Background
William Slim was born on August 6, 1891, in Bishopston, Bristol, United Kingdom. He was the son of John Slim and Charlotte Tucker. He moved with his family to Birmingham at the turn of the century.
1944
William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, inspecting troops during the Burma Campaign.
1944
William Joseph Slim, British Field Marshal, Commander of the 14th Forgotten Army in Burma during World War II.
1945
Basinghall St, London EC2V 7HH, United Kingdom
William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount, General Commander of the Fourteenth Army in Burma, with the Lady Mayoress (Lady Frank Alexander), attending Guildhall in London to make a speech on the Burma Campaign on July 17, 1945.
1945
Field Marshal Sir William Slim, General Officer Commanding the Fourteenth Army in Burma, on March 5, 1945.
1948
United Kingdom
William Joseph Slim at home with his wife and son, John Douglas Slim, on October 10, 1948.
1949
United Kingdom
William Slim chatting with Field Marshall Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of British forces in Europe.
1956
United Kingdom
General Sir William Slim, Governor-General, bestowing a knighthood on Sir George Coutts Ligertwood.
Whitehall, Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Statue of General Slim on Whitehall.
The Order of the Garter that William Slim received on April 24, 1959.
The Order of the Bath that William Slim received on January 2, 1950.
The Order of St Michael and St George that William Slim received on December 10, 1952.
The Royal Victorian Order that William Slim received on February 16, 1954.
The Order of the British Empire that William Slim received on January 1, 1946.
The Order of St John that William Slim received on January 2, 1953.
The Distinguished Service Order that William Slim received on January 14, 1943.
The Military Cross that William Slim received on February 7, 1918.
The Legion of Merit that William Slim was awarded.
Hagley Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B16 8UF, United Kingdom
St. Philip's Grammar School where William Slim studied.
Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham B15 2UA, United Kingdom
King Edward's School where William Slim studied.
Cantonment, Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan
The Command and Staff College where William Slim studied.
Staff College, Camberley, United Kingdom
Staff College, Camberley, where William Slim studied.
(Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1891-1970) led shattered Bri...)
Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1891-1970) led shattered British forces from Burma to India in one of the lesser-known but more nightmarish retreats of World War II. He then restored his army's fighting capabilities and morale with virtually no support from home and counterattacked. His army's slaughter of Japanese troops ultimately liberated India and Burma.
https://www.amazon.com/Defeat-Into-Victory-Battling-1942-1945/dp/0815410220
1956
William Slim was born on August 6, 1891, in Bishopston, Bristol, United Kingdom. He was the son of John Slim and Charlotte Tucker. He moved with his family to Birmingham at the turn of the century.
William Slim attended St. Philip's Grammar School and King Edward's School. Later he attended the Command and Staff College, Quetta and in 1926 graduated top of his class. After that, Slim studied at Staff College, Camberley.
William Slim started his career as a teacher and metal tube maker. He also served as a clerk at Stewarts & Lloyds from 1910 to 1914. In 1912, Slim joined the Birmingham University Officers' Training Corps. When World War I began, his military dream was abruptly realized. Slim was commissioned in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, a territorial troop similar to the National Guard in the United States. He joined the regiment as a private, but when his troop was made part of the regular British army, he was promoted to lance corporal. William Slim first saw action when his regiment was sent to Mesopotamia (nowadays Iraq), followed by an engagement in the Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey, where he was seriously wounded. He was invalided to England and granted a regular commission in the West India Regiment. However, in October 1916, Slim rejoined his old battalion in Mesopotamia. He was wounded again in the battle to capture Baghdad and was evacuated to India. When World War I ended, he joined the Sixth Ghurka Rifles of the Indian Army and learned to speak their language.
