Page 202 - They Also Served

Headquarters 7th Armoured Division and, during the fighting in the Western Desert, was awarded the MC and twice MiD.
Like many of his generation, Carver was impatient of the slower approach of his seniors, being especially scathing of fellow Sandhurst alumnus William Molesworth, who he described as ‘a deadbeat major, who had been passed over for promotion for years’. Molesworth was perhaps too modest to remind the youngster that he had shot down 18 German aircraft in the Great War. Carver also espoused advice given to him as a subaltern by Major-General Percy Hobart, who said: ‘Mark my words, Carver, the secret of success in this army is to be sufficiently insubordinate – and the key word is sufficiently’.
Carver was soon given the chance to shine and, still only 27, was given command of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment. An outstanding leader, he was awarded the DSO in North Africa and a second award bar for the Italian campaign. Given command of the 7th Armoured Brigade and the youngest brigadier in the army, he led it during the campaign in north-west Europe, being made CBE at the end of the war. Then, reality caught up with Captain Carver and he reverted to being a junior staff officer in the Ministry of Supply, only being promoted to substantive major in January 1948. Marking time as a major for another six years, he was then rapidly promoted to lieutenant-colonel in March 1954 and colonel just three months later. The authorities clearly thought that commanding his regiment in the war was enough to ensure that he did not have to do it all over again.
Awarded another MID for services in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising, he commanded the 6th Infantry Brigade and, two years later, was promoted to major- general to command the 3rd Division, including a deployment to Cyprus with the UN, commanding a multinational truce force. Further promotion followed until, on 1st April 1971, he became chief of the general staff and a key advisor to the government in the early stages of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Promoted to field marshal in July 1973, he became chief of defence staff a few weeks later. Soon after his retirement in 1976, he was created Baron Carver, of Shackleford in the County of Surrey, and died in 2001. A prolific author, Carver’s studies of the battles of El Alamein and Tobruk (both of which he took part in) are still highly regarded, and his memoir Out of Step is a fascinating insight into his life.
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