Australia's greatest generals

[herakles]

There is some debate as to who was Australia's greatest general. Usually three men are regularly mentioned - Monash, Morshead and Blamey. I have made three separate posts describing the career of each man as to have only one would make it far too big. And I've placed all this in the WW1 military forum though it encompasses both wars.

You will note that each man was not a career soldier.

My money, for what it's worth, is on Monash.

(made with help from various sites incil. Wiki)

[herakles]

General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD (27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931)

Today marks the anniversary of the death of General Monash. He was born to Prussian-Jewish parents in Melbourne. At the age of 9 they lived in Jerilderie NSW where it is said the bushranger Ned Kelly once paid the young boy a shilling for holding his horse during the robbery.

After returning to Melbourne, where he passed the matriculation examination when only 14 years of age and at 16 he was dux of Scotch College. He graduated from the University of Melbourne: B.A. in 1887, Master of Science in civil engineering in 1893, law in 1895 and Doctor of Engineering in 1921. He worked as a civil engineer, introducing reinforced concrete to Australian engineering practice; he was the engineer of the Morrell Bridge/Anderson Street bridge over the Yarra River, Melbourne, which opened in 1899. He took a leading part in his profession and became president of the Victorian Institute of Engineers and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London.

Monash joined the university company of the militia in 1884 and became a lieutenant in the North Melbourne battery militia unit in 1887. He was made captain in 1895, major in 1897 and in 1906 became a lieutenant-colonel in the intelligence corps. He was colonel commanding the 13th Infantry Brigade in 1912; on the outbreak of World War I he was appointed chief censor in Australia.

When the Australian Imperial Force was formed, he was sent as commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade to Egypt.

In 1915 his brigade, as part of the New Zealand and Australian Division under Major General Godley, participated in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign against the Ottoman Army. The brigade initially defended the line between Pope's Hill and Courtney's Post, and the valley behind this line became known as "Monash Valley". There he made a name for himself with his independent decision-making and his organisational ability. He was promoted to brigadier-general in July.

During the August offensive, Monash's objective was the capture of Hill 971, the highest point on the Sari Bair range, but a failure to get his troops through poorly mapped mountainous terrain prior to the battle resulted in disaster for the last co-ordinated effort to defeat the Turkish forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula. This marked the lowest point of his military career. He commanded the final significant assault of the Gallipoli fighting in the attack on Hill 60 on August 21.

In July 1917, with the rank of major-general, he was in charge of the new Australian 3rd Division. He was involved in many actions, including Messines, Broodseinde, and the First Battle of Passchendaele. In May 1918 he was promoted to lieutenant-general and made commander of the Australian Corps, at the time the largest corps on the Western Front. Monash later described the recapture of the town of Villers-Bretonneux on 25 April 1918 after the Germans had overrun the 8th British Division under General William Heneker as the turning-point of the war.

Monash, not being a professionally trained officer, was free of the antiquated doctrines of many First World War officers. He believed in the co-ordinated use of infantry, aircraft, artillery and tanks. At the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918 Monash applied his doctrine of "peaceful penetration", and led Australian Divisions, along with a small detachment of US troops (against Pershing's wishes), to win a decisive victory for the Allies. On 8 August 1918, the Battle of Amiens was launched. Australian troops under Monash and Canadian troops under Arthur Currie attacked the Germans. The battle was a strong, significant victory for the Allies, causing the Germans to recognise that for them the War was lost. The defeated German leader, General Ludendorff, described it in the following words: "August 8th was the black day of the German Army in the history of the war". On 12 August 1918 Monash was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the battlefield by King George V, the first time a British monarch had honoured a commander in such a way in 200 years.

Monash had 208,000 men under his command, including 50,000 inexperienced Americans. Monash planned the attack on the German defences in the Battle of the Hindenburg Line between 16 September and 5 October 1918. The Allies eventually breached the Hindenburg Line by the 5th of October, and the war was essentially over.

