Lord Harding; Led Britons in Tank Warfare
Field Marshal Lord Harding, a commander of Britain’s forces in North Africa during World War II, has died at the age of 92, his family said Friday.
Harding, who became a peer in 1958, was also British governor and commander-in-chief in Cyprus, where in the mid-1950s he faced death threats from a guerrilla group that sought union with Greece.
As a brigadier general, Harding commanded Britain’s 7th Armored Division, known as “the Desert Rats,” in the battle of El Alamein that turned the tide against the forces of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in Egypt.
Harding was badly wounded when a shell landed beside the tank he was standing on.
He was appointed commander-in-chief of the British Army of the Rhine in 1951 and became chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1952 before being promoted to the rank of field marshal a year later.
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