Command in 1969 and retired in 1972.[4]
Retirement Memorial to Napier Crookenden in Chester Cathedral In retirement he became a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent.[2] He was also a lecturer on military history on the P&O steamship SS Uganda .[2]
Family In 1948 he married Patricia Nassau, daughter of Hugh Kindersley, 2nd Baron Kindersley , and they went on to have two sons and two daughters.[2]
Notable works Crookenden, Napier (1978). Airborne at War . Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0771-0 Crookenden, Napier (1980). Battle of the Bulge 1944 . Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-16614-8 Crookenden, Napier (1976). Dropzone Normandy. The Story Of The American And British Airborne Assault On D Day 1944 . Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0660-7
Bibliography Dover, Major Victor (1981). The Sky Generals . Cassell. ISBN 0-304-30480-8 Harclerode, Peter (2005). Wings Of War — Airborne Warfare 1918–1945 . Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-36730-3 Otway, Lieutenant-Colonel T.B.H. (1990). The Second World War 1939–1945 Army — Airborne Forces . Imperial War Museum. ISBN 0-901627-57-7 Saunders, Hilary St. George (1972). The Red Beret — The Story Of The Parachute Regiment 1940–1945 . White Lion Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85617-823-3 Thompson, Major-General Julian (1990). Ready for Anything: The Parachute Regiment at War . Fontana. ISBN 0-00-637505-7 Tugwell, Maurice (1971). Airborne To Battle — A History Of Airborne Warfare 1918–1971 . William Kimber & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-7183-0262-1
References ^ "Napier Crookenden | ParaData". www.paradata.org.uk . ^ a b c d e f "The Times – Obituary: Lt. General Sir Napier Crookenden". 1 November 2002. Retrieved 5 October 2009 . ^ "No. 34194". The London Gazette ^ a b c d e f "Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives - Napier Crookenden". 1 November 2002. Retrieved 5 October 2009 . ^ "Paradata – Obituary for Napier Crookenden". Retrieved 29 November 2009 .
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Napier Crookenden .
Imperial War Museum Interview
