Lieutenant-General Herbert William Lumsden, CB, DSO & Bar, MC (8 April 1897 – 6 January 1945) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars.

He invariably showed the greatest coolness and courage in the face of danger, keeping his section in action, and always volunteering for any officer's patrol work.

[3] Amongst other actions he held off German attacks on Bernard Montgomery's 3rd Division's exposed left flank and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

Montgomery had been keen to sack Lumsden whom he still resented following the incident at Dunkirk[4][page needed] but he was overruled by his Commander-in-Chief General Sir Harold Alexander.

Despite having agreed to Montgomery's battle plan, Lumsden believed it was impossible for his X Corps armour to fight its way into the open without incurring appalling casualties from uncleared minefields and anti-tank fire.

In a heated telephone conversation with Montgomery, Gatehouse said that he concurred with Lumsden and that to advance through uncharted and uncleared minefields, covered by strong batteries of anti-tank guns, with the noise from the tanks making surprise impossible, would be disastrous.

It lost all but fifteen of its tanks and the operation ended where it had begun, on the wrong side of the Miteiriya Ridge having failed to break through with the armour.

[8] On his return to London, on entering his club Lumsden was heard to comment, "I've just been sacked because there isn't room in the desert for two cads like Monty and me.

[2][13][14][12] On 4 January 1945, Japanese kamikaze began a week-long assault on American naval forces transporting MacArthur's 6th Army to Lingayen Gulf, site of the upcoming landing on Luzon, the Philippines' most populous island.

On 6 January, the Allies suffered their heaviest loss in the Pacific since Guadalcanal when kamikaze mauled the U.S. 7th Fleet as it began bombarding the invasion beaches on Luzon and minesweeping Lingayen Gulf.

Twenty-nine kamikaze hit 15 ships and Lumsden was killed by one while on the bridge of the battleship USS New Mexico, becoming the most senior British Army combat casualty of the Second World War.