George F. Hopkinson

Who was George F. Hopkinson?

Major-General George Frederick Hopkinson OBE MC was a British Army officer who commanded the 1st Airborne Division during the Second World War. After working for a period prior to the beginning of the First World War as an engineering apprentice, Hopkinson was commissioned into the North Staffordshire Regiment and then posted to France as a signal officer in the 72nd Infantry Brigade. He was awarded the Military Cross for meritous actions during the retreat of the British Army during early 1918; after the end of the conflict he gained a degree in civil engineering and travelled Europe, before rejoining the Army in the mid-1920s and working his way up to the rank of Major.

Retiring from the Army a second time to take up a civil engineering job in Turkey, Hopkinson rejoined the Army at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939. After seeing action during the Battle of France, for which he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, he was promoted to Major General and given command of 1st Airborne Division. Instituting a strict regime of training, Hopkinson ensured the division was ready to participate in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.