From 1917 to 1920 and again from 1929 to 1933, William Slim was part of the General Staff of the Indian Army. In 1934, he was appointed an Indian Army instructor at Staff College, Camberley, and held this post until 1937. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1935. He also served as Commandant of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum, from June 1939 to September 1939. In 1940, Slim was given command of the Tenth Indian Infantry Brigade and was ordered to use his Indian troops in Sudan to prevent an invasion of Italian troops. A border town called Gallabat had been occupied by the Italians. Slim and his forces were ordered to retake the town. Although the Indians recaptured Gallabat, Slim decided that defense of the area was untenable and pulled his troops back to safer positions. Soon after, Slim was again wounded when a low-flying aircraft attacked the vehicle in which he was traveling.
William Slim was promoted to acting major general and appointed to command the 10th Indian Division in May 1941. He successfully fought against the Vichy French forces and later advanced through Iran. By March 1942, General Archibald Wavell, the commander-in-chief in India, sent Slim to Burma to take command of the British-Indian First Burma Corps. Slim conducted a 900-mile-long retreat from superior Japanese forces that overran all of Burma. He succeeded in bringing his troops back to the Indian frontier, and in October 1943 he was given command of the 14th Army. In 1944, he deliberately let the Japanese cross the frontier into India, thus stretching thin their supply and communication lines. His fully provisioned army waited for the Japanese to arrive and then beat the Japanese forces in decisive victories at Imphal and Kohima. He smashed the fraying legend of Japanese invincibility at Imphal and Kohima, and at Mandalay and Meiktila, Burma. The reoccupation of Rangoon in May 1945 completed a series of victories that brought him fame.
By July 1945, Slim was promoted to full general and then commander-in-chief of all allied land forces in southeast Asia. In 1946, he became Commandant of the Imperial Defence College. He then retired from the army to pursue a private life. But by the end of 1948, he was recalled to the army to be chief of the Imperial General Staff. He held this post until 1952. In 1953, Slim was appointed Governor-General of Australia, representing the Queen of England and British interests in Australia. In 1964, he was appointed Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle.
Slim also wrote mystery works, as well as poems and short stories, under the pseudonym Anthony Mills. In 1956, he wrote Defeat into Victory, considered one of the finest books about World War II.
Slim died in London on December 14, 1970, aged 79, and was given a full military funeral at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
(Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1891-1970) led shattered Bri...)
1956William Slim was baptized at St Bonaventure's Roman Catholic church in Bishopston.
Slim believed that as an officer he had to set an example for his men. He said that as an officer you can neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, nor smoke, nor even sit down until you have personally seen that your men have done these things. If you will do this for them, they will follow you to the end of the world.
Quotations:
"There is only one principle of war and that's this. Hit the other fellow, as quickly as you can, as hard as you can, where it hurts him most when he ain't looking."
"Nothing is so good for the morale of the troops as occasionally to see a dead general."
"Moral courage is higher and a rarer virtue than physical courage."
"The dominant feeling of the battlefield is loneliness."
He was a co-founder, first President, and member of the Burma Star Association.
William Slim had an excellent relationship with his troops. One of his main characteristics was his quite outstanding determination and inability to admit defeat or the possibility of it. He had an ability to gain and retain the confidence of those under him and with him.
Slim also enjoyed reading murder mystery novels.
Quotes from others about the person
George MacDonald Fraser: "But the biggest boost to morale was the burly man who came to talk to the assembled battalion. It was unforgettable. Slim was like that: the only man I've ever seen who had a force that came out of him. British soldiers don't love their commanders much less worship them. Fourteenth Army trusted Slim and thought of him as one of themselves, and perhaps his real secret was that the feeling was mutual."
Max Hastings: "In contrast to almost every other outstanding commander of the war, Slim was a disarmingly normal human being, possessed of notable self-knowledge. He was without pretension, devoted to his wife, Aileen, their family, and the Indian Army. His calm, robust style of leadership and concern for the interests of his men won the admiration of all who served under him. His blunt honesty, lack of bombast and unwillingness to play courtier did him few favors in the corridors of power. Only his soldiers never wavered in their devotion."
William Slim married Aileen Robertson in 1926. The marriage produced one son and one daughter.