Lieutenant General Sir Francis Ivan Simms Tuker KCIE CB DSO OBE was a senior British Indian Army officer who commanded the 4th Indian Infantry Division during the Second World War from 1941.
16 Facts About Francis Tuker
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The son of William J Sanger Tuker, of Butts Green Hall, Sandon, Essex, by his marriage to Katherine Louisa Simms, of Yew House, Twickenham, Tuker was educated at Brighton College, East Sussex, of which he was in later life a governor, and attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from 1912 to 1913.
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Francis Tuker saw active service in the First World War, which had begun two months before, and served as an acting captain from 14 March to 12 April 1916, and was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant on 17 August 1917, back-dated to 1 September 1915.
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On 27 October 1939, a month after the outbreak of the Second World War, Francis Tuker was promoted to full colonel.
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Francis Tuker became Director of Military Training in India in 1940.
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Francis Tuker took over command of the 4th Indian Infantry Division on 30 December 1941 and then commanded it during the Western Desert and Italian campaigns.
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Francis Tuker had found a book dated 1879 in a Naples bookshop giving details of the construction of the monastery at Monte Cassino which his division was to attack.
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Francis Tuker wrote a memorandum to his corps commander, Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg, concluding that it should be demolished to prevent its occupation.
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Francis Tuker pointed out that with 150-foot high walls made of masonry at least 10 feet thick, there was no practical means for field engineers to deal with the place, and that bombing with blockbuster bombs would be the only solution since 1,000 pound bombs would be "next to useless".
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Francis Tuker commanded the 4th Indian Division until 4 February 1944 when he became seriously ill and for nearly a year took no part in the war.
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Francis Tuker reverted to his substantive rank of major-general and after taking some leave, became Commander, Lucknow District in November 1945.
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Francis Tuker, nicknamed "Gertie" when he was in the army, is known for a number of books on military history that he wrote, including The Pattern of War, While Memory Serves and The Yellow Scarf.
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In 1923 Francis Tuker married Catherine Isabella Bucknall, in the district of Horsham, Sussex.
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Francis Tuker died in Cornwall on 2 October 1947 and was buried at St Mawnan and St Stephen's Church, Mawnan.
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In 1948, in Marylebone, Tuker married secondly Cynthia H Fawcett.
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Francis Tuker's father died on 26 January 1951, aged eighty-nine, when he was still living at Butts Green, Sandon, Essex.