Lieutenant William JosephSlim, 9[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion, Royal Warwicks
1891August 6 Born at 72, Belmont Road,Bishopston, near Bristol.The younger son of Charles and Charlotte Slim. Brother Charles later a medicalstudent at Birmingham University.
1903Family move to Birminghamwhere his father set up as hardware merchant and factor
AttendsSt Philip’s, Edgbaston, a Catholic grammar school – his mother was a Catholic.Formed a life-long friendship with Philip Pratt
1908September Transferred to King Edward’s School. Became a Lance Corporal in theOTC there
1907Father’s business went into difficulties. To help the family decides to get ajob as a pupil-teacher in an elementary school. He did this for two years in aschool in a poor district.
Becomesa junior clerk at Stewarts and Lloyds, the metal tube makers
Becomesinterested in an army career.
1912Enrolled in the Birmingham University OTC as a Lance Corporal despite not beingan undergraduate
1914cJuly Offered a job in Londonby the Asiatic Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Shell. To start on September1; he wanted to go abroad and earn more money
1914July Took a fortnight’s holiday which included a visit to Metzin Germany.He left early as the international situation deteriorated
1914July Joined his OTC camp on Salisbury Plain
1914August 22 Gazetted as a Second Lieutenant in the 9[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion RoyalWarwickshire Regiment.
1914September Reported to Tidworth, Salisbury Plain.
1915June Leaves Englandfor Gallipoli
1915August 9 Wounded during the Anzac attack. Comes home to NetleyHospital, Southampton
1915October Convalescing in London
1915/16Winter Posted to the 12[SUP]th[/SUP] Battalion of the Warwicks at Bovington, Dorset
1916April Takes a draft of 38 men to France
1916June Commissioned into the West India Regiment as a regular
1916September 2 Volunteers to take a draft of conscripts from Bovington to the 9[SUP]th[/SUP]Battalion in Mesopotamia although technicallyunfit. With the rank of Temporary Captain. Reached the battalion outside Kut-el-Amara.
1918February 7 Wins the MC for work in Mesopotamia
1917March 29 Wounded in the right arm in the ‘affair of Duqma’
Takento Basra then on a hospital ship to Bombay
1917June Convalescing at Simla
1917Autumn Placed on light duties and temporarily attached to the General Staff
1917November Posted as GSO III at Army HQ, India as a temporary Captain
1918November Becomes GSO II with a temporary rank of Major. Until early 1920. Adull life
1919January Transferred from the West India Regiment to the Indian Army list
1919May 31 Gazetted as a captain in the Indian Army
1920March 27 Posted as a captain to the 1/6[SUP]th[/SUP] Gurkha Rifles on theNorth-West Frontier based at Abbottabad. There for five years. Operations in Waziristan
1921March Appointed adjutant until November 1924
1922The battalion moved to Malakand for two years, a station at the frontier
Late1923 Birdwood C-in-C, Northern Command, India,agreed Slim should attend Staff College at Quetta
1924Long leave in England.Had not been back since 1916.Meets
Aileen Robertson on the return boat. Becomes engaged in India
1925May Passes Staff College entrance examination with the highest marks
1926January 1 Marries Aileen at St Andrew’s, Bombay
1926February Quetta course begins
1927John born
1930Una born
1929February to 1933 December. Staff officer at Army HQ, India at Dehli and Simla. Post wasGSO2 in the Operations Directorate
1930Becomes editor of the United Service Institution Journal
1930sWrites articles and stories under the pen-name Anthony Mills
1933May 19 Promoted to rank of major from brevet major (1930)
1934-6Instructor at the Staff College, Camberley
1937Attends the Imperial Defence College,London, for oneyear. He is hard pressed financially and pessimistic about promotion because ofhis age
1938Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and returned to Indiato attend the course at the Senior Officers’ School, Belgaum.
1938July Took over command of the 2/7[SUP]th[/SUP] Gurkhas in Assam
1939April Returned to Belgaumas commandant and the local rank of Brigadier
1939September 23 Becomes commander of the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Indian Brigade
1940August 2 His brigade diverted from Iraqto Port Sudan to begin to strike at Italiancontrolled East Africa by initially taking the frontier post of Gallabat on thefrontier between Ethiopiaand the Sudan.This was a failure. The brigade then moved into Eritrea. Wounded and sent to India via Cairo.Joined GHQ staff inIndia
1941Appointed Chief of Staff to commander of the Iraq Expeditionary Force who fellin and Slim was appointed to command the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Indian Division as atemporary Major-General
1941June Prepares to advance into Vichy Syria.Captures an important bridge on the Euphrates
1941August Moves into Persiathen back to Iraq
1942March Summmoned to India andsent to Burmaas a Corps commander (1 Burma Corps)
1942March 13 Reported to General Alexander. Forced to retreat
Roughly1000 miles
1942May 20 Hands over command
1942Back in India as commanderof 15 Corps responsible for internal security in three Indian states and thesouthern sector of the Indo-Burmese frontier and the Bengalcoast
1943April Ordered to move his HQ to Chittagongand the Arakan peninsula where he soon took over operational control of afailing operation. Troops were withdrawn to where they had started from.
1943October 16 Appointed Eastern Army commander with Mountbatten as SupremeCommander SE Asia. Slim was now a Lieutenant-General
October22 Mountbatten appoints Slim to command the new 14[SUP]th[/SUP] Army in Burma– he now became ‘Uncle Bill’ as he moulded an army with faith
December15 Slim knighted by Wavell
1944Imphal saved by airlift and major defensive action at Kohima
1944July Japanese forced to retreat
194514[SUP]th[/SUP] Army offensive is successful
1945July 1 Appointed C-in-C Land Forces SE Asia
1945End of year returns to the UKand becomes commandant of
theImperial Defence Collegefor two years
1947February Becomes ADC to the King
1948Retires from the army and becomes deputy chairman of British Railways
1949January Appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff as a Field Marshal
1952Leaves post to become Governor-General of Australia from 1953
1959Retires and publishes his memoirs ‘Defeat into Victory’
1960Becomes Viscount Slim
1964Constable of Windsor Castle
1970December 14 Death and full military funeral
1993Death of Aileen
(‘Slimthe Standard Bearer’. Ronald Lewin. Wordsworth 1999. Originally 1976)
