Anthony Farrar-Hockley

General Sir Anthony Heritage Farrar-Hockley (8 April 1924 – 11 March 2006), nicknamed Farrar the Para, was a British Army officer and a military historian who fought in a number of conflicts and ended his career as Commander-in-Chief of NATO's Allied Forces Northern Europe. Throughout his four decades of army life, he spoke plainly; and both before and after his retirement in 1982, he wrote on the conflicts he had experienced and the Second World War.

Personal life Anthony Farrar-Hockley was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, on 8 April 1924, the son of Arthur Farrar-Hockley, a journalist, and Agnes Beatrice (née Griffin). He was educated at Exeter School, and at the age of 15 he ran away at the start of the Second World War and enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment, a line infantry regiment of the British Army. The fact that he was underage was soon discovered and he was discharged and had to wait to be re-enlisted in 1941. He was promoted to sergeant while still aged 17 and only 18 when he was commissioned into the Wiltshire Regiment, before transferring to the Parachute Regiment in November 1942. He fought with the 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion, part of the 2nd Parachute Brigade, in Italy and Southern France. Later he won the Military Cross (MC) in 1944 while fighting the communist rebellion in Athens during the Greek Civil War. Farrar-Hockley married Margaret Bernadette Wells with whom he had three sons (two of whom survive). His first wife died in 1981 and he married Linda Wood in 1983. Following in father's footsteps his elder son Charles Dair Farrar-Hockley also won an MC fighting with the Parachute Regiment in the Falklands War.

During his mid-career Farrar-Hockley was carrying out research and publishing. He established a reputation as an authority on the First World War, publishing The Somme (1964) and Death of an Army (1968). By way of sabbatical during his military career he spent time (1968–1970) at Exeter College, Oxford as a Defence Fellow, working on a research project into the social effects of National Service in Britain and publishing two other books. He gained a BLitt at Oxford University.

Military career At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, at the age of 15, Farrar-Hockley ran away from school and enlisted in the ranks with the Gloucestershire Regiment. After the discovery of his age he was discharged. In 1941 he enlisted again and was posted to the 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion, Glosters. In November 1942 he was commissioned and posted to the new 1st Airborne Division seeing action with the Parachute Regiment in Italy, France and Greece. He was still only 20 in 1944 when he was given command of a company in the 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion and later won a Military Cross in Greece whilst resisting the communist rebellion in Athens.

His honours included: Mentioned in despatches 1943, MC 1944, DSO 1953, Mentioned in despatches 1954, MBE 1957, DSO bar 1964, KCB 1977, GBE 1982.

Works From British Library catalogue (October 2006).

By himself 1954. The Edge of the Sword. London: Frederick Muller. (later edition ). 1959. True Book about the Second World War. London: Frederick Muller: London. 1966. The Somme. London: Pan. (later edition ). 1967. Death of an army. London : Barker. (later edition ). 1969. The war in the desert. London: Faber & Faber. . 1970. Airborne carpet: Operation Market Garden. London: Macdonald & Co. . 1972. Arnhem : parachutisten vallen uit de hemel. Antwerpen : Standaard. 1975. Goughie. The life of General Sir Hubert Gough. London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon. . 1976. Infantry tactics. London: Almark Publishing. 1988. Opening rounds: lessons of military history 1918–1988. London: Deutsch. . 1990. The British part in the Korean War: Vol.1, A distant obligation. London: HMSO. . 1994. The army in the air: the history of the Army Air Corps. Far Thrupp, Stroud: A. Sutton Publishing. . 1995. The British part in the Korean War: Vol 2, An honourable discharge. London: HMSO. . to be published 2007. MacArthur (Great Commanders S.). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

With others Brown, Neville and Farrar-Hockley, Anthony. (1985). Nuclear first use. Buchan & Enright. Farrar-Hockley, Anthony chapter in: Daniell, David S. (2005). Cap of honour: the 300 years of the Gloucestershire Regiment. Stroud: Sutton. . Hamilton, Ian S. M. (ed. Farrar-Hockley, Anthony). (1957). The Commander. London: Hollis & Carter.