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General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, KT, GCB, GBE, DSO & Bar, MC (21 August 1889 – 17 June 1981) was a British Army general who commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War. He was the field commander for Operation ''Compass'', in which his forces destroyed a much larger Italian army – a victory which nearly drove the Axis from Africa, and in turn, led Adolf Hitler to send the German Africa Corps under Erwin Rommel to try to reverse the situation. O'Connor was captured by a German reconnaissance patrol during the night of 7 April 1941 and spent over two years in an Italian prisoner of war camp. He eventually escaped in December 1943. In 1944 he commanded VIII Corps in Normandy and later during Operation ''Market Garden''. In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India and then, in the closing days of British rule in the subcontinent, he headed Northern Command. His final job in the army was Adjutant-General to the Forces in London, in charge of the British Army's administration, personnel and organisation. In honour of his war service, O'Connor was recognised with the highest level of knighthood in two different orders of chivalry. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order (twice), the Military Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour, and served as Aide-de-camp to King George VI. He was also mentioned in despatches nine times for actions in the First World War, once in Palestine in 1939 and three times in the Second World War.〔 ==Early life and the First World War== O'Connor was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, on 21 August 1889. His father was a major in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and his mother was the daughter of a former Governor of India's central provinces.〔Keegan (2005), p.185〕 He attended Tonbridge Castle School in 1899 and The Towers School in Crowthorne in 1902.〔 In 1903, after his father's death in an accident, he moved to Wellington College〔Wellington College Register 1984〕 and thereafter to the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1908.〔 In September of the following year he was commissioned, and posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Cameronians. He maintained close ties with the regiment for the rest of his life. In January 1910, the battalion was rotated to Colchester, where he received signals and rifle training. It was then stationed in Malta from 1911 to 1912 where O'Connor served as Regimental Signals Officer.〔 During the First World War, O'Connor served as Signals Officer of 22 Brigade in the 7th Division and captain in command of 7th Division's Signals Company. From October 1916, as a captain and later as a brevet major, he served as brigade major of 91 Brigade, 7th Division. He was awarded the Military Cross in February 1915. In March of that year he saw action at Arras and Bullecourt.〔 O'Connor was awarded the DSO and appointed brevet lieutenant-colonel in command of 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company, part of the 7th Division, in June 1917. In November, the division was ordered to support the Italians against the Austro-Hungarian forces at the River Piave which then formed part of the Italian Front. In late October 1918 the 2nd Battalion captured the island of Grave di Papadopoli on the Piave River for which O'Connor received the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor (''Medaglia d'Argento al Valor Militare'') and a bar to his DSO.〔(Papers of General Sir Richard O'Connor ).〕 At the end of the war, O'Connor reverted to his rank of captain〔 and served as regimental adjutant from April to December 1919. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Richard O'Connor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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