{{Short description|British Army general}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix= Lieutenant-General |name=Sir Edmond Schreiber |honorific_suffix= {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|DSO|KStJ|DL}} |image= Sir-Edmond-Charles-Acton-Schreiber.jpg |image_size= 175px |caption= Schreiber in 1944 |nickname= "Teddy"{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=281}} |birth_date= {{birth date|1890|04|30|df=yes}} |birth_place= London, England |death_date= {{death date and age|1972|10|08|1890|04|30|df=yes}} |death_place= Exmouth, Devonshire, England |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= British Army |service_years= 1909–1947 |rank= Lieutenant-General |service_number= 12846 |unit= Royal Artillery |commands= Malta (1944–46)<br/>South-Eastern Command (1944)<br/>Western Command (1942–44)<br/>First Army (1942)<br/>V Corps (1941–42)<br/>45th Infantry Division (1940–41)<br/>61st Infantry Division (1940)<br/>X Field Brigade, Royal Artillery (1939–40) |battles= First World War<br/>Second World War |awards= Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath<br/>Distinguished Service Order<br/>Knight of the Order of St John<br/>Mentioned in Despatches (5) |relations= |other_work= Deputy Lieutenant of Devon (1948)<br/>National President, Old Contemptibles Association (1960) }} Lieutenant-General '''Sir Edmond Charles Acton Schreiber''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|DSO|KStJ|DL}} (30 April 1890 – 8 October 1972) was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First World War and the Second World War. In the latter he commanded the 45th Infantry Division, V Corps and the First Army.
==Military career== Born in London, England, on 30 April 1890, the son of Brigadier-General Acton Lemuel Schreiber, Edmond Charles Acton Schreiber was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Royal Field Artillery on 23 December 1909.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28329|page=340|date=14 January 1910}}</ref> He was promoted to lieutenant on 23 December 1912.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28674|page=9784|date=24 December 1912}}</ref> He served in the First World War with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, earning the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in December 1914, the citation for which reads:
{{Quote|Very gallant conduct on 14th September in saving horses which had become entangled in blocked road, and man-handling guns away from a position which had become untenable from a very heavy shell fire, continuing to work, although wounded.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28992|page=10189|date=1 December 1914}}</ref>{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=283}}}}
He was also four times mentioned in dispatches and ended the war as a brevet major, having been promoted to that rank on 1 January 1918.<ref name=unit>{{cite web|url=http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_S01.html#Schreiber_ECA|title=Schreiber, Edmund|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=29 June 2020}}</ref>{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=281}}
In the 1930s, during the interwar period, he attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1923–1924, before returning there as an instructor from 1930–1933, later becoming a staff officer at the War Office from 1934–1937, Chief Staff Officer at the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness, in 1938, and was Brigadier Royal Artillery in Southern Command, from 1938–1939, the same year the Second World War began.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=281}}
thumb|left|Members of the Kent Home Guard demonstrate a 'Blacker Bombard' spigot mortar during an inspection by Lieutenant General Sir Edward Schreiber, GOC South East Command, pictured in the middle wearing a beret, 23 July 1944.
During the Second World War, Schreiber served with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France between 1939 and 1940.<ref>Alanbrooke (2001), e.g. entries 29 November 1939, 11 December 1939, 22 April 1940.</ref> Promoted to acting Major-General on 26 April 1940,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34848|page=2881|date=10 May 1940|supp=y}}</ref> he became General Officer Commanding (GOC) 61st Infantry Division on the same date, before being made GOC 45th Infantry Division later in 1940. In May 1941 he was promoted to acting Lieutenant-General<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35253|page=4853|date=19 August 1941|supp=y}}</ref> to take command of V Corps later that year. In May 1942 he received the rank of temporary lieutenant-general,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35555 |page=2067| supp=y|date=8 May 1942}}</ref> and in July that year he was appointed to command the British First Army which was later to be the parent organisation for Allied forces in French North Africa after Operation Torch in November. Schreiber had to resign after only two months, however, as he developed a kidney problem and became unfit for active service.<ref>Mead, p. 59.</ref>
Restricted to non-field roles, Schreiber became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Western Command in 1942 and of South Eastern Command in 1944.<ref name=dk>[http://www.generals.dk/general/Schreiber/Sir_Edmund_Charles_Anton/Great_Britain.html Generals.dk]</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2021}} Between 1944 and 1946, Schreiber was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta.<ref>Alanbrooke (2001), e.g. entries 21 August 1944, 29 January 1945, 10 February 1945.</ref> He retired from the British Army after the war in 1947.<ref name=dk/>{{failed verification|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=281}}
==Retirement== Schreiber was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Devon in 1948 and National President of the Old Contemptibles Association in 1960.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=281}}
==Family== Schreiber married Phyllis Barchard in 1916; they had two daughters.<ref name=unit/>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|last = Alanbrooke|first = Field Marshal Lord| editor1-first=Alex| editor1-last=Danchev| editor2-first=Daniel| editor2-last=Todman|author-link = Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|title = War Diaries 1939–1945|publisher = Phoenix Press|name-list-style=amp|year = 2001|isbn = 1-84212-526-5}} *{{cite book| first=Nick| last=Smart| title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| isbn=1844150496| year=2005| location=Barnesley| publisher=Pen & Sword}}
==External links== *[http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/documents.php?aid=125&nid=16&start=15 Biography of Lieutenant General Sir Edmond SCHREIBER] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003459/http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/documents.php?aid=125&nid=16&start=15 |date=4 March 2016 }} *[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_S01.html#Schreiber_ECA British Army Officers 1939–1945] *[https://www.generals.dk/general/Schreiber/Edmund_Charles_Anton/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Adrian Carton de Wiart}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 61st Infantry Division|years=April–May 1940}} {{s-aft|after=Adrian Carton de Wiart}} |- {{s-bef|before=Desmond Anderson}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 45th Infantry Division|years=1940–1941}} {{s-aft|after=Harold Morgan}} |- {{s-bef|before=Bernard Montgomery}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC V Corps|years=1941–1942}} {{s-aft|after=Charles Allfrey}} |- {{s-new|command}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC First Army|years=July–August 1942}} {{s-aft|after=Kenneth Anderson}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir James Marshall-Cornwall}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C Western Command|years=1942–1944}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Daril Watson}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir John Swayne}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C South-Eastern Command|years=1944}} {{s-aft|after=Eric Miles}} |- {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Lord Gort}} {{s-ttl|title=Governor of Malta|years=1944–1946}} {{s-aft|after=Lord Douglas}} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of Malta}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schreiber, Edmond}} Category:1890 births Category:1972 deaths Category:British Army generals of World War II Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Deputy lieutenants of Devon Category:Governors and governors-general of Malta Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights of the Order of St John Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Category:Royal Artillery officers Category:British Army lieutenant generals Category:Academics of the Staff College, Camberley Category:Military personnel from London