Francis Wogan Festing

Field Marshal Sir Francis Wogan Festing, (Mandarin: 菲士廷, fēi shì tíng; 28 August 1902 – 3 August 1976) was a senior British Army officer. His most important posts were as Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong (1945–46 and 1949), General Officer Commanding (GOC) British Troops in Egypt (1952), GOC Eastern Command (1954), Commander-in-Chief Far East Land Forces (1956), and Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1958–61). He saw active service in the Second World War, taking a prominent role in Operation Ironclad (the Battle of Madagascar) and the Arakan offensive of the Burma campaign, and later advised the British government on ending conscription and reducing the size of the army by fifteen battalions. Early life and military career Festing was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Brigadier General Francis Leycester Festing and Charlotte Katherine Grindall Festing (née Festing). He was educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Festing was commissioned into 3rd Battalion the Rifle Brigade on 23 December 1921. He was promoted to lieutenant on 23 December 1923 and became aide-de-camp to General Sir John Burnett-Stuart in 1926. He went on to be Air Liaison Officer for Eastern Command on 1 February 1936 and, after attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1933 to 1934, and having been promoted to captain on 1 September 1936, joined the staff at the War Office on 15 February 1938 before being promoted to major on 23 December 1938. In February 1939 he returned to the Staff College, Camberley, this time to serve as an instructor, a post he held until December 1939, three months after the Second World War began. Second World War In the Second World War Festing was air liaison officer for the expedition to Norway of 1940, then, having been promoted to acting lieutenant colonel in April 1940, as a staff officer in the Operations Directorate at the War Office from May 1940. In September 1940 he became Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment and then in April 1942 he became Commander of 29th Independent Infantry Brigade Group which was the landing force of Force 121 for Operation Ironclad, the seizure of Vichy French ports and airfields in the Indian Ocean, notably Diego Suárez, Majunga and Tamatave in Madagascar. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his services in this campaign.