James Cassels

FM SIR JAMES CASSELS DSO d1996. British Army officer who served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army from 1965 to 1968. He served in WW2 as commander of the 152nd Infantry Brigade, commanding the brigade during Operation Goodwood / Operation Totalize and Operation Veritable, before becoming General Officer Commanding 51st (Highland) Division in the closing stages of the war. He later commanded the 1st Commonwealth Division in the Korean War and was General Officer Commanding of the 1 (British) Corps before becoming director of operations in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency. He went on to be commander, Northern Army Group, then General Officer Commanding Eastern Command and then Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). As Chief of the General Staff, he advised the British government on the implementation of the 1966 Defence White Paper. He died in Suffolk aged 89 on December 13th 1996