Major-General Sir (William) Ronald (Campbell) Penney KBE CB DSO MC (16 May 1896 – 3 December 1964) was a British Army officer who fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. His most notable role occurred during the latter, when he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 1st Infantry Division during the Battle of Anzio, part of the Italian Campaign, in 1944. Early life and military career Born in Midlothian on 16 May 1896, Penney was the third of four sons of Joseph Campbell Penney, an Edinburgh accountant, and Margaret Eleanor Jane Gourlay. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and, with the intention of starting a military career, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Still there at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 17 November. Promoted to lieutenant on 23 December 1915, he was initially held back in the United Kingdom, but from 24 January 1916, he fought on the Western Front. He was promoted to the acting rank of captain on 22 January 1917 and made second-in-command (2IC) of a signals company, and his rank of captain was made permanent on 3 November of that year. When the war came to an end on 11 November 1918 Penney had been awarded the Military Cross (MC) and was mentioned in despatches on 18 May 1917. On 22 November 1918 he was awarded the French Croix de guerre 1914–1918 and, the Belgian Croix de guerre on 4 September 1919. Between the wars Immediately after the war, in March 1919, Penney became a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) 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. He then served in India, where he played rugby for the army and served as Assistant to the Signal Officer-in-Chief, India. In 1925 he married Shirley Mary Gurner; they had two daughters. Returning to England, he served briefly as an instructor at the Royal School of Signals from 22 March 1926 until 20 January 1927, and attended the Staff College, Camberley, graduating there in late 1928. Among his many fellow students at Camberley were John Whiteley, Clement West, Eric Dorman-Smith, Angus Collier, Reginald Savory, Philip Christison, Oliver Leese, Evelyn Barker, John Hawkesworth,