Major-General Sir William Ronald Campbell Penney, (16 May 1896 – 3 December 1964) was a British Army officer who fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. His most notable role occurred during the latter, when he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 1st Infantry Division during the Battle of Anzio, part of the Italian Campaign, in 1944.
Early life and military career Born in Midlothian on 16 May 1896, Penney was the third of four sons of Joseph Campbell Penney, an Edinburgh accountant, and Margaret Eleanor Jane Gourlay.Smart, p. 245 He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and, with the intention of starting a military career, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
Penney was still at the academy at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, from where he graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 17 November. Promoted to lieutenant on 23 December 1915, he was initially held back in the United Kingdom, but from 24 January 1916, he fought on the Western Front.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives He was promoted to the acting rank of captain on 22 January 1917 and made second-in-command (2IC) of a signals company, and his rank of captain was made permanent on 3 November of that year.
When the war came to an end on 11 November 1918 Penney had been awarded the Military Cross (MC) and was mentioned in despatches on 18 May 1917. On 22 November 1918 he was awarded the French Croix de guerre 1914–1918 and, the Belgian Croix de guerre on 4 September 1919.
Between the wars Immediately after the war, in March 1919, Penney became a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) at the Signal Service Training Centre, where he remained until 13 June 1921, during which time he transferred, on 11 May 1921, to the newly formed Royal Corps of Signals. He then served in India, where he played rugby for the army and served as Assistant to the Signal Officer-in-Chief, India.Smart, p. 246 In 1925 he married Shirley Mary Gurner; they had two daughters. Returning to England, he served briefly as an instructor at the Royal School of Signals from 22 March 1926 until 20 January 1927, and attended the Staff College, Camberley, graduating there in late 1928. Among his many fellow students at Camberley were John Whiteley, Clement West, Eric Dorman-Smith, Angus Collier, Reginald Savory, Philip Christison, Oliver Leese, Evelyn Barker, John Hawkesworth, Alec Bishop, Eric Nares, Eric Hayes, Charles Norman, Stanley Kirby, Edmund Beard, Christopher Woolner, Wilfrid Lloyd, Reginald Savory, Robert Bridgeman and Alfred Curtis. While there he was promoted to major on 26 June 1927.
Soon after he graduated from Camberley Penney was posted to the War Office as a GSO3, from 14 April 1929 until 15 January 1931, when he was posted to Shanghai, China as a brigade major, remaining there until March 1933. On 2 January 1933 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and, on 1 July 1934, he was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, and lieutenant-colonel on 1 April 1935. Upon being sent to India in 1935, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 21 December 1937 and was mentioned in despatches on 18 February 1938 for his part in the Waziristan campaign, he returned to England and attended the Imperial Defence College in 1939, graduating from there later in the year. Penney was the first officer from the Royal Corps of Signals to do so.Mead, p. 341
Second World War Britain and the home front Upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 Penney was still a student at the Imperial Defence College but, graduating soon afterwards, on 18 November he was promoted to colonel (with seniority backdated to 1 July 1937) and the acting rank of brigadier, and became the Deputy Director of Military Intelligence (DDMI) at the War Office on the sane date. With his rank of brigadier being made temporary on 18 May 1940, Penney remained in this post, therefore missing the Battle of France and subsequent Dunkirk evacuation, until November 1940 and, a month later, took over command of the 3rd Infantry Brigade in place of Brigadier Thomas Wilson. The brigade was one of three (the others being the 1st Guards and 2nd Infantry Brigades) which formed part of the 1st Infantry Division, whose General Officer Commanding (GOC) was then-Major-General Kenneth Anderson, and the command was Penney's first time leading a large infantry formation. The brigade was a Regular Army unit which had fought in France earlier in the year as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and was stationed on the Yorkshire coast on anti-invasion duties in the event of a German invasion.
The Middle East and North Africa Remaining in that post for just over 9 months, on 10 October 1941 Penney received a promotion to the acting rank of major-general and, upon being sent to the Middle East, was made Signals Officer-in-Chief with Middle East Command (General Sir Claude Auchinleck) becoming the latter's chief signal officer. Auchinleck was preparing for an offensive in North Africa, which was then the only theatre of war in which British and Commonwealth troops were engaged in combat with the Axis powers.
Penney's task was to improve the communication systems to allow the Eighth Army to function efficiently, which in the Western Desert was not always an easy task, with poor communications, among many other reasons, having been responsible for the many setbacks during the North African campaign thus far.Mead, p. 342 Penney, as Signals Officer-in-Chief, was to obtain for the army sufficient wireless radio sets, with sufficient range to cover the long distances between the numerous units.
