Plunder / Varsity Commanders - Who's Who

Anyone who has studied Plunder / Varsity will surely have come across this picture before. It was taken on March 22, 1945, at the Walbeck Conference. I am now familiar with some of the commanders thanks to my Churchill thread, while for others I have evaluated sources on the web. Additions, corrections, and assumptions are welcome, the table will be updated accordingly. Larger image formats can be found in the ZIP file.



per 06-03-2025
--------------------------------------------------------
01 Hull Richard, 5th Infantry Division (web)
02
03 Whistler Lashmer, 3rd Infantry Div (ometei)
04 Rennie Thomas, 51st (Highland) Div (ometei)
05 Hakewill-Smith Edmund, 52nd (Lowland) Div (ometei)
06 MacMillan Gordon, 49th West Riding Div(ometei)
07
08 Huddleston Edmund, AOC 84 Group (ometei)
09 Broadhurst Harry, AOC 83 Group (ometei)
10 Adair Alan, Guards Division ? (web)
----
11 Maczek Stanisław, 1 Polish Armd Div (klambie)
12 Holley Keefler Ralph, 3 Cdn Inf Div (klambie)
13 Matthews Albert, 2 Cdn Inf Div (klambie)
14 Hoffmeister Bertram, 5 Cdn Armd Div (klambie)
15 Wickwire Foster Harry, 1 Cdn Inf Div (klambie)
16 Vokes Christopher, 4th Can. Armoured Div (chrisC)
.. Gale Richard, XVIII Airborne Corps (ometei)
17 Barber Colin, 15th Scottish Div (ometei)
18 Simonds Guy, 2nd Can. Corps (ometei)
19 Vokes Christopher, 4th Can. Armoured Div (wiki)
.. Foulkes Charles, 1 Cdn Corps (klambie)
20 Wickwire Foster Harry, ? (web)
21 Scarlett-Streatfeild James, AOC 38 Group (WgCdr Luddite)
.. Portal Charles, MRAF (ometei)
22 Thomas Gwilym, 43rd Infantry Div (ometei)
23 Hobart Percy, 79th Armoured Div (ometei)
24 Knox Ross Robert, 53rd (Welsh) Infantry (ometei)
----
25 Barker Evelyn, GOC British VIII Corps (stolpi)
26 Horrocks Brian, XXX Corps (ometei)
27 Ridgway, Matthew, XVIII AB Corps (stolpi)
.. Losey M.D., Lt.Col.Ops B. GSC (ometei)
28 Dempsey Miles, Second Army (ometei)
29 Montgomery Bernard, 21 Army Group (ometei)
30 Crerar Harry, First Canadian Army (ometei)
31 Coningham Arthur, Air Marshal 2 TAF (ometei)
32 Ritchie Neil, XII Corps (ometei)
33 Crocker John, I Corps (ometei)
----
34 Cutler Stuart, ? (cee)
35 Lyne Lewis, 7th Armoured Div (web,jdkr)
36 Roberts Philip, 11th Armoured Div (web, jdkr)
37 Templer Gerald, 6th Armoured Div (web)

 

Nice picture Ometei.

27 ... Monty is flanked by his Army and Corps commanders so could be Matthew B. Ridgeway (?) of GOC XVIII AB Corps; another likely candidate is William M. Miley GOC 17th Airborne Division.


Montgomery with Collins (GOC US VII Corps) to the left and and Matthew B. Ridgeway to the right. Photographed in Jan 1945 during the Battle of the Bulge.


Major General William W. Miley

13 ... Major General A.B. Matthews (2nd Canadian infantry Division)


General Matthews is on the far right of this picture that was taken in the Reichswald in Feb 1945

06 ... MacMillan Gordon, 51st (Highland) Div - Correction: MacMillan at the time commanded the 49th West Riding Division ('stationed' on The Island at Nijmegen), he assumed command of the 51st Highland Division on March 25th, 1945, after General Rennie had been killed on the first day of the Rhine Crossing near Rees. See: RHINE CROSSING 1945: The Rees bridgehead (30 Corps in operation 'Turnscrew')

 

Correction: by this time Guy Simonds was GOC 2nd Canadian Corps

16 looks like it might be Chris Vokes, GOC 4th Canadian Armoured Division by that time.

 

Not bad, Stolpi, I had that in mind too, but then I rejected it. At that time, Ridgway was 50 and No. 27 looks very boyish. But it is documented that he crossed the Rhine on the 24th. For now, #27 goes to you.

 

Ridgway

Two Stars on the cap ...?



Regards ...

 

My best guesses on the Canadians plus one:

11 Stanisław Władysław Maczek 1 Polish Armd Div
12 Ralph Holley (Holley) Keefler (who replaced Daniel Charles Spry about this date) 3 Cdn Inf Div
13 Albert Bruce (Bruce) Matthews 2 Cdn Inf Div
14 Bertram Meryl Hoffmeister 5 Cdn Armd Div
15 Harry Wickwire Foster 1 Cdn Inf Div
16 Christopher Vokes 4 Cdn Armd Div
18 Guy Granville Simonds 2 Cdn Corps
19 Charles Foulkes 1 Cdn Corps
30 Henry Duncan Graham (Harry) Crerar 1 Cdn Army

Senior Officers 1 Cdn Army c. May 1945
LAC ZK-1001-1

Seated L-R
Maczek, Simonds, Crerar, Foulkes, Hoffmeister
Standing L-R
Keefler, Matthews, Foster, Moncel*, Rawlins*
* not in OP's photo
c. May 1945

Dan Spry
LAC ZK-950-1

 

Two-star insignia: major general (?) - Ridgeway was a Major General AFAIK

 

If so, this was his last performance as commander of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. On March 22nd, 1945, Spry was relieved of his command and sent to England as commander of the Canadian Reinforcement Units. He was replaced by Major General Ralph Holley Keefler.

 

Good catch, Keefler (seen in my first photo) is probably a better match. I was mostly going on tall and slim.

Updated my post to correct.

 

29 Montgomery Bernard, 21 Army Group (not "Bernhard"...)

 

Slightly higher res (1,580 × 1,146 pixels) here:
File:Field Marshal Montgomery with his staff, Corps Commanders and Divisional Commanders.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

 

thx a lot - ZIP updated, ometei

 

Hi,

Not sure if this adds much - a still frame from a short film of a visit by Montgomery to meet with General Ridgway at a HQ possibly near Xanten. Again two stars on the cap.



Regards ...

 

no. 25 .. Major General Evelyn H. Barker, GOC British VIII Corps.



no. 34 ... based on the uniform it might be: Miley, William, 17th Airborne Div

 

I agree with stolpi that No.27 must be Ridgway:

 

IWM H39144 to H39174 are single or group portraits of a good many 21 Army Group officers. Our as yet unidentified chaps might be among them...

 

Miley

As far as I'm aware Major General Miley jumped into Germany with his troops. Doubt he would be present with the Monty gathering.



Regards ...

 

Yo,

If American - one star only ... ?



Regards ..

 

Agree, have my doubts too. Maybe another representative of 17 US Airborne then? Looks like he is wearing American jumpboots.

 

Perhaps the 1 Star General was standing in for Lieutenant General Brereton, 1st Allied Airborne Army, who was later filmed on the 24th at a HQ and with Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham watching the Varsity flyover. His shoulder patch is hard to make out unfortunately.



Regards ...