John Anstice

Brigadier John Henry Anstice DSO & Bar (25 October 1897 – 10 February 1970) was a British Army officer who commanded numerous brigades during World War II. Military career Anstice was commissioned into the Royal Tank Corps on 7 April 1916 and from August that year he saw service in France and Belgium until the end of the First World War. In October 1922, he was transferred to the 5th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. Between January 1934 and September 1937, Anstice was adjutant of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry, a Scots Territorial Army unit. In 1939, he returned to the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, this time as Commanding Officer, taking the unit to France. In 1940, Anstice was appointed commander of 30th Armoured Brigade before transferring to command the 7th Armoured Brigade in 1941. As part of the Persia and Iraq Command, Brigadier Anstice commanded the Brigade in Egypt, Ceylon, Burma, India, Iraq, Palestine and Syria. In 1944, he transferred again to command 8th Armoured Brigade. Later that year, he was made Head Liaison Officer at Headquarters, 21st Army Group in Northwest Europe and then he became a General Staff Officer for Home Forces.