Introduction
Lieutenant General Sir Robert Grice Sturges KBE, CB, DSO (14 July 1891 – 12 September 1970) was a senior Royal Marines officer who fought in both the First World War and Second World War.
Military career
Sturges joined the Royal Navy in 1908. Commissioned a sub-lieutenant on 15 May 1912, he transferred to the Royal Marines as a lieutenant from the same date (confirmed on 19 December 1914). He served in the First World War, seeing action in the Gallipoli Campaign and the Battle of Jutland, and receiving promotion to captain on 30 January 1917. He was officially transferred to the Royal Marine Light Infantry on 30 January 1917.
Between the wars, he was promoted to major on 17 June 1929, and to lieutenant colonel on 1 April 1936. He was brevetted colonel and promoted to colonel on 3 April 1939 (seniority 31 December 1938).
During the Second World War he was the commander of the British occupation of Iceland in May 1940. He was promoted to acting colonel commandant and temporary brigadier on 4 June, and was mentioned in despatches in July. He was Commander of the British occupation of Madagascar in 1942. He went on to be Commander of the Special Service Group (Commandos) in 1943. He was described as "intrepid in action, ruddy in countenance, and forcefully bucolic in language". He retired in 1946.