| Cedric Delves | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 (age 63) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 British Army |
| Years of service | 1968 – 2003 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands held |
22 SAS 3rd (UK) Division Field Army |
| Battles/wars |
Operation Banner Falklands War Bosnian War Iraq War |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order |
Lieutenant General Sir Cedric Norman George Delves KBE DSO (born 1947) is a former British Army general.
Early life[]
Delves was born in 1947 and educated at Woolverstone Hall School.
Military career[]
Delves was commissioned into the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment in 1968.[1] Having been promoted to Captain he undertook tours in Northern Ireland for which he was Mentioned in Despatches in 1979[2] and again in 1981.[3]
Major Cedric Delves distinguished himself on 21 April 1982 when, as Officer Commanding D Squadron 22 SAS, he captured Grytviken on South Georgia without a single loss of life, on 15 May 1982 when his squadron destroyed eleven Argentine aircraft at Pebble Island, on 21 May 1982 when he led a deceptive raid on Darwin, and again on 31 May 1982 at Mount Kent in the Falkland Islands where he took his squadron 40 miles behind enemy lines and secured a firm hold on the area allowing conventional forces to be brought in.[4] He was Commanding Officer of 22 SAS in 1988[5] when British Special Forces carried out the Death on the Rock operation which resulted in the death of three IRA bombers in Gibraltar.[6] In 1993 he was appointed Director Special Forces[7] and by December 1995, as a Brigadier, he was leading Special Operations in Bosnia as Commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF), a component of the Implementation Force (IFOR).[8]
He was made General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Division in 1996[9] in which role he was deployed to Bosnia in January 1998 as Commander of Multi-National Division (South-West).[10]
By 1999 he was Chief of Joint Forces Operational Readiness and Training.[11] He became Deputy Commander-in-Chief at Land Command (subsequently retitled 'Commander Field Army') in the rank of Lieutenant General in December 2000.[12] This was just prior to the Invasion of Iraq and went on to be Deputy Commander at NATO HQ Allied Forces North at Brunssum in September 2003.[13] In December 2003 he lost a leg when he was crushed against a wall by a drunk driver in Maastricht in the Netherlands[6] and was subsequently discharged from the British Army.[13]
Later life[]
In retirement, Delves became a Director of Olive Group, a security business.[14] He became Lieutenant of the Tower of London in March 2007.[15] He was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Peter Pearson on 4 May 2010.[16]
Honours and decorations[]
Delves was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 11 October 1982 "in recognition of distinguished service during the operations in the South Atlantic",[4] appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in June 1990[17] and promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in June 2003.[18]
Family[]
He is married to Suzy.[19]
References[]
- ↑ "No. 44699". 22 October 1968. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/44699/page/
- ↑ "No. 48061". 8 January 1980. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48061/page/
- ↑ "No. 48822". 15 December 1981. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48822/page/
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "No. 49134". 8 October 1982. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/49134/page/
- ↑ Special Operations: Commanding Officers
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ex-SAS Chief run down by a car Daily Telegraph, 10 December 2003
- ↑ Army Commands
- ↑ From Bosnia to Baghdad: the evolution of US Army Special Forces from 1995 to 2004
- ↑ "No. 54459". 9 July 1996. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/54459/page/
- ↑ Conrad, John (2011). Scarce Heard Amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping. Natural Heritage Books. ISBN 978-1554889815. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SgxtmtG58ucC&pg=PT223&lpg=PT223&dq=Cedric+Delves+bosnia&source=bl&ots=00J8QG0PRI&sig=4XHrBhEhSSnR1Fc_5TohaYx167A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I7FpUdTrMsak0QWxq4HADw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAjgK.
- ↑ Whitaker's Almanck 2000
- ↑ Falklands SAS officer promoted to top army post Merco Press, 21 December 2000
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Written Answers House of Commons, 4 June 2007
- ↑ Harry's SAS guru for hire Daily Mail, 30 January 2006
- ↑ "No. 58265". 6 March 2007. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/58265/page/
- ↑ "No. 59411". 5 May 2010. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/59411/page/
- ↑ "No. 52173". 16 June 1990. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/52173/page/
- ↑ "No. 56963". 14 June 2003. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/56963/page/
- ↑ A better way to mend the broken man The Times, 24 July 2005
The original article can be found at Cedric Delves and the edit history here.