John Grover

Major-General John Malcolm Lawrence Grover, (6 February 1897 – 11 June 1979) was a British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Infantry Division in the Burma campaign, including in the Battle of Kohima, during the Second World War.

A graduate of Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Grover was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) in 1914. During the First World War, he served on the Western Front, where he was wounded in action three times and awarded the Military Cross and bar. Between the wars he served with his regiment in India, where he saw service on the North-West Frontier and attended the Staff College, Quetta. He became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, KSLI in 1938.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Grover's battalion was deployed to France, where it formed part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). In December, he became a staff officer with the 5th Division, a position he held throughout the Battle of France. He assumed command of the 2nd Division in October 1941.

Early life and military career Grover was born in British India, the son of General Sir Malcolm Grover and Helen Grace Lawrence, granddaughter of Sir George St Patrick Lawrence. Educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Grover was, at the age of 17, commissioned as a second lieutenant into the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) on 15 December 1914, four months after the outbreak of the First World War. After turning 18, he was posted to the regiment's 1st Battalion in 1915, then serving on the Western Front as part of the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division, a Regular Army formation, which had sustained heavy losses. Serving with his battalion for the rest of the war, Grover was awarded the Military Cross and Bar for his service, and was wounded in action three times.

Between the wars Remaining in the army during the interwar period, spent mostly as a captain with his battalion in India, Grover married in 1930. He became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, India, and saw service on the North-West Frontier from 1930 to 1931. He attended the Staff College, Quetta from 1932 to 1933 and, after serving as a staff officer with Aldershot Command and commanding the KSLI regimental depot, he became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, KSLI in 1938, which had just arrived in England from India.

Second World War Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Grover, still commanding officer of the battalion, now serving as part of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division (Major General The Hon. Harold Alexander) led it overseas to France, where it formed part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). There was no immediate action and the battalion spent the first few months of its time in France digging defensive positions in expectation of a repeat of the trench warfare of the First World War. From 18 to 28 December Grover took over as acting commander of the 3rd Brigade and soon afterwards was posted to the 5th Division (Major General Harold Franklyn) as its General Staff Officer Grade I (GSO1). During the battle Grover's division suffered many casualties, in May losing all three brigade commanders, but gaining the division's third Victoria Cross of the war, belonging to Captain John Randle of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment. Despite being victorious in this battle, Grover was removed from command on 4 July 1944 by Lieutenant General Montagu Stopford, the corps commander, who was unhappy with Grover's methods. His replacement as GOC of the 2nd Division was Major General Cameron Nicholson. Grover accepted his dismissal stoically and went on to be Director of Army Welfare Services at the War Office in 1944 before retiring from the army in 1948. In 2014, on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kohima, a memorial to Grover was unveiled at Jotsama on the site of his 2nd Division Headquarters.