Roger Evans (British Army officer) explained

Roger Evans
Birth Date:9 January 1886
Birth Place:Christchurch, Hampshire, England
Death Place:Stocklinch, Ilminster, Somerset, England
Allegiance:United Kingdom
Branch:British Army
Serviceyears:1911–1944
Rank:Major General
Servicenumber:23006
Unit:7th Queen's Own Hussars
5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards
Commands:Aldershot Area (1941–44)
1st Armoured Division (1938–40)
5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (1929–33)
Battles:First World War
Second World War
Awards:Companion of the Order of the Bath
Military Cross
Mentioned in despatches

Major General Roger Evans, (9 January 1886 – 22 October 1968) was a British Army officer who commanded the 1st Armoured Division during the early stages of the Second World War.

Military career

Evans was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, on 9 January 1886, the son of Roger Evans.[1] [2] After serving in the Territorial Force, he was commissioned into the 7th Hussars in December 1911. He saw service in the First World War, in the Mesopotamian campaign, from 1917 to 1918.[3] Evans was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1918. His citation read:

After attending the Staff College, Camberley, from 1920 to 1921, Evans then returned there, this time as a GSO2 instructor, from 1924 until 1927. He became commanding officer of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1929, followed by attendance at the Imperial Defence College in 1934, and a promotion to brigadier on the General Staff at Western Command in India in 1935.[3]

Evans was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 1st Armoured Division in 1938, continuing in that role into the Second World War with the British Expeditionary Force in France,[4] before relinquishing the appointment on 24 August 1940. He was made GOC Aldershot Area on 13 March 1941 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1941 Birthday Honours, before being made supernumerary to the establishment on 9 January 1943.

Evans retired from the British Army on 13 October 1944. From 1937 to 1947 he held the colonelcy of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.[5] He was appointed High Sheriff of Somersetshire in 1955.

Bibliography

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Book: Who was Who: EVANS, Maj.-Gen. Roger. A & C Black. December 2007.
  2. Web site: British Army officer histories. Unit Histories. 2021-12-11.
  3. Web site: Evans, Roger. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. https://web.archive.org/web/20120301213514/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/EVANS4.shtml. 20 May 2020. 2012-03-01.
  4. http://niehorster.org/017_britain/39_org/div_armd_01.html Orders of Battle – September 1939
  5. Web site: 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards . Regiments.org . 6 August 2016 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20070227033318/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/cav/DG5Innis.htm . 27 February 2007 .