Field Marshal William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim (1990)

Field Marshal William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim (1990) is an oil on canvas by Sylvia Ford and hangs at the National Army Museum at Chelsea, London.

Slim came from a modest background, his father having been declared a bankrupt and unable to pay for him to attend university. Joining the Army in 1914, he moved up the ranks, till he successfully commanded several Indian Army formations in Eritrea, Iraq and Syria in 1940-41. He was sent to the Far East in 1942, leading Burma Corps on a long, but controlled withdrawal to India. Slim then commanded XV Corps of the Eastern Army in the Arakan in 1943. The fall-out from that unsuccessful campaign eventually led to his appointment as commander of 14th Army.

Ford’s portrait hints at his pragmatic skill and quiet charisma. As a general in those terrible conditions in Burma, Slim did everything possible to ensure that the sick and wounded of his soldiery were cared for, evacuating them by air to hospitals in India. This was in stark contrast to his Japanese counterparts, who killed their wounded. His men therefore loved him, and fought all the better, knowing that their commander cared about them.

Strategy, intelligence and even courage are not enough. A good leader cares about his people, even when they are weak and unable to assist his aims. This is why Field Marshal Viscount Slim was a great man and not just a decent general.

You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. Ezekiel 34:3-5, New King James Version