Major-General Lewis Owen Lyne CB, DSO took over command of the division
on 22 November 1944, when Gen Verney went to Italy to command 6th Armoured
Division. Gen Lyne had commanded 50th Northumbrian Division in Normandy,
when Gen Graham was injured, until it became a training division in
the UK. He would then command the "Desert Rats" on the final
lap through the Siegfried Line, into Germany and on to the surrender
of Hamburg and the end of the war. Postwar he was the first Military
Governor of the British Zone of Berlin, then Director Staff Duties at
the War Office, before retiring in 1949.
Lyne joined the British Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant
into the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1921. He was made a staff officer at
the War Office in 1938.
He served in World War II, being appointed Commanding Officer of the
9th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers in 1940, a war service battalion
created in June 1940. He went on to be Chief Instructor at the Senior
Officers' School in 1941 and promoted to brigadier, commanding the 169th
(London) Infantry Brigade (also known as the Queen's Brigade), attached
to the 56th (London) Infantry Division, in Italy in 1943. Although he
was wounded in 1943,[2] he was promoted to major-general and appointed
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division
on 30 March 1944 and then of 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division a
few months later when the 59th Division was disbanded in August 1944.[1]
The 50th Division was also disbanded in December 1944 and he then became
GOC 7th Armoured Division and led it through the Siegfried Line and
on to Hamburg.[3] He took part in the Victory Parade in Berlin on 21
July 1945.
After the War he became Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin]
He was made Director of Staff Duties at the War Office in 1946 and General
Officer Commanding British Troops in Egypt in 1949; he retired due to
ill health later that year. He died in 1970, aged 71
Legion of Merit
Awarded for actions during the World War II
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act
of Congress, 20 July 1942, takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of
Merit, in the Degree of Commander to Major General Lewis Owen Lyne,
British Army, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance
of outstanding services to the Government of the United States from
July to September 1945. (Rescinded under Department of the Army, General
Orders No. 21, March 19, 1948)
General Orders: Department of the Army, General Orders No. 5 (January
22, 1948), Rescinded under: Department of the Army, General Orders No.
21, March 19, 1948
Action Date: July - September 1945
PERSONALIA
Name: Lyne, Lewis Owen
Date of birth: 1899
Date of death: 1970
Nationality: British
BIOGRAPHY:
Major-General
LEGION OF MERIT - COMMANDER (LOM - C)
Rank: Major-General
Awarded on: January 22nd, 1948
Action: For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of
outstanding services to the Government of the United States from July
to September 1945
Details: Department of the Army, General Orders No. 5
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER (DSO)
COMPANION OF THE MOST HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH (CB)
Lyne, Lewis Owen
Major-General
* 19th of August 1899
† 4th of November 1970
Nickname: Lew
Nickname: Lou
Promotions
1939-07-01 Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
1939-11-23 Acting Lieutenant-Colonel
1940-02-23 Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel
1941-07-24 Local Colonel
1942-02-18 Reverted to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
1942-03-12 Acting Colonel
1942-03-12 Acting Brigadier
1942-09-12 War Substantive Lieutenant-Colonel
1942-09-12 Temporary Colonel
1942-09-12 Temporary Brigadier
1943-07-03 Colonel (Dated back to 1942-07-01)
1944-03-29 Acting Major-General
1945-03-29 Temporary Major-General
1946-04-09 Major-General (Dated back to 1945-09-02)
Service
1939-04-27 – 1939-11-22 Deputy Assistant Military Secretary to
the Secretary of State for War
1939-11-23 – 1940-08-08 Assistant Military Secretary to the Secretary
of State for War
1940-XX-XX Commanding Officer 9th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers
1941-06-29 – 1942-02-18 Chief Instructor at Senior Officers' School
1942-03-12 – 1943-10-10 Commanding Officer 169th Infantry Brigade
[Middle East - North Africa - Italy]
1943-10-10 – 1943-10-15 Acting General Officer Commanding 56th
Infantry Division [Italy]
1943-10-16 – 1943-11-13 Commanding Officer 169th Infantry Brigade
[Italy]
1943-11-13 Wounded
1943-11-28 – 1944-01-08 Commanding Officer 169th Infantry Brigade
[Italy]
1944-01-08 Hospitalised
1944-01-21 – 1944-03-20 Commanding Officer 169th Infantry Brigade
[Italy]
1944-03-29 – 1944-10-19 General Officer Commanding 59th Infantry
Division [North-West Europe]
1944-10-17 – 1944-11-22 General Officer Commanding 50th Division
[North-West Europe]
1944-11-22 – 1945-XX-XX General Officer Commanding 7th Amoured
Division [North-West Europe]
1945-XX-XX Military-Governor British Zone Berlin [Germany]
1946-01-01 – Director of Staff Duties, War Office
1949-02-03 Retired
Gen. Lewis Owen Lyne, 71; Led Bitons to Berlin in '45
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMESNOV. 7, 1970
LONDON, Nov. 6 (Reuters)— Maj. Gen. Lewis Owen Lyne, who as
commander of the Seventh Armored Division led British troops into Berlin
in 1945, died at his Suffolk County home Wednesday at the age of 71.
General Lyne became military governor of the British zone in Berlin
in 1945 and served in the War Office before his retire ment from the
British Army in 1949. Later he was chairman and a director of several
Brit ish oil companies. He was joint president of the United Nations
Association in 1957.
Before he assumed command of the Seventh Armored Divi sion toward
the end of World War II, General Lyne was com manding officer of the
169th Infantry Brigade in Iraq and North Africa and the Stafford shire
and Northumbrian Divi sions in Europe.
General Lyne was a Com panion of the Distinguished Service Order,
a Companion of the Bath and an Officer of the French Legion of Honor.
He also received the Russian Order of Kutuzov.
Freedom of the City of Salford
Granted
3rd September 1947
1st Exercised
18th October 1947
Comment from Maurice Taylor
It is a great tribute to one of our most distinguished WW2 Fusiliers
When I joined 1LF in 1948 his name was very prominent but he
had become a sick man, I think he had a leg amputated, after that then
he dropped out of sight.
