Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB, DSO and Bar (11 July 1892 - 14 November 1944) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in World War II and the highest-ranking British officer to die in the war.

Fighter command and D-Day

One of the reasons for Leigh-Mallory's appointment to command 11 Group was that he was seen as an offensively-minded leader. He soon introduced wing-sized fighter sweeps into France. When accompanied by bombers, these were known as 'Circus' operations. Leigh-Mallory came in for criticism as raids over enemy territory began to generate casualties; however, he had to climb a steep learning curve. One of his staff officers pointed out: 'In my opinion we learned a hell of a lot -- how to get these raids in, by deceiving radar and by counter-offensive techniques. they were still in the First World War business -- they'd leaned none of the deception techniques such as sending in high-level fighters and sneaking the bombers in underneath.'

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In 1942 Leigh-Mallory was appointed as the air commander for the Dieppe Raid which took place in August, during which Fighter Command operated 50 squadrons in close cover and 6 in close support. Losses during the raid were heavy, but not proportionately greater than had been suffered in previous months.

Related Topics:
1942 - Dieppe Raid

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In November 1942, Leigh-Mallory replaced Sholto Douglas as head of Fighter Command and was promoted to Air Marshal. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in January 1943 and following a tour of air and army headquarters in Africa began lobbying for a unified command of the Allied air forces for the forthcoming invasion of Europe. There was considerable resistance to such a post with none of the vested air force interests -- including Arthur Tedder, Arthur Harris at Bomber Command, and Carl Spaatz of the US Army Air Force -- interested in ceding any authority or autonomy. This was, of course, exactly why a unified commander was needed and Leigh-Mallory, with his considerable experience with Army cooperation, was the prime candidate for the job. In August 1943 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Allied Expeditionary Air Forces for the Normandy invasion where he drew up the air plan for Operation Overlord. He faced considerable suspicion from the Americans at first, as well as challenges to his command, such as proposals to split the strategic from the tactical air forces. Tedder, who had been appointed Deputy Supreme Commander for the invasion beneath General Dwight D. Eisenhower, but who had no responsibilities, succeeded in wresting some of the authority for the air plan from Leigh-Mallory.

Related Topics:
Sholto Douglas - 1943 - Arthur Harris - Carl Spaatz - Operation Overlord - Dwight D. Eisenhower

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As commander of the AOC Leigh-Mallory had the vital, if unglamorous, job of coordinating the various air arms during the Battle of Normandy; work for which the subordinate commanders would mostly take the credit. His diaires reveal his primary concern was sealing off the battlefield and restricting and disrupting the movement of German military units. Because many of these 'interdiction' bombing missions took place against transport nodes, such as towns and villages, Leigh-Mallory came under political pressure to limit the effects of attacks on French civilians. He resisted, insisting that sacrifices were unfortunate but necessary if the air plan was to have any effect.

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Following the invasion Leigh-Mallory also had to deal with the V-1 flying bomb threat, deploying bomber units to attack the launch sites in the mission codenamed Operation Crossbow, as well as organising fighter squadrons for home defence of the British Isles.

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In spite of bad weather, Leigh-Mallory's air plan succeeded in slowing the German Army and his experience at Army cooperation paid dividends. This positive approach put Leigh-Mallory at odds with many airmen who were concerned at becoming subordinated to the Army and were willing only to stretch to minimum support of the ground forces. Leigh-Mallory had to express himself forcefully to get the invasion armies the maximum air support possible. In any event General Bernard Montgomery was pleased with the air support and told the War Office: "We must definitely keep Leigh-Mallory as Air Commander-in-Chief. He is the only airman who is out to win the land battle and has no jealous reactions."

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