Recollections of Crete and D-Day

Press, 21 November 1987, Page 25

Recollections of Crete and D-Day

A Tale of Two Battles. By Geoffrey Cox. William Kimber/Benton Ross, 1987. 215 pp. Illustrations, index. $49.95. Send for Freddie. By General Sir Charles Richardson. William Kimber/Benton Ross, 1987. 249 pp. Illustrations, index. $49.95. (Reviewed by Sir Leonard Thornton) Geoffrey Cox’s new book will be eagerly seized on by those who are familiar with his account of "The Race For Trieste” in World War Two, the stirring story of victory-within-reach, and the advance of the 2nd New Zealand Division under General Freyberg, across northern Italy, and a confrontation with Tito’s partisans already in occupation of Trieste. Now Cox turns his reporter’s eye and lucid, lively style to two earlier campaigns, less triumphant in territorial gains, but vibrant with the resolution and fighting qualities of a long-ago generation of New Zealanders, and of their enduring commander. This book is quite short; the first hundred pages are devoted to the author’s experiences during the unsuccessful defence of the Greek island of Crete in May, 1941. As an exnewspaperman, Cox was detailed by Freyberg to produce a daily paper for the troops, and he relates with wry humour some of the difficulties which accompanied its brief appearances. In more general terms, the author draws on his long experience of military intelligence to assess the reasons for the loss of the island to a determined (and costly) airborne attack by powerful German forces as a sideshow prelude to the invasion of Russia.

It is a masterly and balanced account of the difficulties suffered by both sides on Crete, and at the same time illuminates the sequence of events with compelling personal anecdotes. The second half of the book is even more enlightening; his subject here is the bloodiest fighting experienced by the New Zealanders in the whole course of the Second World War — the campaign for the relief of the beleaguered garrison of Tobruk (and the destruction of Rommel’s encroaching Afrika Korps) in November/December, 1941. That complex, frustratiing, and murderous battle is difficult for even a participant to follow. Geoffrey Cox overcomes the difficulty with a chronological account of events, interspersed with personal experiences, and a brief analysis of what he calls The Forgotten Battle. This book is not to be missed by anyone familiar with the general pattern of wartime events; but it will also serve as a brilliant introduction to wider reading. The second book, by Charles Richardson, will probably appeal mainly to the first category of readership. The author was an operations staff officer well known to senior staff echelons of New

Zealanders in the Eighth army; he has taken as his subject Francis de Guingand (widely known as “Freddie”), the man who played Berthier to Montgomery’s Napoleon throughout the latter’s meteoric — and fractious — Career from the victory at Alamein in 1942, through to the final collapse of Germany in 1945. Like Geoffrey Cox, Freddie de Guingand had early experience in Intelligence, but his ability selected him as well for operational planning tasks. New Zealand veterans will read with interest that he was the first British officer to reconnoitre the Aliakmon line in northern Greece, on which our defence was subsequently mounted; also that immediately after that duty he was appointed to the planning team working out the scheme for the evacuation of the New Zealanders and Australians from Greece, even before most of them had left Egypt. The text assumes a knowledge of army terms and phraseology which unfamiliars may find irritating; but the author at least defines the distinction between the role of fighting commander and the staff officer. De Guingand, plucked out by Montgomery to become his chief of staff on taking command of the Eighth Army, was the epitome of the good staff officer and without doubt greatly helped Montgomery towards fame and fortune. It was also “Freddie” who poured oil on the constantly troubled waters of Monty’s personal relationships with the allied commanders — notably Eisenhower and Bradley — and

occasionally influenced Montgomery towards less headstrong decisions. The melancholy sequence, as unfolded again in this book, is that Monty, about to be elevated to the top job in the British army after the war, conditionally promised de Guingand the post of deputy — only to withdraw the offer in a callous and Insensitive fashion with the remark that appointing him “would not do me any good.” (The author does not disclose that our own General Freyberg happened to be sitting in de Guingand’s office in London when the denouement occurred). The relationship between the two men never really recovered from this evidence of ingratitude, and Richardson’s account of de Guingand’s subsequent achievements as a business tycoon (and initiating president of a lost cause, the South Africa Foundation) does little to remove the aura of failure — not by de Guingand, but by his idol and sponsor whom he had served so well. “Freddie” comes across as an intelligent and sensitive man, responding with natural aptitude to the multiplying demands of his role as the staff manager of one of the largest enterprises in human history, the invasion of Hitler’s Europe and the destruction of the German Reich. The book makes frequent and effective use of clips from texts that will be familiar to many; but it is illumined by Richardon’s own experience of a boss whose professional skills he greatly admired. His tribute makes some amends for talents wasted.