Ouvry Lindfield Roberts General Sir Ouvry Lindfield Roberts , GCB , KBE , DSO ( 3 April 1898 – 1986 ) was an officer in the British Army and the British Indian Army during World War I and World War II . Military career . Educated at Cheltenham College , the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich and King ' s College , Cambridge Ouvry Roberts was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1917 . He served as Deputy Director of Military Operations and Intelligence in India from 1939 to 1941 . In January 1941 Roberts was appointed GSO1 ( Chief Staff Officer ) of 10th Indian Infantry Division which was then forming at Ahmednagar in India . Three months later the division was ordered to Iraq . The RAF training base at Habbaniya , defended by 1 , 200 locally recruited Assyrians and Kurds and some armoured cars , was threatened by an Iraqi force in late April and three companies from 1st battalion Kings Own Royal Rifles were sent by air to reinforce the base . Roberts was sent to Habbaniya on 1 May to review the situation and assumed the " de facto " command of the land operations at RAF Habbaniya after the departure of Air Vice - Marshal H . G . ( ' Reggie ' ) Smart who had been injured in a car accident . Roberts was awarded the DSO for commanding the ground forces defending RAF Habbaniya . He commanded what became known as the " Habbaniya Brigade " and , on 19 May 1941 , participated in the successful capture of Fallujah . The " Habbaniya Brigade " was formed in the week following the end of the Iraqi siege of the British garrison at Habbaniya . Roberts formed the brigade by grouping the infantry reinforcements from Basra ( 2 / 4 Gurkha ) and from Kingcol ( 1 Essex ) . Roberts returned to 10th Indian Division after completing what his divisional commander , Major - General William Slim , later described as " one of the best single - handed jobs any officer of his then rank had performed in the war " . As chief staff officer Roberts played an important role in 10th Indian Division ' s involvement in the Euphrates expedition during the Syria - Lebanon Campaign in July 1941 and the Anglo - Soviet Invasion of Iran a month later , earning him promotion to Commanding Officer of the division ' s 20th Indian Infantry Brigade in Iraq in January 1942 . In July 1942 Roberts moved on to be Commanding Officer of 16th Infantry Brigade in Ceylon . As the threat of a Japanese invasion of Ceylon receded , 16th Infantry Brigade was redeployed in July 1943 while Roberts was appointed chief staff officer ( BGS ) of IV Corps at Imphal commanded by Lieutenant - General Geoffrey Scoones and which formed part of Bill Slim ' s Fourteenth Army . In August 1943 Roberts was promoted to major - general and appointed General Officer Commanding 23rd Indian Infantry Division , part of IV Corps . The division ' s units were heavily involved in the decisive Battle of Imphal and the subsequent Allied advance into Burma . In August 1944 the division was withdrawn to India . In March 1945 Roberts was promoted lieutenant - general and appointed General Officer Commanding XXXIV Indian Corps which was tasked with " Operation Roger " , an amphibious assault on the Kra Peninsula in Burma . Events moved more rapidly than anticipated and " Roger " was canceled . The corps was then tasked with " Operation Zipper " , an amphibious landing on the coast of Malaya . In the event , the landings , which took place in September 1945 , were unopposed , taking place days after the Japanese surrender . After the War Roberts was appointed as Vice Adjutant - General at the War Office in 1945 . He became General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland District in 1948 and General Officer Commanding - in - Chief of Southern Command in 1949 . He became Quartermaster - General to the Forces in 1952 and retired in 1955 , widely regarded as one of the high achievers of the Second World War . He was Aide - de - Camp General to the Queen from 1952 to 1955 . He was Colonel Commandant the Royal Engineers from 1952 to 1962 . Retirement . In retirement he was a Director of Grosvenor Laing and then President of Grosvenor Laing from 1955 to 1960 . Footnotes .