Operations in Waziristan (1921–1924) Second World War: General Brian Hubert Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge, GCB GBE KCMG KCVO DSO MC DL (22 July 1896 – 29 April 1974) was a senior British Army officer during the Second World War, who played an important role in the East African, North African and Italian Campaigns.

He was Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Land Forces from 1950 to 1953, when he retired from military service for the second time to become Chairman of the British Transport Commission, a post he held until 1961.

[3] The outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 caused the course at Woolwich to be truncated, and Robertson, who graduated fourth in his class,[4] was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 17 November 1914.

The XI Corps sector of the Western Front was a quiet one at this time,[11] but Robertson was mentioned in despatches on 15 May 1917,[12] awarded the Order of the Crown of Romania with Swords on 21 June 1917,[13] and the Military Cross in the 1918 New Year Honours.

[14] In response to the Italian defeat in the Battle of Caporetto, XI Corps was ordered to Italy on 18 November 1917, but by the time it arrived the front had settled down, and it saw little action.

In November 1920, he commenced a five-year secondment to the British Indian Army, on assignment to the Bengal Sappers and Miners, based at Roorkee, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Delhi.

He returned to his family's home in Bayswater, where he bought a car, studied for the entrance examinations to the Staff College, Camberley, saw Edith Macindoe, whom he had met at a party in Scotland before his posting to India, and was best man at Jacob's wedding.

[26] In February 1932, he became a military advisor to the British delegation to the League of Nations conference on disarmament in Geneva, along with Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Dawnay and Brigadier Arthur Temperley.

Robertson's next posting was back to India as an instructor at the Staff College, Quetta, but he decided, in view of the dismal prospects for promotion in the Army, to retire on half pay and accept an offer from Eric Geddes to manage a Dunlop Rubber factory in South Africa.

[28] The tyre factory in Durban was a brand new one, opened by the Prime Minister of South Africa, General James Hertzog on 13 August 1935.

He became an influential member of the local business community, and was elected Chairman of the Rubber Growers' Association in 1936, and President of the Natal Chamber of Industry in 1938.

[31] The Kenya and Uganda Railway had ample capacity to move supplies from the base depots as far as Thika and Nanyuki; but these railheads were a long way from the frontier.

[33] In view of these difficulties, Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham, who assumed command of East Africa Force on 1 November 1940,[34] postponed operations until after the spring rains.

[35] This was followed by the capture of Mogadishu on 23 February, but its development as a port was delayed because the Royal Navy had sown the harbour with magnetic mines, which it lacked the ability to clear.

[37] Despite the difficulties, the new Berbera line of communications carried an average of 450 long tons (460 t) per day between 18 May and 6 July,[38] by which time the Italians had surrendered.

Robertson readily accepted, even though it meant dropping in rank back to lieutenant-colonel, but a request to South Africa to release him for this duty met with a refusal from the Chief of the General Staff of the UDF.

When his deputy visited Cairo, Cunningham and the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck, approached him and asked for Robertson's release, which had the desired effect.

He was formally seconded as AQMG on 19 September, with Brigadier Charles Miller as his superior, the Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General (DA&QMG).

[46] On 24 November, the Afrika Korps threatened the railhead at Mischeifa and the Eighth Army's Rear HQ, which Robertson was ordered to defend.

[52] In August 1942, General Harold Alexander replaced Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief Middle East, and Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery became commander of the Eighth Army.

[60] Between 14 and 17 February, Montgomery held a conference in Tripoli on the lessons of the campaign, with lectures from various participants, that was attended by senior British and American officers.

Fortbase was responsible for the ports and beaches in Eastern Sicily, for coordinating demands for shipping, and for mounting the Eighth Army units for the Allied invasion of Italy.

[72] Robertson was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by King George VI on 20 July 1944, during the latter's visit to Italy.

[84] When Montgomery left to become CIGS in June 1946,[85] Robertson stayed on as deputy to his successor, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Sholto Douglas.

[94] When the Soviets responded with a blockade of Berlin, the American Military Governor, General Lucius D. Clay, wanted to force a convoy through by road.

The theatre had been a primarily British responsibility in both world wars, and was still considered such by the United States, which was reluctant to assume commitments beyond those it had already undertaken in Europe and the Far East, but Britain no longer had the resources to defend it.

The contingency plan for a Soviet invasion of the Middle East, codenamed Celery, involved defending the Suez Canal by making a stand in the Lebanon-Israel-Jordan area.

[100] The rise of Mohammad Mosaddegh prompted Robertson to prepare a plan for intervention in Iran to protect employees of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

The British government wanted to retain the base in the Suez Canal area, or, failing that, permission to return in the event of war in the Middle East.

For his part, Robertson saw the strategy of the British Chiefs of Staff of halting a Soviet advance into the Middle East on Israel's coastal plain from a base on the Suez Canal as totally impractical, and pressed for one of holding the Turkish and Iranian mountain passes instead.