The field marshal who chose withdrawal at Dunkirk
“Here we go again, marching to war.”
John Gort was a British field marshal remembered both for battlefield courage and for the contested command decisions of the Second World War. He won the Victoria Cross after leading an assault while severely wounded at the Canal du Nord in 1918. As commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force in France, he judged in May 1940 that the Allied front was collapsing and ordered the withdrawal toward Dunkirk, preserving much of the force but provoking debate over his generalship. He later restored his reputation by directing the defence of besieged Malta as its governor.
Career Timeline
- 1905Commissioned into the Grenadier Guards
- 1914–1918Served on the Western Front as staff officer and battalion commander
- 1936–1937Commandant of the Staff College
- 1937–1939Chief of the Imperial General Staff
- 1939–1940Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in France
- 1941–1942Governor of Gibraltar
- 1942–1944Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta
- 1944–1945High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan