THE COMMANDER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 37, 23 November 1939, Page 5

THE COMMANDER

MAJOR-GENERAL FREYBERG. FINE CAREER IN THE ARMY. SOME OF HTS EXPLOITS. Major-General Bernard Cyril Freyberg is one of those figures whose attributes make them almost legendary —great physical strength, complete contempt of, danger, a passion for adventure, and rare force of personality all go to their making, and, in addition,, they appear to be invested with a charmed life.

Unknown save as a fine athlete in 1914, General Freyberg was a brigadier four years later, held tho V.C., D.S.O. and three bars ,the C.M.G., had been mentioned in dispatches six times, and wounded nine times. He had performed feats of extraordinary gallantry, and was to add to his romantic career by an equally romantic marriage,- the receipt of an honorary LL.D. from St. Andrew’s University, and a splendid failure in a Channel swim. Dazed with pain, from a war wound, lie was lifted out of the water within 500 yards of the cliffs of Dover, and was robbed of success in a feat which he had planned for years. It would have taken .him six hours to swim that short distance, for ho had arrived off the coast an hour too late for the change of tide.

Contrary to general belief, General Freyberg was not born in Wellington hut in Loudon 50 years ago. He attended Wellington College, gained a reputation for his prowess in football, boxing, swimming, and rowing, and at an early age he left New Zealaiid seeking adventure. From the United States ho travelled down to Mexico, where he was fighting when tho World War began. He returned to England a.t once, enlisted in tho Jtoyal Naval Division, and was at Antwerp, where he was wounded in the hand.

By the. time liis battalion was sent to the Dardanelles in 1915, Freyberg was already a lieutenant-commander. At Gallipoli he won the D.S.O’. for a remarkable feat which Barrie used to point the moral of his address on “Courage” at Edinburgh University. Frevberg swam ashore and lit flares at Bulair, the narrow neck of tho Peninsula. This relieved General Paris of the necessity of sending out a landing party to make a. feint landing. Freyberg not only lit the flares along the beach, hut made a reconnaissance and learnt something of the strength and 1 disposition of the Turks, and then battled for two hours with a strong current in utter darkness before he could reach a -vyaiting destroyer. For this he won the D. 5.0., and eighteen months later he gained the. Victoria Cross. This' tune lie was leading-the Hood Battalion in the Battle of tho Somme.

His corps was the only one to reach its objective— the trench line outside Beaucourt in the stubborn front of tho Ancre’s right wall where the Germans were strongly entrenched. With barely 300 men lie undertook the final assault on the village, walking at the head of his troops and being twice Wounded. He had already suffered two wounds, following the British barrage so closely that flying splinters struck him. His men took 500 prisoners and largo quantities of l material, and though badly wounded when hit the fourth timei, he. refused to leave until he had given detailed orders for the defence of the village against the counterattack; “It was the personality, gallantry, and complete contempt of danger of this one man that enabled the lodgment in the most advanced objective .of tho corps to be permanently held,’-’ said the recommendation for his V.C.

After the war, Colonel Freyberg (then a major) was posted to tbo Royal West Surrey Regiment, the.n to tho Grenadier Guards, and in February, 1929, as Lieutenant-Colonel to command of the Ist Battalion, Manchester Regiment. Appointed Colonel in 1931, he was assistant-quartermaster- general of the Southern Command from 1931 to 1933, general staff officer, first gra.de at the. War Office in 1933-34. and retired in 1937, having gained the rank of Major-General in 1934. On the outbreak of war lie was appointed General Officer Commanding the Salisbury Plain area. In 1922 lie married Barbara, the widow of the late Hon. Francis McLaren, M.P., daughter of Sir Herbert Jekyll, a soldier with a distinguished administrative career., suicl a. sistefr of the wife of the Hon. Reginald McKenna.