Henry Maitland Wilson

Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson (5 September 1881 - 31 December 1964), better known as Jumbo Wilson was a senior British General during World War II. He saw active service in the Boer War and the First World War.

In 1939 he became commander of the British forces in Egypt, and in 1941 he led the ill-fated Commonwealth expedition to Greece. As a solid, reliable, and popular veteran officer, Wilson was Churchill's choice to succeed General Auchinleck as commander of the Eighth Army in the winter of 1942, however at the urging of GIGS Brooke, Montgomery was appointed instead. In 1943, after Montgomery's success at Alamein and the expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa, Wilson was appointed commander in chief of the Middle East. He succeeded Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean in 1944 and held that post until the end of the war. Wilson was made a field marshal on 29 December 1944 and served as head of the British joint staff mission in Washington from 1945 to 1947. He was created Baron Wilson of Libya in 1946.