THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 153, 30 June 1945, Page 4

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

AFTER an active service life of just on twelve months, the British " Second Army ceased to be a formation this week, and the various corps and divisions are moving on to their new assignments. The occasion was marked by congratulatory farewell messages, and that was that. A force which had seen some of the toughest fighting since D day was formally disbanded. The Second Army, under its brilliant young commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey, was engaged in all phases of the invasion, and many of its officers and men were veterans who had seen plenty of action before they landed in Normandy. They came from the British Ist, sth and Bth Armies, and had taken part in the campaigns of North Africa, Sicily and Italy. With them, too, were a number of divisions which had not previously seen active duty, and the combination of tyro and veteran proved too much for the enemy. In the early stages, when the left flank was held in the bitter fighting at Caen while General Bradley and his Americans swung round to envelop Cherbourg, the Second included the Canadians, but in July of last year the First Canadian Army came into being and took its individual place in Field-Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group.

As the invasion proceeded the reputation of the Second Army grew and grew, and it was confirmed by that electrifying dash last September from the Seine to Antwerp, 430 miles in nine days, described by one distinguished military commentator as "one of the finest passages in the story of this or any other war." From that time, with the brief interlude when elements of the gallant Second rushed to attack the flank during von Rundstedt's ill-fated drive into the Ardennes, the British Second Army devoted itself to the enemy in Holland and north-western Germany. It forced the crossing of the Rhine at Wesspl; it pushed on to Hamburg and Bremen. For much of the time unspectacular, periodically the Second gave the world a real thrill, but throughout the campaign it was doing its share of the fighting in a thoroughly workmanlike way—in the Dempsey way.

Like any other successful organisation, the British Second Army reflected the efficiency of its commander. Forty-eight-year-old General * Dempsey is one of the lean, tough, younger generals who have come up fast during the war. In 1939 a lieutenant-colonel, he took the 13th Brigade into France and out' by Dunkirk, then proceeded to Africa to j commari& the 13th Corps as it hurried across the desert in pursuit of

Rommel. He stayed with the Bth Army when it crossed to Sicily, and ■*- was with it during the,early stages of the Italian campaign. But FieldMarshal Montgomery had - recognised the sterling worth of Dempsey, and took him back to England to work on the invasion plans. It must have given General Dempsey grim satisfaction to take such a prominent part in avenging the disasters of 1940. His immediate future is uncertain, but it is sure to be brilliant. If he gets his way, General Dempsey will be out in the South-east Asia Command, applying his genius for aggressive tactics to the task of beating the Jap.

The decision to break up the Second Army meant that the parting of the ways had been reached for some of the most famous units of the British Army, units which have added lustre to reputations already matchless. Most famous of all, perhaps, is the 7th Armoured, the "Desert Rats," which have been rewarded by becoming part of the occupying force in Berlin. With them will be elements of the Guards Armoured Division. Their transfer to Berlin means good-bye to their old friends in the 51st Highland and 6th Airborne Divisions, both of which played prominent parts in various critical phases of the campaign. As the trucks roll east and west in Germany this week-end, men who came to know and respect one another in the testing heat of battle will be exchanging farewell salutes. They came together to do a man-sized job. The world knows how well they did it, and pays grateful tribute to the gallant officers and men who were once Britain's Second Army.