Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks (September 7, 1895- January 4, 1985) was a British Army Soldier in World War I and the Russian Civil War and a British Army General in World War II.
Brian Horrocks was born in Ranikhet, British India on September 7, 1895. He was a soldier in the British Army in World War I on the Western Front and the Russian Civil War from 1919 to 1921. In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, he was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel. He fought in the Battle Of France in 1940 and took part in evacuating 340,000 Allied Troops from the port of Dunkirk. In North Africa in 1942, Horrocks commanded the British XIII Corps against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps at the Second Battle Of El Alamein. The British Commonwealth Forces swiftly defeated the Afrika Korps at El Alamein. In June 1944, Horrocks assumed command of the British XXX Corps where he would be promoted to Lieutenant General. He commanded the British XXX Corps during the Normandy Landings against Army Group B of the Wehrmacht. In September 1944, Horrocks commanded XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden, the Allied Military Operation to capture key bridgepoints in the German Occupied Netherlands in order to secure the quickest route to the Rhine. Operation Market Garden successfully liberated the Dutch Cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen, but the British Paratroopers at Arnhem were overrun and Operation Market Garden had partially failed. Brian Horrocks was then sent back to Britain and relieved of his command of XXX Corps during the Battle of the Bulge. In 1945, the Allies defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. On January 4, 1985, Horrocks passed away at the age of 89.
Trivia[]
- Portrayed by British actor Edward Fox in the 1977 war film A Bridge Too Far, which chronologically recounts Operation Market Garden. Fox knew the real Horrocks and befriended the general during production and remained friends with him for th rest of his life.
- Fox has stated that portraying Horrocks was one of his favorite roles he performed.