Auchinleck, Claude John Eyre (1884–1981)

British commander in World War II. He commanded the First Battle of El Alamein in 1942 in northern Egypt, in which he held Rommel's allied German and Italian forces at bay. In 1943 he became commander-in-chief in India and founded the modern Indian and Pakistani armies. In 1946 he was promoted to field marshal; he retired in 1947.