John Akehurst (British Army officer)

Educated at Cranbrook School and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, John Akehurst was commissioned into the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1949.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1443615.ece Obituary: Sir John Akehurst]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} The Times, 27 February 2007 He was seconded to the Malay Regiment in 1952 during the Malayan Emergency.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1544644/General-Sir-John-Akehurst.html Obituary: Sir John Akehurst] The Daily Telegraph, 6 March 2007 He was appointed Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment in 1968.

In 1974 he commanded the Dhofar Brigade of the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces against a communist-inspired armed insurrection during the Dhofar Rebellion. It reached a peak in the autumn of 1975 when he successfully launched an attack from the mountain garrison of Sarfait on the border, although at Christmas 1975 his helicopter was attacked by guerrillas.{{cite book|last=Goldman|first=Lawrence|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbGcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11|date=7 March 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-967154-0|page=11}}

He spent two years as Deputy Military Secretary from 1976 to 1978 and then became General Officer Commanding 4th Armoured Division in 1979. In 1982 he was appointed Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley and in 1984 he became Commander of the UK Field Army. His final appointment was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe in 1987; he retired in 1990.

In 1955 he married Shirley Anne Webb. Their two children died in childhood from cystic fibrosis. Lady Akehurst died on 31 December 2020 at the age of 85.{{Cite web|url=http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/246655/akehurst|title=AKEHURST - Deaths Announcements - Telegraph Announcements|website=announcements.telegraph.co.uk|accessdate=28 April 2023}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• We Won a War: The Campaign in Oman 1965–1975 by John Akehurst, Russell Publishing, 1982, {{ISBN|978-0-85955-091-8}}
• Generally Speaking: Then Hurrah for the life of a Soldier by John Akehurst. Published by Michael Russell Publishing Ltd, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0859552530}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-mil}}

{{s-bef|before=Richard Vickers}}

{{s-ttl|title=GOC 4th Armoured Division|years=1979–1981}}

{{s-aft|after=Jeremy Reilly}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=David Alexander-Sinclair}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley|years=1982–1984}}

{{s-aft|after=Patrick Palmer}}

|-

{{s-hon}}

{{s-bef|before=Sir Timothy Creasey}}

{{s-ttl|title=Colonel of the Royal Anglian Regiment|years=1986−1991}}

{{s-aft|after=Patrick Stone}}

|-

{{s-mil}}

{{s-bef|before=Sir Edward Burgess}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander UK Field Army|years=1984–1987}}

{{s-aft|after=Sir David Ramsbotham}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akehurst, John}}

Category:1930 births

Category:2007 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Kent

Category:British Army generals

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Northamptonshire Regiment officers

Category:British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency

Category:British military personnel of the Dhofar War

Category:People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent

Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Category:Royal Anglian Regiment officers

Category:NATO military personnel

Category:Commandants of the Staff College, Camberley