Penney, whose rank of major-general was made temporary on 10 October 1942. On 18 February, Penney was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and, on 25 June, his rank of major-general was made permanent (with seniority backdating to 17 November 1941). Alexander's, now Penney's superior officer, influence later secured Penney's next major appointment, as GOC of the 1st Infantry Division, in mid-October 1943. Just over two years after Penney had left the division, he returned as its GOC.
Italy On 4 December, Penney's division departed North Africa for Italy and arrived there three days later, originally to reinforce Montgomery's Eighth Army. However, it was soon transferred to Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's American Fifth Army, coming under the command of Major General John P. Lucas's US VI Corps, in preparation for Operation Shingle. By December 1943, the Allied Armies in Italy (AAI), consisting of the American Fifth and British Eighth Armies, commanded by General Alexander, were bogged down in front of the Winter Line defences, 80 miles south of Rome. Operation Shingle, General Alexander envisioned, would land VI Corps in an amphibious operation at the port town of Anzio, behind the German line, which ran from Monte Cassino to the mouth of the River Garigliano, and draw off German defenders from the Winter Line to face the new threat at Anzio, enabling elements of Clark's Fifth Army to break through at Cassino, drive up through the Liri valley and link up with VI Corps at Anzio.
The operation went ahead as planned, with Penney's 1st Division landing in the northern sector of Anzio, catching the Germans completely by surprise. However, the corps commander, Lucas, decided instead to consolidate his beachhead before following Alexander's instructions to drive for the Alban Hills. The German response was swift, with Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, C-in-C of German Army Group C, ordering all local troops, as well as reinforcements from Germany and France, forward to oppose the Allied landings at Anzio.Mead, p. 343 In this way, by 26 January, four days after the operation started, opposing the Allies at Anzio were elements of six German divisions. At the same time, the Allied offensive on the main front at Cassino did not produce the desired result, meaning there could be little, if any, hope of an early link-up between the VI Corps and the rest of the Fifth Army, effectively leaving the former to face the inevitable German onslaught alone.
On 30 January, Lucas decided to make his move, ordering Penney's division, with Harmon's US 1st Armored Division in support, forwards to Campoleone, thus creating a salient in the line. The attack, however, failed in its objective of capturing the Campoleone station, with very heavy casualties, mainly to the exposed 3rd Brigade, and, in particular, to the 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, which had begun the assault with 35 officers and 786 other ranks (ORs), and by 31 January had been reduced to 8 officers and 250 ORs.D'Este, p. 179
The Germans were now determined in their attempts to destroy the 3rd Brigade in its exposed position, as part of the first phase of their offensive to drive the VI Corps back into the sea. They launched their first major counterattack on 3 February, targeting the 3rd Brigade around Carroceto station and Aprilia. The positions held by the 2nd and 24th Brigades were infiltrated by the Germans and the 6th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, suffered very heavy losses, with almost three whole rifle companies being destroyed, the majority of the men being taken prisoner. On the right flank, in the 24th Guards Brigade sector, with the loss of so many Gordons, the right flank was exposed and the Germans surged through it, only being prevented by the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards. The attacks ceased for a few days, resuming on 8 February and, although the 24th Guards Brigade, supported by elements of the American 504th PRCT, fought well and was engaged in severe fighting (during which time Major William Sidney of the 5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards was awarded the VC), both objectives, Carroceto station and "the Factory" fell to the Germans.
With Penney's division having taken severe losses – some 1,500 men in 24 hours, in addition to the earlier losses – and being forced to give up ground which had been fought for, he immediately requested reinforcements from Lucas and the relationship between the two men, which was never cordial, deteriorated, with Lucas being distrustful of the British and Penney himself frequently being critical of the former, having no confidence in him and believing Lucas to be out of his depth. Lucas, however, eventually sent the US 45th Infantry Division on 11 February, although it failed to retake the lost ground. Five days later the Germans launched another major attack, with the intention being to push the Allies back behind the Lateral Road. Penney's division was by now placed in reserve, and the German attack fell primarily on the 45th Division, but, on 18 February, the 1st Battalion, Loyal Regiment, of the 2nd Brigade, then defending the flyover where the Lateral Road crossed the road and railway and Carroceto, and which so far had suffered relatively light casualties, was involved, repelling many numerous attacks. The next few days saw desperate fighting by scattered American, British and German units, but the Allied lines just managed to hold and stabilise their lines.