Slim, William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount

Slim, William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount, 1891–1970, British field marshal. He saw service in several campaigns, notably Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, in World War I. After the war he joined the Indian army, rising in rank to brigadier in 1940. He commanded (1940) British forces in Sudan and led (1941) a division in Iran and Iraq. He went (1942) to Myanmar as corps commander and led (1943–45) the 14th British Army in the reconquest of that country from the Japanese. He served as chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1948 to 1952 and was made field marshal in 1949. He served as governor-general of Australia from 1953 to 1960, when he was created viscount.

Bibliography

See his Unofficial History (1959) and Defeat into Victory (rev. ed. 1961); G. C. Evans, Slim as Military Commander (1969); biography by R. Levine (1976).