John Mogg (British Army officer)

He was made Vice Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire in 1979.

John Mogg was born near Comox, Vancouver Island, BC., the son of Captain Herbert Barrow Mogg, MC. (d. 1978), late Wiltshire Regiment & 4th Battalion Canadian Engineers, and Alice Mary Mogg, daughter of Lt Col John Fane Ballard, late DCLI, and Mary née Clerke Brown of Kingston Blount, Oxon. In 1939, he married Cecilia Margaret Molesworth (1914-2018), the daughter of Rev. John Hilton Molesworth (d.1921). Sir John and Lady Mogg had three sons.

His final appointment was with NATO at SHAPE, Mons as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, DSACEUR between 1973 and 1976. He was ADC General to the Queen from 1971 to 1974, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Green Jackets from 1965 to 1973, Commandant of the Army Air Corps from 1963 to 1974. and Honorary Colonel of the 10th Battalion, Parachute Regiment,(1973–78)

“John Mogg’s large frame was combined with an exceptionally genial, warm and sympathetic character, which appealed not only to soldiers of all ranks, but to people in every walk of life, whatever their nationality. In his time, he was probably the British army’s most popular general, and finished his career in one of Nato’s most influential posts, as deputy supreme allied commander (1973–76) at headquarters at Mons, in Belgium. Here, his sound common-sense and even temperament were valuable in balancing the direct approach, and sometimes abrasive personality, of the supreme commander, the US General Alexander Haig.”

He was appointed General Officer Commanding Southern Command in 1968, General Officer Commanding, Army Strategic Command later that year and, finally, Adjutant-General to the Forces in 1970. He delivered the Kermit Roosevelt Lecture in April 1969 at Fort Leavenworth; an exchange programme with the US Army supported by the Kermit Roosevelt Fund. His lecture was suitably entitled; “Communication as a military art.” He travelled extensively as Adjutant General, visiting British units overseas and reassuring Britain’s allies in the Middle East and elsewhere at the time of Britain’s withdrawal from ‘East of Suez’; earning the sobriquet ‘Marco Polo” amongst his colleagues at the MOD.

“His next appointment, as Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, (1963-66), was an inspired choice. He loved the job, and it suited him down to the ground. He fired up the cadets with his own enthusiasm for the army, for soldiering in all its aspects, and for sport of many kinds, from cricket to horses. His appointment to the key command of First (British) Corps in Germany in 1966., pointed to his future advancement to the top of the army’s tree,”

In 1945 he attended the Staff College, Camberley as a student. After two years in Germany as GSO1, 7th Armoured Division, he returned to the Staff College as a member of the Directing Staff. From 1950-52 he was Commanding Officer (CO) of the 10th Battalion, Parachute Regiment. In 1952 he became Chief Instructor at the School of Infantry at Warminster and from 1954 to 1956 was GSO1 at the Imperial Defence College. From 1958 he Commanded, 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group in the final stages of the Malayan Emergency, where he received the Meritorious Medal from the Sultan of Perak. On return he was appointed Director of Combat Development at the War Office and promoted to Major General.

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, 9th DLI landed on Gold Beach at Le Hamel, Asnelles. In the breakout from the Normandy beachhead, 9DLI supported by 4th/7th Dragoon Guards were ordered to attack the village of Lingevres, 14 June 1944, defended by the Panzer Lehr Division. John Mogg gave an account of his experiences of the battle, during which the Commanding Officer, Lt Col. Humphrey Woods, DSO, MC* was killed and Mogg assumed command.

9DLI saw further action at the Falaise pocket, the crossing of the Albert Canal and at Gheel, Belgium. On 23 September, 151st Brigade was ordered to move north and east of Eindhoven with 231st Brigade to guard the right flank of Operation Market Garden. In November 1944 151st Brigade was disbanded and some units return to Britain. However 9DLI was reinforced and transferred to 7th Armoured Division, 131st Infantry Brigade, as a motorised battalion fighting at the Roer Triangle in January 1945 and the town of Ibbenbüren in March. 9DLI ended the war near Hamburg.

In 1939, he was posted to 5th Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a newly formed Territorial training unit, and served initially as Adjutant and later Second in Command. By 1943, Major Mogg was in Command of a Divisional Battle School at Margate, 61st Infantry Division, XI Corps, Home Forces. Mogg approached Major General Adrian Carton de Wiart, VC., and later Major General Brian Wainwright, Commanding Officers, 61st Infantry Division seeking an operational command. In the weeks before D-Day he was appointed Second in Command, 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, 151st Brigade.

He was educated at St Michael’s School, Victoria, B.C., Malvern College, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Malvern he took a Y-cadetship with 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards. After three years in the ranks he was selected for Sandhurst, where he gained the Sword of Honour in 1936, being commissioned into the 1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, (43rd & 52nd) in August 1937.

General Sir Herbert John Mogg, GCB, CBE, DSO* (17 February 1913 – 28 October 2001) was a senior British Army officer who also held the NATO position of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) and was “in his time, probably the British army’s most popular general”.