Thomas Wynford Rees


Thomas Wynford Rees was an officer in the British Indian Army during World War I, the interwar years, World War II, and after it.

Early life and military career

The son of the Reverend T. M. Rees, he passed out from the Officer Cadet College, Quetta and was commissioned into the British Indian Army in November 1915 in the 73rd Carnatic Infantry.
In September 1916, he was transferred to the 125th Napier's Rifles and was promoted to lieutenant a month later.
During World War I he was awarded the DSO and MC and was mentioned in dispatches. The citation for his DSO, published in the London Gazette on 29 July 1919 reads:
The citation for his MC, published in the London Gazette on 24 September 1918 reads:

Between the wars

Between the two world wars he spent much of his time serving on the North West Frontier of India, being mentioned in dispatches three more times. He served a term as private secretary to the Governor of Burma, Sir Charles Alexander Innes KCSI CSIE for which he was appointed Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in the 1931 New Year's honours list. In December 1937 was made brevet lieutenant-colonel for "distinguished services rendered in the field in connection with the operations in Waziristan, during the period 25th November, 1936, to i6th January, 1937".

World War II

During World War II, Rees fought in the East African Campaign, the North African Campaign, and the Burma Campaign. He was awarded a second DSO and mentioned in dispatches twice.
As head staff officer of the 4th Indian Infantry Division he organised the division's highly successful action during Operation Compass in the Western Desert in 1940. The division then played a key role in defeating the Italian imperial forces in Eritrea during the East African Campaign during which time he was promoted to command Indian 10th Infantry brigade, part of Indian 5th Infantry Division which was fighting alongside 4th Indian Division. 10th Brigade played a leading role in the Battle of Keren, the decisive battle of the campaign.
The 5th Indian Division left East Africa in March 1941 spending periods in Iraq, Egypt and Cyprus. In March 1942, Rees was promoted acting major-general to command 10th Indian Infantry Division which was at the time in Iraq. Two months later the division was sent to the Western Desert to reinforce the Eighth Army.
Controversially, during the Eighth Army's retreat from the Battle of Gazala, Rees was relieved of command of the division by his Corps commander William Gott. The division, having been employed piecemeal during the battle, was ordered to consolidate near Mersa Matruh on the Egyptian border and hold off the Axis advance for 72 hours. Rees responded that the division had only just come together and that defensive works were still inadequate. He therefore doubted the division's ability to hold off a full-scale attack despite the addition of an extra brigade. Gott told Rees he lacked resolution for the job and sacked him. Claude Auchinleck, the C-in-C, doubting that Rees was irresolute gave Rees the job of organising the defence of Cairo in case of an Axis breakthrough. Shortly thereafter Rees's fears were confirmed when 10th Indian division's position was overrun. When the Axis threat to Cairo faded, Rees was sent back to India.
In the autumn of 1942 Rees was appointed to command Indian 19th Infantry Division. Although the division was not sent to the front line in Burma until November 1944, from this date until the end of the war it was in continuous action, gaining a formidable reputation for itself and Rees, who was seen as one of the army's most offensively-minded generals. His army commander, Bill Slim was later to write:

After World War II

From 1945 to 1947 Rees commanded the Indian 4th Infantry Division and from August to September 1947, he commanded the neutral Punjab Boundary Force tasked to maintain law and order in the Punjab which was to be divided during the transfer of power to India and Pakistan. The force was too small to control such a large area, particularly since the police forces either disintegrated or became polarised. Despite the Boundary Force's best efforts full-scale riots and massacres took place. The scrupulous neutrality shown by Rees's force brought serious criticism from the politicians of both sides and it was disbanded in early September 1947, two weeks after independence. Rees has also been criticised for refusing to heed the advice of "Military Advisors" and "Alternate Military Advisors" from the Indian and Pakistani sides on the grounds that they were junior to him.
Promoted to the permanent rank of major-general in 1947, Rees took the job as head of the Military Committee of the Indian Emergency Cabinet until he retired from the army in 1948.
He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Monmouthshire on 15 January 1955.

Army career

Rees was married in 1926 to , only daughter of Sir Charles Alexander Innes, a career India Civil Service officer and Governor of Burma from 1927–1932. They had one son, the Cabinet Minister Peter Wyford Innes Rees Rees, and one daughter.
John Masters noted in one of his autobiographies that Pete Rees was an abstinent. According to Masters, Rees was a polyglot and spoke English, Welsh, "...Urdu, Marathi, Pushtu, Burmese, and Tamil. Now he asked me to teach him Gurkhali, and soon he knew enough to cause a look of startled pleasure to cross many a stolid Gurung face." Masters also said of Rees that he had a "rare, personal gentleness and unfailing good manners".