Ronald Penney was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and, with the intention of starting a military career, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
16 Facts About Ronald Penney
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2.
Ronald Penney was still at the academy at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, from where he graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 17 November.
3.
Ronald Penney was promoted to the acting rank of captain on 22 January 1917 and made second-in-command of a signals company, and his rank of captain was made permanent on 3 November of that year.
4.
Immediately after the war, in March 1919, Ronald Penney became a General Staff Officer Grade 3 at the Signal Service Training Centre, where he remained until 13 June 1921, during which time he transferred, on 11 May 1921, to the newly formed Royal Corps of Signals.
5.
Ronald Penney then served in India, where he played rugby for the army and served as Assistant to the Signal Officer-in-Chief, India.
6.
Ronald Penney was the first officer from the Royal Corps of Signals to do so.
7.
Ronald Penney's task was to improve the communication systems to allow the Eighth Army to function efficiently, which in the Western Desert was not always an easy task, with poor communications, among many other reasons, having been responsible for the many setbacks during the North African campaign thus far.
8.
Just over two years after Ronald Penney had left the division, he returned as its GOC.
9.
On 23 March 1944, Ronald Penney was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
10.
Ronald Penney was particularly unhappy at this news, and, upon Dorman-Smith's arrival at Anzio, greeted him with the words "I didn't want you at first and I do not want you now".
11.
Ronald Penney was replaced on a temporary basis as GOC of the 1st Division by Major-General John Hawkesworth, another of Penney's Staff College classmates, GOC of the 46th Division, then resting in Palestine.
12.
Soon before Ronald Penney left, he wrote an adverse report on Dorman-Smith, forcing the latter to be relieved of his command and his early retirement from the army.
13.
In November 1944 Ronald Penney became Director of Military Intelligence at the HQ of Supreme Allied Command South East Asia, under Lord Mountbatten, remaining in this post until the end of the war.
14.
Ronald Penney stood down as Director of the London Communications Security Agency in 1957.
15.
Richard Mead wrote that although he was a "rather methodical commander who tended to do things by the book", he claims "Ronald Penney stands out as a rare signaller who managed to make the transition to a field commander, in so doing showing a great deal of understanding for the role of the infantry".
16.
Ronald Penney believed his men had fought well but had never been given the credit they deserved for their sacrifice at Anzio.