FREYBERG Inadequate Study Of A Great Man

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30094, 30 March 1963, Page 3

FREYBERG Inadequate Study Of A Great Man

General Lord Freyberg. V.C.I An Inofficial Biography.. ?Z_£ eter S“»<leton-Gates. Londonnhitcombe and Tomba. New Zealand. When the New Zealand Government declared that a of war existed with Germany from 9.30 p.m. on September 3. 1939, it did so because it was convinced that such action best suited the national interest This term national in tereet-almost defies: definition, for it is everything that a Government decides is; important in maintaining the; State for which it is respon-! Bible, including such matters, as the need to be free from; external interference, the de-| sire to retain cultural cohe-' sion, and all the political; activities, both internal and international, that will most' surely achieve the utmost in. security and well-being. At; the same time Michael Joseph; Savage announced what was to be the guiding rule for; New Zealand for the next five! years, in terms that were as simple as they were compelling: where Britain goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. He, and the decisionmaking group in Government, were then left not only to make good this uncomplicated article of faith, but also to reconcile it with New Zealand’s growing sense of independence. As it happened, after the bewildering days of the fall; of Europe, Britain stood at i home in her beleagured. island, and New Zealand's major contribution, in redemption of Mr Savage's solemn pledge, became the Expeditionary Force that w as assembled in the Middle East. The man to whom, command of this force was entrusted, Freyberg, became responsible for both the military duties that force was called upon to perform and for the less tangible but no less real task of maintaining with all its complexities New Zealand's permanent national interest. Obviously these twin tasks.; this dual role, demanded; capabilities of the highest! oi-der, combining in the one 1 pair of hands exceptional gifts! of generalship, of diplomacy.! of statesmanship, and of: understanding. It follows that it would: take a pen of no ordinary i virtuosity to relate the man-; ner in which this great task was accomplished. Twothirds of this "unofficial biography” by Mr Peter Single-ton-Gates, deals with the Second World War. If it was indeed Mr Singletan-Gates who provoked Lord Freyberg into introducing to the House of Lords a private bill designed to prohibit an author from writing the biography of any living person, without that person's consent, one may disagree with Lord Freyberg in principle but commend his foresight in practice. For as biography, this is a failure. At the outset it must be admitted that Mr SingletonGates has not had the cooperation of Lord Freyberg. a severe handicap that may well have deterred someone less sanguine. It is clear, too. that Mr Singleton-Gates did not attract the assistance of New Zealand’s war history organisation, though he presumably knew of its compre-I hensive list of publications.! However, had the author's determination been matched by application he might yet have used the great store of available material to produce an acceptable life, but as it is. one must agree with his own diagnosis at the end of his preface, that the book, though sincere, is inadequate. If one looks for facts, this book is a doubtful source. Perhaps some of the slips in the few- pages dealing with Freyberg's boyhood in New Zealand, the confused account of his education, the garbled and uncritical introduction of personal letters, the unresolved riddle of the period

in Mexico might be excused on the grounds that the sort of information that should be here could be supplied only by a visit to New Zealand, which Mr Singleton-Gates did not, or could not, make. But as one reads on, the growing accumulation of misinformation and careless use of source material becomes alarming. In the first three ■ pages of chapter six we find ■ eight errors in the qupta- , tions made from a single ' source. Some are minor slips, unimportant in an unschol- ! arly work, but others are more serious. He puts into direct speech and adds emi bellishments to a reported ! conversation with Winston j Churchill. he transforms ! “New methods as yet unI tried,’’ into "New methods not * yet being tried,” and fails i completely to distinguish be- ' tween the roles of C.-in-C. I New Zealand Forces, an api pointment not ever held by Freyberg, and G.O.C. 2NZEF. I tlie vital role. Confronted j with such examples, and I others, the reader is justified in suspecting any judgments itliat may be made. I Here is another disturbing ! feature. There is no analysis !of Freyberg as a man, as a j leader of men. as the person who day after day for five years advised the New Zealand Government how best its young manhood could be engaged in a common cause without being squandered by incompetence in higher command. or having its national cohesion lost by indifference in high places, and who then, for the same period, led his division in action until his name became a living legend. An English observer has called this single division INew Zealand's one ewe lamb, jand indeed so it was. Blind ! admiration is insufficient equipment to portray the certain hand of the shepherd. Unfortunately, too, the one source which would have given a sure lead. Professor F. L. W. Woods "The New Zealand People at War, Political and External Affairs,” has unaccountably been overlooked. Among unofficial sources Geoffrey Cox’s “The Road to Trieste,” which- contains a breathing pen-portrait of Freyberg, has also escaped notice. What there is, a random collection of opinions and anecdotes which in conj text are informative, does I little to bring this great j character to life, or to ex- : plain how wisely and well he | fulfilled his trust. For Frey- ! berg was the very midwife |of New Zealand’s national ! identity. In military matters the book is equally barren. The j turmoil of Greece has not been mastered, Crete is anaemic, the root problems of desert warfare, at which Freyberg became pre-emi-nent, have been unnoticed, fat Tunisia, Freyberg’s dilemma, whether or not to risk his irreplaceable division in what he considered a dangerous gamble at Mareth, is ignored, as, too, his opposition and knowingly dutiful co-operation in a bad Montgomery plan at Enfidaville. Italy yields many assorted quotations from solid sources, including material from “Mr N C. Phillips,” whose volume on Italy does not appear in the list of acknowledged sources, but nothing quite jells, emphasis is given to the unimportant, and the last great campaign of all, the drive forward from Florence to Trieste, is dismissed in a dozen arid pages I That the book hangs toi gether at all is due entirely !to the fact that it is based !on sound source material, which, however, Inexpertly used, falls into approximate chronological order and, from its very nature, cannot fail to remind the reader that here was no ordinary man. Perhaps, as time goes on, the new Queen Elizabeth Arts Council might see fit to commission a biographer who would bring; as well as admiration, that degree of scholarship, of insight, and of historical judgment, so necessary for a life of this stature, so much demanded in portraying the man who at the one time commanded brilliantly in battle and brought New Zealand to new level of nationhood