World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBorn in Colchester, Essex, England, United Kingdom, Archibald Percival Wavell was the son of a British Army general officer. He attended Winchester College and Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. Upon graduation, he was commissioned into the Black Watch regiment in 1901, and later fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa and the Bazar Valley campaign in India in 1908. He attended staff college in 1909. From 1911 and for about a year, he was an observer to the Russian Army. During WW1, at the Battle of Ypres in 1915, he was wounded and lost his left eye. Upon recovery, he was assigned to the Caucasus in 1916 as a liaison officer with the Russians. In 1917, he became a liaison officer with the Egyption Expeditionary Force. Between Jan and Mar 1918, he was attached to the Supreme War Council of Versailles. Later in 1918, he was transferre to Palestine. He was promoted to the rank of full colonel in 1922, and by 1933 he was made a major general. In 1937, he became the General Officer Commanding of the British Forces in Palestine and Transjordan. In 1938, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and was made the General Officer Commanding of the United Kingdom Southern Command. In 1939, he was promoted to the rank of general and was placed in charge of the Middle East Command.

ww2dbaseIn the first phases of WW2, Wavell made a name for himself by defeating the million-strong Italian Army in North Africa with a force that numbered less than 40,000, eliminating the Axis ambition of taking Egypt and the strategically-important Suez Canal. With the arrival of the Germans in North Africa in early 1941, the tide slowly turned against his favor. Several months later, Greece, the responsibility of which also fell on Wavell's shoulders, fell under German control; at around the same time, the pro-German Rashid Ali al-Gaylani launched a coup d'état in Iraq. Losing the confidence of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in Jul 1941 Wavell was transferred out of the Middle East and was given the new role as the commander-in-chief in India.

ww2dbaseAlthough Wavell thought, like many British leaders at the time, that the Japanese were likely to invade, and become bogged down in, Malaya and Singapore, he nevertheless wished to bolster Burma's defense. In Sep 1941, he returned to London, England and requested the Chief of the Imperial Staff John Dill to transfer Burma under India's operational command (it was under Singapore at that time); Dill rejected his request. After much lobbying and after the war with Japan had broken out, he convinced Churchill, who gave him Burma on 10 Dec 1941. He was also made the head of the American, British, Dutch, and Australian Command (ABDACOM). On 11 Feb 1942, he fell over a barb-wired sea wall in Singapore and was rushed into a hospital; his rendered him incommunicado for four days, causing some confusion at the command level. In the face of the stunningly successful Japanese expansion, ABDACOM was disbanded on 23 Feb 1942. On 1 Mar, Wavell replaced his subordinates Major General John Smyth and General Thomas Hutton; shortly after, Churchill dispatched Harold Alexander to lead the British troops in Burma. By May 1942, Wavell, Alexander, and the also recently-arrived William Slim had pulled most British, Indian, and Commonwealth troops out of Burma.

ww2dbaseIn 1943, Wavell was made viscount and was named Viceroy of India and Burma. He enjoyed strong popular support from the people for his ability to understand the needs of the people while not losing sight of the war against the Japanese in Burma.

ww2dbaseAfter WW2, Wavell worked hard to resolve the differences between Hindu and Muslim populations in India. He recommended taking a slow and cautious route in dealing with ethnic and religious tensions in the regions during the process to grant independence, but he was overruled by his superiors in London who preferred a speedy power transfer. In 1947, he was recalled to Britain and served as the lord lieutenant of the County of London. Wavell passed away in 1950.

Archibald Wavell Interactive Map

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Archibald Wavell Timeline

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