George F . Hopkinson Major - General George Frederick Hopkinson OBE MC ( 1896 – 9 September 1943 ) was a British Army officer who commanded the 1st Airborne Division during the Second World War . After working for a period prior to the beginning of the First World War as an engineering apprentice , Hopkinson was commissioned into the North Staffordshire Regiment and then posted to France as a signal officer in the 72nd Infantry Brigade . He was awarded the Military Cross for meritous actions during the retreat of the British Army during early 1918 ; after the end of the conflict he gained a degree in civil engineering and travelled Europe , before rejoining the Army in the mid - 1920s and working his way up to the rank of Major . Retiring from the Army a second time to take up a civil engineering job in Turkey , Hopkinson rejoined the Army at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 . After seeing action during the Battle of France , for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire , he was promoted to Major General and given command of 1st Airborne Division . Instituting a strict regime of training , Hopkinson ensured the division was ready to participate in Operation Husky , the Allied invasion of Sicily . When Sicily had been successfully conquered , the Allies landed in Italy ; Hopkinson accompanied 1st Airborne Division as it landed at the port of Taranto , taking the surrender of the Italian forces in the area . The division then began advancing northwards against stiff Axis resistance , and Hopkinson was killed by machine gun fire as he witnessed an assault on a roadblock held by German Fallschirmjaeger . Early life and First World War . Prior to the start of the First World War , Hopkinson worked as an apprentice at an engineering works at Retford , Nottinghamshire . Too young to join up when the conflict began , he enlisted in the British Army in early 1915 , joining the Officers Training Corps and then being commissioned into the 4th battalion , North Staffordshire Regiment as a second lieutenant ( on probation ) on 27 March 1915 . After a short period on Guernsey with them , Hopkinson was posted to France as a signal officer in the 72nd Infantry Brigade . On 16 September 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the retreat of the British Army in 1918 ; the citation read : Hopkinson left the army shortly after the end of the conflict , and in 1919 enrolled in Caius College , Cambridge , where he studied for a civil engineering degree . When he had finished his studies , he spent some time travelling throughout Europe , visiting Poland , the Baltic States and Russia . However after this period of travelling , in 1923 he returned to the Army and the North Staffordshire regiment , and by the following year had reached the rank of captain . He began studying for entry into the Staff College , Camberley , and attained a place in the institution in January 1930 . When he passed out of the Staff College he was seconded from his regiment and appointed as a General Staff Officer ( GSO III ) to the War Office , and was promoted a short time later to GSO II at the School of Artillery at Larkhill ; during the period , he also learnt to fly , gaining his pilot ' s license in 1933 . In 1936 he returned to his regiment and commanded a rifle company as a brevet major , but in 1937 he once again retired from the Army , taking a job in a civil engineering firm that had operations in Turkey . Second World War . When the Second World War began in September 1939 , Hopkinson immediately rejoined the Army and was posted to the Staff of the Military Representative that served on the Supreme War Council . In November 1939 he took command of a General Headquarters Reconnaissance Unit which served throughout the Battle of France ; injured during a motorcycle accident , he recovered in time to evacuate himself and many of his unit ' s vehicles from Dunkirk . He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 20 August 1940 for his work during the Battle of France , in particular as liaison officer to Belgian forces . He then qualified as a parachutist and was then assigned to Britain ' s fledgling airborne forces ; as he trained he helped to pioneer a number of airborne tactics , including the delivery and casting off of gliders from the transport aircraft towing them . By April 1943 Hopkinson had been promoted to the rank of Major General , and assumed command of 1st Airborne Division ; informed that Operation Husky , the invasion of Sicily would take place in several months , Hopkinson was determined that the division would participate , and thus implemented a tough training regime to ensure that the division was sufficiently prepared . Death . Operation Husky began on the night of 9 July with an airborne assault by 1st Airlanding Brigade and 1st Parachute Brigade of 1st Airborne Division , and elements of the American 82nd Airborne Division with both divisions suffering heavy losses in men and equipment as they carried out their objectives . Due to a number of factors , including poor navigation and the inexperience of the pilots of the transport aircraft , many of the gliders transporting 1st Airlanding Brigade failed to reach their assigned landing zones . One such glider carried Hopkinson and members of his staff ; the tow - rope of the glider was detached prematurely and it was forced to ditch in the ocean . Although uninjured , Hopkinson was forced to wait by the partially submerged glider until daylight , when he was picked up a Royal Navy destroyer . After both brigades had accomplished their missions they were withdrawn to North Africa to recover , and Allied ground forces began to fight through Sicily ; fighting ended on 17 August , and in early September the Allies launched their invasion of Italy itself . On 8 September 2nd Parachute Brigade and 4th Parachute Brigade landed in Italy , followed several days later by the remainder of the division landing at the port of Taranto . Hopkinson landed with the rest of the division and accepted the surrender of the Italian garrison there , then ordered the division to advance northwards . Fighting was fierce against a strong German rearguard , which set up a number of ambushes and roadblocks to deter the division ; one such roadblock was set up near the town of Castellaneta and defended by a unit of Fallschirmjaeger . On 9 September , 10th Parachute Battalion assaulted the roadblock , with Hopkinson in close attendance ; during the fighting , Hopkinson was hit by a burst of machine gun fire and killed . He was replaced by Brigadier Ernest Down , commander of 2nd Parachute Brigade . Hopkinson was the only British airborne general to be killed during the conflict . He is buried in Bari War Cemetery .