Charles Keightley

Sir Charles Frederic Keightley
Sir Charles Keightley in 1949
Born	(1901-06-24)24 June 1901
Died	17 June 1974(1974-06-17) (aged 72)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1921–1957
Rank	General
Commands held	30th Armoured Brigade 11th Armoured Division 6th Armoured Division 78th Infantry Division V Corps British Army of the Rhine Far East Land Forces Gibraltar
Awards	GCB (1953) GBE (1957) KCB (1950) KBE(1945) CB (1943) OBE (1941) DSO (1944) MID (1940, 1945) Legion of Honour, Grand Officer (France) (1958) Legion of Merit (United States) (Officer 1943); Commander (1947))
Other work	Governor of Gibraltar Deputy Lieutenant of the county of Dorset.

General Sir Charles Frederic Keightley, GCB, GBE, DSO, DL (24 June 1901 – 17 June 1974) was a senior officer in the British Army during and following World War II. Between 1958 and 1962 he was the Governor of Gibraltar.

Early life and career

He was born in 1901 and graduating from the Royal Military College Sandhurst was commissioned in December 1921 into the 5th Dragoon Guards (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) which through amalgamation became 5th/6th Dragoons the following year. He was promoted lieutenant at the end of 1923 and captain in April 1932 having served three years as the regiment's adjutant. He attended Staff College, Camberley from January 1935 and after a staff posting was in October 1937 appointed brigade major of a mechanized cavalry brigade in Egypt. He was able however in November to take part in the coronation of King George VI in London as a member of the procession accompanying the King and Queen. In September 1938 his brigade became part of the new Mobile Division in Egypt commanded by the influential Percy Hobart.

Keightley was able to benefit from Hobart's tutelage for only a brief period and having been promoted to the rank of major he was appointed in December 1938 an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley with a local rank of lieutenant-colonel.

Second World War

In 1940, he was appointed as Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General (chief administrative officer) of the 1st Armoured Division during that division's deployment to France. After the evacuation from France the division reformed in back in England and on 13 May 1941, Keightley on promotion to acting brigadier was given command of the 30th Armoured Brigade, part of 11th Armoured Division by this time commanded by Hobart. He was appointed OBE in July.

In late December 1941 he was promoted to acting major-general to become Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps Training Establishment. After only five months in this job he was briefly given command on 21 April 1942 of the 11th Armoured Division, which was then based in the United Kingdom and then on 19 May 1942 went to command the 6th Armoured Division, and commanded that division in the Tunisian campaign and afterwards in Italy. He was made Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) for his services in Tunisia and also was awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the United States government. His permanent rank was advanced from major to lieutenant-colonel in September 1943 and again to colonel in April 1944.

In December 1943, he swapped commands with Major-General Vyvyan Evelegh the General Officer Commanding 78th Infantry Division which was also serving in the Italian campaign and which became his first infantry command. He was awarded the DSO in August 1944 and his success as a commander of both armoured and infantry divisions led to his promotion in August 1944 to acting lieutenant-general when he was given command of Eighth Army's V Corps in Italy. At the age of 42 he was the youngest British officer to command a corps in action during the war. He commanded this corps during Operation Olive, the offensive on the Gothic Line in the autumn of 1944, and also during the final spring offensive in April 1945, when it took a lead role in forcing the Argenta Gap. The Corps moved into Austria with the surrender of the German Forces and forces that were fighting on the German site. On 8 May 1945, he signed a demarcation agreement with the Bulgarian First Army's Commander Gen. Vladimir Stoychev in Klagenfurt.

In East Tyrol and Carinthia, Keightley's army received the surrender of the "Lienz Cossacks" under their leaders Peter Krasnov, Kelech Ghirey, and Andrei Shkuro and the XVth SS Cossack Cavalry Corps under Helmuth von Pannwitz . At the Yalta Conference, the British committed themselves to return Soviet citizens to the Soviet Union. After consulation with Harold Macmillan Keightley proceeded to hand over these prisoners and their families regardless of their nationality, including people with French, German, Yugoslav, or Nansen passports. The prisoners were delivered by deceit and force to SMERSH at Judenburg; many were executed immediately, the remainder sent to the Gulag.

In mid-1945, Keightley was nominated to lead a proposed "Commonwealth Corps" during Operation Coronet, the second stage of a planned invasion of Japan. The corps was to have been made up of infantry divisions from the Australian, British and Canadian armies. However, the Australian government objected to the appointment of an officer with no experience fighting the Japanese and the war ended before the details of the corps were finalised.

Post-war

In 1946, Keightley left Austria and reverted to his permanent rank of major-general (to which he had received promotion in February 1945), to become Director of Military Training at the War Office. In 1948, he became the Military Secretary to the Secretary State of War, gaining the permanent rank of lieutenant-general. On 21 September 1949, he assumed command of the British Army of the Rhine in Germany relinquishing the role in April 1951.

In May 1951, he became the Commander in Chief, Far East Land Forces in the rank of general. In September 1953, he was appointed Commander in Chief Middle East Land Forces. Also in 1953 Keightley received the honorary appontment of Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen for a three year tenure. His tenure at Middle East Land Forces included the period of the Suez Crisis and Keightley was C-in-C of Operation Musketeer in 1956. For his services during the period October to December 1956 he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the British Empire and also received the Legion of Honour (Grand Officer) from the French government. In January 1957 he relinquished his Middle East command and retired from the army that August.

From 23 November 1947 to 23 November 1957, he held the honorary post of Colonel of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. He also held the honorary post of Colonel Commandant, Royal Armoured Corps, Cavalry Wing until April 1968.

In retirement Keightley was appointed Governor and Commander in Chief, Gibraltar, a post he held from May 1958 until October 1962 when he retired from the army a second time since his roll as Commander in Chief of the colony, although not paid for out of the army's budget, had technically returned him to active duty. From 1963 he was appointed Member of the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation. He died in 1974.

Keightley Way, a road and tunnel on Gibraltar was named in his honour.

Career summary

• Commissioned into 5th/6th Dragoons 1921
• Brigade Major, Mechanized Cavalry Brigade, Egypt 1937–1938
• Instructor at Staff College, Camberley 1938–1940
• Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster-General 1st Armoured Division, France 1940
• Commanding Officer 30th Armoured Brigade 1941
• Commandant of Royal Armoured Corps Training Establishment 1942
• General Officer Commanding 11th Armoured Division 1942
• General Officer Commanding 6th Armoured Division, North Africa 1942–1943
• General Officer Commanding 78th Infantry Division, Italy 1943–1944
• General Officer Commanding V Corps, Italy 1944–1945
• Director of Military Training, War Office 1946–1947
• Military Secretary to Secretary of State of War 1948
• Commander in Chief British Army of the Rhine, Germany 1949–1951
• Commander in Chief Far East Land Forces 1951–1953
• Commander in Chief Middle East Land Forces 1953–1957
• Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen 1953–1956
• Governor & Commander in Chief of Gibraltar 1958–1962

Publications

• Keightley, Charles (1957). Despatch by General Sir Charles F. Keightley GCB GBE DSO, Commander in Chief Allied Forces. Operations in Egypt, November to December 1956. Lomdon: Ministry of Defence.  published in "No. 41172". 10 September 1957. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41172/page/ 

See also

• Operation Keelhaul

References

• Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.