William Duthie Morgan General Sir William Duthie Morgan GCB DSO MC ( 1891 – 1977 ) was a British Army General during World War II . Military career . Morgan was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1913 . He served in World War I winning the DSO at the Battle of Le Cateau in 1914 and later the MC and was mentioned in despatches four times . After the war his postings included active service in Waziristan and a period as a staff officer ( GSO3 ) in the War Office in London . In 1929 he was appointed military attaché at the British Embassy in Budapest in Hungary where he remained until 1931 . In 1933 when he was posted as a major to 19th Field Brigade RA in Bordon and in 1934 be became Chief Instructor at the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich . In World War II Morgan ( nicknamed Monkey ) initially commanded 10th Field Regiment Royal Artillery with the British Expeditionary Force and then became the senior staff officer ( GSO1 ) with 1st Division in France . Back in the UK he was appointed to the rank of temporary brigadier to be Brigadier General Staff ( BGS ) of 1st Corps . Having had his permanent rank advanced to full colonel in May 1941 ( with seniority back dated to 1939 ) , he was appointed acting major - general and named Commander of 55th Division in that June . In October 1941 he was injured and was forced to relinquish this appointment and revert to the rank of colonel on full pay . Returned to fitness , in September 1942 Morgan was appointed an acting lieutenant - general to be Chief of the General Staff for Home Forces . When British land forces were reorganised in July 1943 to create 21st Army Group for the planned invasion of northwest Europe , Morgan became Chief of Staff of the new army group . His rank was upgraded to temporary lieutenant - general in September 1943 and he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) in the 1944 New Year ' s honours list . In February 1944 he was made General Officer Commanding - in - Chief for Southern Command . While still appointed a temporary lieutenant - general , Morgan ' s permanent rank was advanced to major - general in May 1944 . In March 1945 he became Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean , Field Marshal Harold Alexander In May 1945 , he accepted the surrender of all Axis Forces in Italy . In September 1945 he was appointed Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for the Mediterranean Theatre and then in October succeeded Alexander as Supreme Allied Commander . Also in October he was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . The Morgan Line , which at one time demarcated the boundary between Italy and Yugoslavia , was named after him . In August 1946 Morgan ' s rank of lieutenant - general was made permanent ( with seniority backdated to the end of 1944 ) and in November 1946 was promoted to general . In 1947 Morgan was made Commander of British Army Staff in Washington , D . C . and Army member of the Joint Staff Mission to the United States . In this capacity Morgan was offered access to the atomic bomb by General Dwight Eisenhower as an incentive to persuade Britain to give up its own programme . His knighthood was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1949 New Year ' s honours list and he retired from the army in June 1950 .