Senior Military Leaders Nicknames During WW2

Discussion in 'General' started by Drew5233, Oct 11, 2009.

  1. Pike

    Pike Senior Member

    The Rosary Paratrooper - Oberst Friedrick August Freiheer von der Heydte.

    I suspect von der Heydte was nicknamed according to his religious views.
     
  2. Roxy

    Roxy Senior Member

    I'm sure that I'd read that 'Bomber' Harris earned his nickname in the Middle East in the 20s/30s because of his bombing competence. I'll try to find the reference.

    Roxy
     
  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, 2nd Baronet, GCB, DSO, MC (14 September 1884 – 14 November 1976) was GOC Anti-Aircraft Command.

    Apparently known to the entire army as 'Tim'.

    No idea why. Was he short or tall? ('Tiny Tim')

    Tiny, incidentally, being Lord Ironside's nickname. He was a giant.
     
  4. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    General Sir Harold English 'Pete' Pyman, GBE, KCB, DSO & Bar, Chief of Staff to Dempsey at 2nd Army.

    Peter Pieman coming from a variation of the Simple Simon nursery rhyme.

    Peter also being the universal name for Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff.
     
  5. Vintage Wargaming

    Vintage Wargaming Well-Known Member

    Long shot I know but does anyone happen to know when Jumbo Wilson acquired his nickname? I would be interested to know whether he had it when commanding 6th Brigade in 1935 and 1936.
     
  6. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Some more Australians:

    Maj Gen George Wootten, GOC 9th Australian Div--"Buddha" or "Mud Guts," since he weighed close to 300 lbs
    Maj Gen George Vasey, GOC 7th Australian Div--"Bloody George," after his favorite adjective
    Brigadier Whitehead, 26th Australian Bde--"Torpy," after the Whitehead Torpedo
    Lt. Col. H.H. Hammer, CO 2/48th Australian Inf Bn--"Tack," for obvious reasons. Hammer was a very aggressive and forceful commander, and the 2/48th were said to be "hard as nails, and driven by a Hammer."
     
  7. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Gen Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith
    Adm Harold "Betty" Stark
    Adm William "Bull" Halsey. Apparently he hated it.
    Adm Clifton "Ziggy"; Sprague. CO TF77.4.3 (Taffy 3), Battle Off Samar.
    Gen. Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell, apparently from his somewhat caustic personality
    Gen. Carl "Tooey" Spaatz
    Adm Marc "Pete" Mitscher
    Gen Henry "Hap" Arnold

    and my favorite

    SSgt Marion "Sandy" Sanford
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2019
  8. RAFCommands

    RAFCommands Senior Member

    ACM Sir Hugh Lloyd when Air Officer Commanding Malta was called "Sticky Fingers" in response to his method of addressing the problem of keeping his aircraft serviceable without spares.

    Lot 695, The Collection of Medals Formed by Bill and Angela... (18 May 2011) | Dix Noonan Webb

    "And he displayed equally steely determination in his robust defence of the George Cross Island, often by unorthodox methods, not least in his “hijacking” of aircraft and aircrew in transit to Egypt - one such member of aircrew was the much decorated “Warby” Warburton, who found himself coming under the direct control of Lloyd, acting as the A.O.C’s personal ‘spy in the sky’ and undertaking numerous low-level photographic missions. As a result of such “hijackings”, Lloyd became known as “Sticky Fingers” to the C.-in-C. Middle East’s H.Q. staff in Cairo, and angry signals were regularly exchanged - in Lloyd’s case with good reason:"

    Led to the use of SNAKE markings/designation to denote RAF aircraft destined to the Far East that were not to be diverted.

    Ross
     
  9. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    I suspect he was always on the large side.
     

Share This Page