Harold Franklyn

General Sir Harold Edmund Franklyn, (28 November 1885 − 31 March 1963) was a British Army officer who fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. He is most notable for his command of the 5th Infantry Division during the Battle of France in May/June 1940. Early life and First World War Harold Edmund Franklyn was born in Cork, County Cork, Ireland, on 28 November 1885, the son of William Franklyn, a British Army officer who later became a lieutenant general. He was educated in England at Rugby School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into his father's regiment, the Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) on 16 August 1905. Promoted to lieutenant on 16 January 1908, he married Monica Belfield, daughter of Lieutenant General Herbert Belfield, in 1913; they had one daughter and one son. By 1914, the year of his father's death and the outbreak of the First World War, he was attending the Staff College, Camberley. Franklyn served in the First World War, mainly on the Western Front and as a staff officer. Soon after the outbreak of war in August 1914, Franklyn, graduating early from the Staff College, was made an Assistant Embarkation Staff Officer, later serving briefly as adjutant with the 6th (Service) Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, a newly created Kitchener's Army unit composed of volunteers, which was followed, on 31 October, by a promotion to captain. After having served as a General Staff Officer Grade 3 and a brigade major, Franklyn was promoted to brevet major on 3 June 1916, and served on the operations staff of the 21st Division, also a Kitchener's Army unit, and was involved in the division's preparations for the Battle of the Somme. After the division's involvement in the Battle of Arras in April 1917, followed by the Battle of Passchendaele, Franklyn became the senior staff officer in the division in mid-October, remaining in this role until hostilities ceased in November 1918. During the war, Franklyn was six times mentioned in despatches and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross. Inter-war period After the war, Franklyn was promoted to major upon transferring to the East Lancashire Regiment on 19 August 1925, and served at the Staff College, Camberley, as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General (DAAG) from 31 August 1925 until 31 August 1928.