Monash's impact on Australian military thinking was significant in three areas. Firstly he was the first Australian overall commander of Australian forces and took, as subsequent Australian commanders did, a relatively independent line with his British superiors. Secondly, he promoted the concept of the commander's duty to ensure the safety and well-being of his troops to a pre-eminent position. And finally, he, along with the brilliant Staff Officer Brudenell White forcefully demonstrated the benefit of thorough planning and integration of all arms of the forces available, and of all of the components supporting the front line forces, including logistical, medical and recreational services.

Troops later recounted that one of the most extraordinary things about the Battle of Hamel was not the use of armoured cars, or simply the tremendous success of the operation, but the fact that in the midst of battle Monash had arranged delivery of hot meals up to the front line.

Later Bernard Montgomery would say that Monash was the finest general of WW1.

After the war he organised the return of his troops to Australia, no small task. He was head of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) from October 1920. He was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 1923 until his death 8 years later. He was one of the principal organisers of the annual observance of ANZAC Day, and oversaw the planning for Melbourne's monumental war memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance. (Keith Murdoch editor-in-chief of the Herald newspaper (and father of Rupert), was a leading opponent who described the proposed Shrine as "a tomb of gloom".

Monash is remembered by the City of Monash, Monash Medical Centre (the location of his bust, which originally resided in former SECV town Yallourn), Monash Freeway and Monash University. His face is on Australia's highest value currency note ($100). Also named in his honour is Kfar Monash ("Monash village") in Israel.

There has always existed a story that Monash was selected to take over from Haig as overall commander until the King learned that he was a Jew.

Charles Bean made the interesting comment that Monash's competence increased with promotion.

[herakles]

Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO, ED (Sep 18, 1889 – Sep 26, 1959) Known to one and all as "Ming the Merciless".

Morshead was a teacher and prior to the outbreak of WW1, his army experience was limited to running the school cadets. He enlisted as a private in 2 Btn 1st AIF but was quickly promoted to officer rank.

Morshead was blooded at Gallipoli. He landed on day 1 and was one of the few to reach the furthest inland, reaching Baby 700. He took part in the Battle of Lone Pine. Later in the war as Lt. Col., he commanded the 33rd Btn. He led his battalion, part of Major Gen John Monash's 3rd Division through the battles of Messines, Passchendaele, Villers-Bretonneux and Amiens. For his services, he was awarded the DSO. In June 1917, he became Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) and in December 1919 he was awarded the French Légion d'honneur in the grade of Chevalier, and was Mentioned in Despatches five times.

Between wars he was an unsuccessful farmer. Then he joined the Orient Line and became manager. He remained active in the part-time CMF and eventually commanded the 5th Infantry Brigade.

In WW2 he commanded the 9th Division in Africa and was in charge at Tobruk. In March 1942 Morshead was given command of all Australian forces in the Mediterranean theatre and was promoted to lieutenant general. At one time he was commander of the British XXX Corps there. He was expected to get permanent command of the Corps but Lt Gen Bernard Montgomery felt that a reservist could not possess the "requisite training and experience" to command a corps and Morshead was passed over in favour of Oliver Leese, a British regular officer, who was junior to him and had never commanded a division in action.

Later Morshead became commander of New Guinea Force and the Second Army. After that he became commander of I Corps that saw such huge action in Borneo.

The British government proposed that British Lt Gen Sir Charles Keightley be given command of a Commonwealth Corps for Operation Coronet (the invasion of the Japanese mainland) but the Australian government had no intention of concurring with the appointment of an officer with no experience fighting the Japanese, and counter-proposed Morshead for the command. The war ended before the issue was resolved.

After the war he became Orient Steam Navigation Company's Australian general manager. He also ran a secret organisation called 'The Association' that worked to oppose Communism.

The road Morshead Drive runs past the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra.

[herakles]

Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED, (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951)

Blamey grew up in The Bush. He trained as a teacher and passed the tests to become a policeman. He also worked in the school cadets. He joined the Australian Army in 1906. He was the first Australian officer to pass the demanding entrance test for the British Staff College. He began his studies at the Staff College at Quetta in India in 1912. Blamey was sent to Britain for more training in May 1914, visiting Turkey (including the Dardanelles), Germany and Belgium en route. He spent a brief time on attachment to the 4th Dragoon Guards and then took up duties on the staff of the Wessex Division, at that time entering its annual camp. On 1 July 1914, he was promoted to major.

