Lieutenant-General Sir Ronald MacKenzie Scobie, KBE, CB, MC (8 June 1893 – 23 February 1969)[2] was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, where he commanded the 70th Infantry Division and later III Corps.

After the war, Scobie became Officer, Company of Gentlemen Cadets, Royal Marine Artillery, Woolwich 1920–1924; Staff Captain, Aldershot Command 1927–1929; Brigade Major, Aldershot Command 1929–1931[7] After attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1925 to 1926, he became Director of Military Artillery at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1932 and, after attending the Imperial Defence College, was Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office in 1938.

[7] From 11 December 1943 he was given command of III Corps[8] which was sent to Greece to expel the Germans but ended up becoming involved in the Greek Civil War.

Scobie was in charge of the massacre that took place at Syntagma Square on 3 December 1944 at a demonstration involving 200,000 people, which left at least 28 dead after they were fired upon by soldiers.

[9] This signaled the beginning of the Dekemvriana (Greek: Δεκεμβριανά, "December events"), a 37-day period of full-scale fighting in Athens between EAM (National Liberation Front) fighters and smaller parts of ELAS (Greek People’s Liberation Army), and the forces of the British army and the government.