Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wells, KBE, CB, DSO (22 March 1898 – 20 October 1973) was a senior officer in the Australian Army.

Following promotion to lieutenant general, he was made Commander-in-Chief, British Commonwealth Forces Korea from 1953 to 1954, serving during the last days of the war.

Educated at Kyneton High School, Wells entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in February 1916, where he was a keen sportsman.

On 14 December that year, Wells married Lorna Irene Skippen in a ceremony at St John's Church of England, Cessnock; the couple would later have two sons.

Wells proceeded with the division to the Middle East, where, on arriving in December, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and posted as senior liaison officer to I Corps.

[4] Wells arrived in Greece on 7 March 1941, with an advance party of Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey's I Corps staff.

[4] On 10 April, a plan was formulated to withdraw Greek and Commonwealth troops from their positions in the Verria pass of the Vermion Mountains to the River Aliakmon.

[5][6] The withdrawal began on 12 April, but the force's movement was hampered because of lack of vehicles and the division did not arrive until late evening the following day.

General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson—the British commander in Palestine and Transjordan—believed that I Corps' loss of transport and signal equipment precluded it from participating in the campaign from the outset.

This proved to be a serious error, as his staff were preoccupied with political and administrative issues, and were too remote from the battlefields to exercise the close command required.

[17] Following a series of reverses, I Corps headquarters was sent for on 18 June, and Lieutenant General John Lavarack assumed command that day.

[24] Over the proceeding twelve days, the Australians heavily contributed to the assault, with Morshead and his staff coordinating the 9th Division's operations; success was claimed on 4 November.

[29] In January, the unit embarked from North Africa and sailed home to Australia in preparation for service against the Japanese in the South West Pacific.

[3] On 15 March, Morshead was appointed to command II Corps, and Wells was transferred along with him to the unit's headquarters as Brigadier, General Staff.

[3] During this time, the combat forces of the corps undertook training in both jungle and amphibious warfare in preparation for its planned deployment to New Guinea.

[3] During this time, Wells attended an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, where he was presented with his Commander of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI.

[3] In June of that year, Wells acted as one of the ten pallbearers to Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey at his state funeral in Melbourne.

Though its incumbents were considered to have performed well, the role garnered little credit for helping facilitate combat success but was a soft target for criticism when operations did not run smoothly.

[51] Wells had been sent to Korea with no instructions regarding the withdrawal of troops and—as armistice talks appeared on the verge of success—he was closely involved in liaison with the heads of Commonwealth governments regarding General Mark Clark's requests for their commitment to retain forces in the theatre for some period following the end of hostilities.

[52] Raised to substantive lieutenant general on 12 April 1954,[3] Wells was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours that June.

The chairmanship of COSC was created as part of the Australian government's response to a review of the Defence group of departments conducted by Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead in 1957, which recommended greater centralisation of the armed forces.

Although the chairman was the Government's principal military advisor and reported directly to the Minister for Defence, Wells was not promoted and remained at the same rank as the heads of the Navy, Army and Air Force.