Julian Thompson was born on 7 October 1934 to Major A. J. Thompson DSO MC and Mary Stearns Thompson (née Krause). He was educated at Sherborne School, an all-boys public school in Dorset.
Julian Thompson joined the Royal Marines in 1952 a month after his 18th birthday and served for 34 years, in the Near, Middle and Far East, and the Southern and Northern Regions of Europe during which time he commanded on operations at all levels from platoon to brigade.
During the 1960s he was deployed to Borneo for the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. He was appointed commanding officer of 40 Commando Royal Marines in 1975 commanding for two and a half years.
He commanded 3 Commando Brigade for two years from 1981, the latter period of command included the Falklands War of 1982, in which he planned the initial landings carried out by his Brigade, and fought the majority of the land battles.
His Brigade in the Falklands war was about 5,500 strong and consisted of three Royal Marine Commandos and two Parachute Battalions, Artillery, Engineers and Helicopters.
Promoted to major general, he served as commander of the Training Reserve Forces and Special Forces RM from 1983 to 1986. He retired in 1986.
From 1987 to 1997, he was a senior research fellow in "logistics and armed conflict in the modern age" at the Department of War Studies King's College, University of London. He has been a visiting professor at the Department of War Studies of King's since 1997.
General Thompson on Mission Command
No. We did not operate like that. I ran my brigade on Mission Command principles, although we did not call it that, and indeed at that time had never heard the phrase. I told my Commanding Officers what I wanted done, but not how to do it. I might impose limitations on them, perhaps to avoid conflict [2]
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[2] The Staff College Oral Interview Series - Oral Interview Major-General (ret'd) Julian Thompson, CB, OBE