May 1944 and later came under command of the U. S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, fighting on its right wing in the assaults during the autumn and winter of 1944 on the Gothic Line and central Apennines. On 1 June 1944 Kirkman was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). XIII Corps later returned to Eighth Army command in January 1945 but Kirkman himself, whose rank of lieutenant general was made temporary on 20 January 1945, was invalided back to the United Kingdom with severe arthritis in March, command of XIII Corps going to Lieutenant General Sir John Harding, formerly Alexander's chief of staff. Postwar Throughout the period of 1945 to 1950 Kirkman was a member of the Army Council, initially as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Southern Command, then as GOC of I Corps in Germany and then as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff (DCIGS) in the War Office. From 1947 he was Quartermaster-General to the Forces until 1950 when he retired from the British Army. He was promoted to full general on 22 August 1947, and was honorary Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery from July 1947 until July 1957. Kirkman became Special Financial Representative in Germany from 1951 until 1952. In 1954 he became Director General of Civil Defence and held this post until 1960. From 1957 until 1960 he was also Chairman of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council for England and Wales. He retired to Hampshire where he died on 29 October 1982, aged eighty-seven, over forty years after the Second Battle of El Alamein in which he played such a vital, if relatively unknown, role. References Bibliography External links British Army Officers 1939−1945 Generals of World War II |- |- |- |- |- 1895 births 1982 deaths British Army generals of World War II British Army personnel of World War I Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath People educated at Bedford School People from Bedford Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Artillery officers Military personnel from Bedford British Army generals