Alfred Dudley Ward General Sir Alfred Dudley Ward , GCB , KBE , DSO ( 27 January 1905 – 28 December 1991 ) , was a British Army officer during the Second World War and later Governor of Gibraltar . He served as an ordinary soldier for three years before being sent for officer training in 1926 . Slow peacetime career progression saw Ward achieving the rank of captain in only 1937 but the Second World War allowed him to demonstrate his high ability as both a staff officer and commander in the field . Receiving command of an infantry division at the unusually young age of 39 years and 3 months Ward went on to hold staff and field appointments at the highest levels after the war . Military career . Educated at Wimborne Grammar School , Ward went on to serve in the army as an other rank for three years before entering Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . From Sandhurst he was commissioned into the Dorsetshire Regiment in January 1929 . In December 1931 he was posted to India to be aide - de - camp to the Commander of the Lahore District , achieved promotion to lieutenant in January 1932 and completed his posting in September 1932 . He went on to the Staff College , Quetta in 1935 . In 1937 , Ward was promoted to captain transferring to the King ' s Regiment ( Liverpool ) for an appropriate vacancy . In February 1939 he was seconded to India for staff service as a GSO3 but was recalled to London in July and by the outbreak of the Second World War he was serving as a GSO2 in the Directorate of Military Intelligence at the War Office in London . In May 1940 Ward was appointed an instructor at the Staff College , Camberley , returning to the War Office a year later . In late 1941 he was selected for command and was posted to lead 43 Reconnaissance Regiment , initially the reconnaissance unit of 48th Infantry Division and then , from November 1941 , of 43rd Infantry Division . He became Brigadier General Staff ( BGS ) of XI Corps in July 1942 . In September 1943 he swapped jobs with Roy Urquhart to take command of 231 Brigade which had seen recent action in Sicily . However , within a week of arriving he was ordered to swap jobs once more , this time with Gerard Bucknall , and took command of 17 Brigade , part of 5th Infantry Division , which he led in Italy . The brigade saw action during Eighth Army ' s advance from Foggia , notably on the Moro River in late 1943 , before 5th Division was switched to Italy ' s western seabord , on the left flank of British X Corps which itself formed the left wing of US Fifth Army on the Gustav Line . Ward ' s brigade conducted an amphibious crossing of the Garigliano river on 17 January and was involved in heavy fighting until the end of the month . In 5 March Division was moved to the Anzio bridgehead and was involved in further heavy fighting in " The Wadis " on its left flank . Ward was awarded the DSO in April 1944 . Given the acting rank of major - general , highly unusual for someone still under the age of forty , Ward took command of the 4th Infantry Division in April 1944 . Recently arrived in Italy from Egypt where it had been refitting since the Tunisian Campaign , the division had to be rapidly prepared and brought to peak fitness for the key role assigned it together with 8th Indian Infantry Division , that of creating bridgeheads across the Rapido river in the fourth Battle of Monte Cassino the following month . After successfully completing its task , the division was rested until late June when it rejoined the front line on the Trasimene Line . In August the division found itself once more on the Adriatic coast taking part in " Operation Olive " , Eighth Army ' s attack on the Gothic Line . In December 1944 4th Division was moved to Greece , where it was involved in fighting against Communist partisans opposed to the new provisional government . By mid January order was restored and in April Ward handed over command of his division to become Chief of Staff to Ronald Scobie the British commander in Greece . For his services in Italy Ward was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) in April 1945 and Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) in July of the same year . He also received the Legion of Merit ( Degree of Commander ) from the United States for his service to the Allied cause . After the war , having demonstrated in the previous five years high competence as both a field commander and staff officer , Ward received appointments in both disciplines at the highest levels . He was promoted to substantive major - general in 1947 and appointed in quick succession as Director of Military Operations at the War Office and commandant of the Staff College , Camberley , in 1947 and 1948 respectively . He assumed command of I Corps in Germany in the rank of lieutenant - general and was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( KBE ) in the 1953 New Year Honours . He returned to Britain in 1953 as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff , relinquishing the post in October 1956 . Ward returned to Germany in January 1957 as Commander - in - Chief of Northern Army Group and the British Army of the Rhine , was promoted to full general in February 1957 , and held the post until January 1960 . He left to become , in May 1960 , Commander - in - Chief , British Forces Middle East which was re - designated Near East Command on vacating the appointment in May 1962 . He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in June 1957 which was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath ( GCB ) in the new year honours list in 1959 and from December 1958 to December 1961 , he held the title of Aide - de - Camp General to Queen Elizabeth II . He became Governor and Commander - in - Chief Gibraltar in June 1962 , where he presided over the introduction of the 1964 constitution . The Dudley Ward Tunnel is named in his honour . He was also made a knight of the charitable Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1962 . Ward retired from the army in 1965 . In retirement he served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk from 1968 until 1984 . Following convention for retired senior officers , Ward maintained links with the British Army through the honorary positions of Colonel Commandant of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and Colonel of the King ' s Regiment .