Military Career
Cassels served in World War II initially as brigade major of 157th (Highland Light Infantry) Brigade which was sent to France in June 1940 and then withdrawn through Cherbourg. After commanding the 1st Battalion Tyneside Scottish (The Black Watch-The Royal Highland Regiment) later that year, he became a General Staff Officer with 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division in September 1940 and then Deputy Director (Plans) at the War Office on October 1941. Promoted to major on 30 August 1943, he joined the staff responsible for the planning for Operation Overlord in January 1944. He was given command of 152nd Infantry Brigade in July 1944 and led it during the Normandy Campaign for which he was appointed CBE on 28 September 1944 and awarded the DSO on 21 December 1944. He was appointed General Officer Commanding 51st (Highland) Infantry Division on 28 May 1945 and commanded it in the Rhineland being mentioned in despatches on 8 November 1945.
After the War he commanded the 6th Airborne Division in counter-insurgency operations in Palestine and was again mentioned in despatches. Promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 19 August 1947, he became Director of Land / Air Warfare at the War Office in January 1948. Having been promoted to brigadier on 4 March 1948 and to major-general on 20 December 1948, he became Chief Liaison Officer with the United Kingdom Services Liaison Staff at Melbourne in Australia on 16 December 1949 and was appointed CB in the New Year Honours 1950. He became the first General Officer Commanding the 1st Commonwealth Division in July 1951 during the Korean War for which he was awarded the Legion of Merit in the Degree of Commander by the President of the United States on 16 September 1952 and appointed KBE on 10 October 1952.
He was made General Officer Commanding 1 (British) Corps on 4 January 1953 and, having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on 2 February 1954, became Director of Military Training at the War Office on 15 November 1954. He was appointed Director of Operations in Malaya on 17 September 1957 during the Malayan Emergency and, having been promoted to full general on 29 November 1958, became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Eastern Command on 29 June 1959. He became Commander of the Northern Army Group and Commander-in-Chief of British Army of the Rhine on 7 January 1960 and, having advanced to GCB in the New Year Honours 1961, became Adjutant-General on 1 June 1963. He became Chief of the General Staff on 8 February 1965 and advised the British Government on the implementation of the 1966 Defence White Paper which, inter alia, established the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve. He was promoted to field marshal on 29 February 1968 on his retirement from the British Army.
He was also Colonel of the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) from 15 March 1957 and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Military Police from 27 May 1957. He was also a member of the Committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
His interests included fishing, dance music, playing the guitar and the clarinet and playing various sports including cricket, polo and golf. He died at Newmarket in Suffolk on 13 December 1996.
Read more about this topic: James Cassels (British Army Officer)
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