Background
Anderson was born in British India, the son of Arthur Robert Anderson, a Scottish railway engineer, and Charlotte Gertrude Isabella Duffy Fraser.
Anderson was born in British India, the son of Arthur Robert Anderson, a Scottish railway engineer, and Charlotte Gertrude Isabella Duffy Fraser.
Kenneth Anderson was sent to England, where he was educated at Charterhouse School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Between the wars he commanded the 2d Seaforths on the NW frontier of India, where he was mentioned in dispatches, and saw more service in Palestine. Promoted to colonel in 1934, he took command of the 11th Inf Bde and led it as part of Montgomery's 3d Inf Div of the BEF. Toward the end of the withdrawal to Dunkirk he commanded the division. Promoted to major general, he was in England for the next two years, rising to command the 3d Div, then the 7th Corps, 2d Corps, and finally the Eastern Command. In the autumn of 1942 he became the senior British officer in Eisenhower’s predominantly American headquarters in London, which was planning the North African landings (Opn Torch). The big, brash Scot was unpopular with inexperienced but ambitious US officers, especially Mark CLARK, but he soon was highly regarded by Ike himself.
Anderson headed the Eastern TF in Opn Torch, directing the most important landings, those around Algiers. For political reasons (the French being expected to welcome American liberators but still being anti-British) the landings on 8 Nov 1942 were commanded by Charles RYDER, an American general. The big Scot went ashore on D+1 to take over from Ryder, and on 11 November he assumed command of the newly constituted 1st British Army. He was promoted concurrently to lieutenant general (T). With only four British brigades at his disposal, Anderson sent task forces forward in hopes of winning “the race for Tunis,” 500 miles away. His leading elements were stopped 12 miles short of Tunis on 28 Nov 1942 by Germans and Italians under Walter NEHRING. The newly formed 5th Pz Army, led by ARNIM, launched a highly successful counteroffensive on 18 Jan 1943 as ROMMEL approached from Libya to link up.
A week later, on 25 Jan 1943, Eisenhower prevailed on the French to give Anderson operational control over BARRE’S battered French 19th Corps. Forward elements of FRIEDENDALL'S 2d US Corps were also attached to Anderson’s army. But “Anderson was no Montgomery, and could not impose his personality or a master plan on his subordinates before the two Panzer Armies joined hands” (Jackson, North Africa, 335). Rommel and ARNIM scored a series of victories, particularly around Kasserinc Pass, 14-22 Feb 1943, and they might have destroyed the British 1st Army with a panzer drive to Bone if Rommel had been given his head.