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Lieutenant General Napier Crookenden KCB DSO OBE DL - Signed Military Art
Cranston Fine Arts  Military Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures British Veterans Surnames A to C  Crookenden, Napier |
[UP] - Annand, Richard - Austin, Doug - Bart, Sir Hereward Wake - Batts, George - Beach, Sir Hugh - Bishop, Roy - Bourlet, Frank - Bramall, Lord - Brewer, Ernie - Bright, Peter - Brown, John - Bruce, Hugh - Burns, George - Bush, Mike - Carrington, Lord - Chesshire, James - Conder, Henry - Cooper, Bert - Cooper, Johnny - Coventry, Alex - Crookenden, Napier |
Lieutenant General Napier Crookenden KCB DSO OBE DL
Napier Crookenden was born on the 31st of August 1915, the son of Colonel Arthur Crookenden CBE DSO, late of the Cheshire Regiment. Napier Crookenden went to Wellington College, After college Napier went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst where he gained the King's Gold Medal. Napier Crookenden followed in his father's footsteps and was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment as a Second Lieutenant in 1935. Before the outbreak of World War Two he was deployed to Palestine with the 2nd Battalion Cheshire Regiment. When war broke out he went to France and remained with this Battalion after the withdrawal from Dunkirk, until 1942 when he volunteered for the Airborne Forces. He attended parachute course 81 at R.A.F. Ringway, 6th to 16th September 1943 and was posted to the 6th Airlanding Brigade as the Brigade Major. As Brigade Major, Crookenden was closely involved in the planning of the Brigade's part in the airborne assault on the night of 6th June 1944. On the evening of D-Day, he took off from Brize Norton in a Horsa glider bound for LZ-N near Ranville, landing without incident. Crookenden was involved in heavy fighting around the Orne Bridgehead. When the commanding officer of 9th Parachute Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway, was badly wounded, Crookenden was promoted in the field and became Commanding Officer. From December 1944 through to February 1945, Crookenden commanded the battalion in the final stages of Hitler's Ardennes offensive, fighting skirmishes with withdrawing German troops and helping to hold the line after the enemy had been forced back. For his actions during this period he was Mentioned in Despatches, gazetted 10th May 1945. On the 24th of March 1945, the 9th Parachute Battalion took part in Operation Varsity, with the 6th Airborne Division landing behind the Rhine defences. The Battalion dropped onto DZ-A, just to the north of the Diersfordterwald, with their objective being to capture two areas of high ground astride a road. Following a spirited attack, the Battalion secured their first objective, the northern end of the Schneppenberg feature, but well-prepared defences prevented them from quickly seizing the remainder. Lieutenant-Colonel Crookenden took charge of the situation and, bringing the leading company round to a flank, personally led the assault. Despite heavy enemy fire the position was swiftly captured, with many Germans being killed and nearly 500 taken prisoner. Shortly afterwards the Battalion was ordered to capture an enemy-occupied village, which involved a final advance across 500 yards of open country in broad daylight. Coming under heavy small arms fire, Crookenden again put himself at the head of his men and rushed the village, taking 200 prisoners. For his actions on that day Crookenden was awarded an immediate Distinguished Service Order, which was gazetted 7th June 1945. Lieutenant-Colonel Crookenden continued to command his Battalion during the advance across Germany, culminating in the occupation of Wismar on the 2nd May 1945. After the war Crookenden served in Palestine. Crookenden's military skills were soon tested once more when, in the New Year of 1946, the Jewish Hagama began their operations against the British. For his actions between the period 27th March to 26th September 1946, he was awarded a second Mention In Despatches. Crookenden went to Malaya in 1952 as GSO1 (Plans) to General Templar. There, as the Army Representative of the Combined Emergency Planning Staff of the Director of Operations, Crookenden soon made his mark. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, his staff produced papers which greatly assisted in operations against Communist insurgents. For his work in Malaya, Crookenden was awarded the OBE. After a spell at the Nato Defence College in Rome, he became Chief Instructor of the Joint School of Air Warfare in 1957; he then had a brief tour as Colonel GS at Staff College before being appointed to command the 16th Parachute Brigade. After a period as Director of Land/Air Warfare, by which time he had added a helicopter pilot's licence to his fixed wing qualification, he was appointed, in 1967, Commandant of the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham, a post he held until 1969 when he was appointed GOC-in-C Western Command. In this, his last Army appointment, Crookenden showed that he had lost none of his taste for danger - participating more than once in foot patrols on the Falls Road under the command of a sergeant in his son's regiment, the Scots Guards. He was appointed a Companion of the Bath in 1966, and Knight Commander of the Bath in 1970. He retired from the Army in 1972. Napier Crookenden passed away in 2002.
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| Distinguished Service Order |
