caption serviceyears branch commands death_date allegiance awards name battles birth_date rank image article_title birth_name
lieutenant general sir henry pownall 1906 -- 1945 23px british army persia command and iraq command commander-in-chief , ceylon far east 10 june 1961 -lrb- aged 73 -rrb- united kingdom knight commander of the order of the british empire distinguished service commander order & bar mentioned in despatches of the order of the bath knight sir henry pownall world war i world war ii 19 november 1887 lieutenant general henry royds pownall.jpg henry pownall
 henry royds pownall
henry pownall

lieutenant general sir henry royds pownall kcb , kbe , dso & bar -lrb- 19 november 1887 -- 10 june 1961 -rrb- was a senior british army officer who held several important command and staff appointments during world war ii .
in particular , he was chief of staff to the british expeditionary force -lrb- bef -rrb- in france and belgium until the fall of france in may 1940 .
he was later chief of staff to general archibald wavell until the fall of singapore in 1942 , and chief of staff to lord louis mountbatten in 1943 -- 44 .
