Eric Harrison (British Army officer)

At the outbreak of the First World War Harrison was posted first to Harwich, manning anti-aircraft guns, and then to France, where he was involved in intense fighting around Hooge. He was promoted to Lieutenant in June 1915,[6] and awarded the Military Cross later that year "for gallantry and initiative at Givenchy, on 10 March 1915, when he rushed up his gun under heavy shell fire and close-range rifle fire, and destroyed a hostile machine gun".[7] He went on to fight at the Battle of Loos. He was promoted to temporary captain in November 1916,[8] a promotion which was made permanent a year later.[9] In 1918 he was promoted to brevet major,[10] making him the youngest officer in the army to hold the rank at the time, and given command of an infantry school before appointment as a general staff officer first grade. By the end of the First World War, Harrison was attached to the 58th (London) Division and had been mentioned in dispatches four times.[1][11]

Following the end of the war, Harrison resumed his sports careers. He was selected for the "Mother Country" rugby team (forerunner to the British and Irish Lions) in 1919, and played for the army against Oxford University in 1920. Harrison's rugby career ended prematurely due to injury, after which he refocused on hurdling; he was selected for the 1920 Summer Olympics but was prohibited from competing due to heart problems.[1][3][4] He was appointed master of the Royal Artillery Harriers and then selected for staff college. He went on to compete at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, and reached a semi-final in the 110 metres hurdles.[12] After the Olympics, Harrison attended the Staff College, Camberley[4] from 1925 to 1926 and was appointed adjutant[13][14] to Lahore District, India, from 1928 to 1932.[4][15] There he became master of the Lahore Hunt and took up big game shooting and racquets, in which he won the doubles event at the All India Championships. He returned to England in 1932,[16] when he was promoted to permanent major.[17] In 1934, Harrison was appointed a battery commander at Catterick Garrison in Yorkshire. Here he began painting, and eventually had three of his works hung at the Salon in Paris.[1] Later that year, he was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel and given command of the Oxford University Officer Training Corps (OTC)[4][18] and lectured at the university on military history until he relinquished the post in 1938;[19] he also became master of the South Oxfordshire Hunt.[1]

In 1939, Harrison briefly served in Mandatory Palestine, commanding an infantry battalion at the end of the Arab Revolt under Major-General Bernard Montgomery, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8th Infantry Division and a former Staff College instructor, who remarked that, "having loosed 'Dreadnought Harrison' on the task of killing rebels [...] he needed no urging in this respect".[20] On 22 July 1939 Harrison was promoted to lieutenant colonel.[21]

With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Harrison returned to England and was appointed Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) with the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, based at Sevenoaks in Kent. Harrison was promoted to full colonel on 28 August 1939 (with seniority backdated to 1 January 1937),[22] and, on the same date, to the temporary rank of brigadier.[4][23] The 12th Division was sent overseas to France in April 1940 but left its artillery, and Harrison, behind. Severely mauled during the Battle of France the following month, the 12th Division was disbanded in July and Harrison became Brigadier, Royal Artillery (BRA) in Northern Ireland District before being posted to Tunisia, where he served as Commander, Corps of Royal Artillery (CCRA) in IX Corps, under, initially, Lieutenant-General John Crocker, and, from late April 1943, Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks. After the end of the campaign, Harrison was promoted to major general and served in General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) as Major General, Royal Artillery (MGRA); he was mentioned in despatches for his service during the Allied invasion of Sicily and continued in the post until 1943, when he returned to Britain to become General Officer Commanding (GOC) Sussex and Surrey District. Harrison was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 5 August 1943,[24] and was promoted on 4 December 1943 to acting major-general.[25] His rank of major-general was made temporary on 4 December 1944.[26] He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1945, and appointed aide-de-camp to King George VI in 1945,[27] and retired from the army on 28 May 1946, having been granted the honorary permanent rank of major general.[1][4][28]