Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces

Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces was a senior officer in the British Army during the First and Second World Wars. The role of the appointment was firstly to oversee the training and equipment of formations in preparation for their deployment overseas, and secondly, to command the forces required to defend the United Kingdom against an enemy incursion or invasion.

Home Forces
Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces insignia during the Second World War
Active	1915–1921 1939–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Role	Responsible for overseeing the training and equipment of formations in preparation for their deployment overseas
Headquarters	St Paul's School, London

The First World War

Field Marshal Sir John French, the first Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces.

The post was created for Field Marshal Sir John French in December 1915, after his enforced resignation as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in the aftermath of the Battle of Loos. Bitterly disappointed, Lord French regarded the appointment as a demotion. Despite this, he energetically restructured the system of military training, drew up plans to defend the country against a German invasion and devised the first British air defence system, so that incoming Zeppelins and bombers could be tracked and countered by fighters and anti-aircraft artillery.^[1]

Commanders-in-Chief, Home Forces, 1915 to 1921

• Field Marshal Sir John French – December 1915 to May 1918
• Field Marshal Sir William Robertson – 1918 to 1919 ^[2]
• Field Marshal Lord Haig – 1919 to 1921 ^[3]

The Second World War

General Sir Bernard Paget inspecting a large-scale armoured exercise in Yorkshire, 1942.

The post of Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces was resurrected for Sir Walter Kirke on 3 September 1939.^[4] He devised the first anti-invasion plan of the war in October, known as "Julius Caesar."^[5] " Its basis was the dual assumption that the landing of seaborne troops in any number presupposed the early capture of a port, and that parachutists or other airborne forces would play a vital part in any attempt that the enemy might make."^[6] General Kirke's planning thus emphasized "prompt annihilation or capture of parachutists and other airborne troops as they descended or were assembling on the ground."^[7] His successor, Sir Edmund Ironside was replaced by Sir Alan Brooke in July 1940. The headquarters was established at Kneller Hall in late 1939 but moved out to St Paul's School, London in July 1940.^[8]

In mid-1940, the GHQ Reserve consisted of IV Corps (2nd Armd Div, 1st, and 43rd) and VII Corps (the undersized 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force (UK); 1st Armoured Division, and 1st Canadian Division).^[9]

Commanders-in-Chief, Home Forces, 1939 to 1945

• General Sir Walter Kirke – September 1939 to May 1940
• General Sir Edmund Ironside – May to July 1940
• General Sir Alan Brooke – July 1940 to December 1941
• General Sir Bernard Paget – December 1941 to January 1944
• General Sir Harold Franklyn – January 1944 to 1945^[10]