He became intelligence officer on the staff of the Australian 1st Div at Gallipoli. In July 1915 he joined the Australian 2nd Div in Egypt as its Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General. In 1916 he returned to the 1st Div as GSO1, in which capacity he was involved in the Battle of Pozières, gaining credit for the attack which captured the town. He was promoted to brigadier-general on 1 June 1918 and became chief of corps staff of Lt Gen Sir John Monash's Australian Corps. He played a significant role in the success of Monash's corps in the final months of the war; Monash rated him as one of the key factors in his Corps' success in the Battle of Amiens in August and the attack on the Hindenburg Line in September. Blamey was a fan of the then new tank and pushed to have them used at the Battle of Hamel.

After the war as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, his first major task was the creation of the Royal Australian Air Force. In August he was sent to London to be Australia's representative on the Imperial General Staff. Then he transferred to the Militia and was appointed Chief Commissioner of the Victoria Police. His time here was full of controversy and he was eventually dismissed. He was a leading member of the clandestine far-right wing organisation League of National Security.

On 13 October 1939, Blamey was promoted lieutenant general and appointed to command the 6th Division. Blamey travelled to the Middle-East with the 2nd AIF as its commander. He occasionally clashed with the British Commanders concerning the use of Australian soldiers, insisting that they remain together as cohesive units. He was promoted to full general, and appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief Middle East. He lost some credibility when he chose his son to fill the one remaining seat on the aircraft carrying him out of Greece.

In the Syrian campaign (against the Vichy French), Blamey took decisive action to resolve the command difficulties caused by Gen Henry Maitland Wilson's attempt to direct the fighting from the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Later Blamey forced a showdown with Auchinleck over his insistence that the Australian 9th Div be withdrawn from Tobruk, allowing his command to be concentrated in Syria. Blamey was supported by Prime Minister John Curtin and Auchinleck was forced to back down.

In 1942, Blamey was recalled to Australia to become the Commander-in-Chief Australian Military Forces (AMF), and then Commander of Allied Land Forces as well. He had a difficult relationship with MacArthur whose opinion of Australian troops was not high. When American troops were checked at Buna, Blamey turned the tables on MacArthur and frankly said "he would rather send in more Australians, as he knew they would fight". Later, Blamey thwarted MacArthur's proposal to use the Australian Army primarily for logistic support and leave combat roles to American troops.

He achieved great success in various campaigns in the Pacific, notably at Wau and Lae. Later in the war there was political criticism of the way that Blamey had "side tracked" various generals.

On 2 September 1945, Blamey was with MacArthur on USS Missouri and signed the Japanese surrender document on behalf of Australia. He then flew to Morotai and personally accepted the surrender of the remaining Japanese in the South West Pacific. He insisted that Australia should be represented in the Allied occupation of Japan.

He was retired in 1946 and like Morshead was active in 'The Association'. Blamey was promoted to field marshal in the King's Birthday Honours of 8 June 1950, the first and only Australian to receieve that rank. He received his baton on his death bed.

Opinions about Blamey are polarised. While some historians and contemporaries view him as an inspired general whose energy, skill and political acumen built the Australian Army into the highly professional organisation it became, others have judged him as spiteful and immoral, citing evidence of his womanising and drunkenness. His name is remembered in many street names and squares.

[Joseph]

Morshead was blooded at Gallipoli. He landed on day 1 and was one of the few to reach the furthest inland, reaching Baby 700.

Is the one of the "few to reach the furthest inland" a good quote?.

Anything new thats not on the net!


Regards Charles

[jainso31]

For me it is Morshead-had a hard fought war 1915/18 and did well in WW2-
should have been promoted further; but for Monty's prejudice, who picked a poor runner in Oliver Leese.

jainso31