John Grover (British Army officer)

Major General John Malcolm Lawrence Grover, CB, MC & Bar (6 February 1897 – 11 June 1979) was a British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Infantry Division in the Burma campaign, including in the Battle of Kohima, during the Second World War.

[4] After turning 18, he was posted to the regiment's 1st Battalion in 1915, then serving on the Western Front as part of the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division, a Regular Army formation, which had sustained heavy losses.

[9][10][8] Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Grover, still commanding officer of the battalion, now serving as part of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division (Major General The Hon.

[8] There was no immediate action and the battalion spent the first few months of its time in France digging defensive positions in expectation of a repeat of the trench warfare of the First World War.

The brigade, stationed along with the rest of the division in southern England, was now given anti-invasion duties and training to repel Operation Sea Lion the anticipated German invasion.

[8][9] The brigade was formerly an independent formation, comprising four Regular battalions and supporting troops, all of whom had returned from service in India in July 1940 after Dunkirk, and was serving as part of the West Sussex County Division (Leese).

Grover trained the brigade throughout most of the year until, in October, he handed over to Brigadier Francis Festing, formerly commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment.