THE CHIEFS-OF-STAFF

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25202, 15 May 1945, Page 3

THE CHIEFS-OF-STAFF

THEY ORGANISED BRITAIN'S MIGHT GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO VICTORY

By a Special Correspondent

Little - publicised, and overshadowed in the public eye by the more spectacular figures of field commanders, the three Chiefs-of-Staff of Britain's Fighting Services were the triumvirate responsible for the organisation and direction of the nation's armed might, and yield place to none as architects of victory. Chief of the Naval Staff and First Sea Lord is Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, K.T., G.C.8., D.S.O. ; Chief of the Imperial General Staff is Field-Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, G.C.8., D.5.0.; and Chief of the Air Staff is Marshal of the It.A.'F. Sir Charles Portal, G.C.8., D.5.0., M.C. All three of them began the war as active commanders — Cunningham commanded the Mediterranean Fleet; Brooke, an array corps in France; and Portal was A.O.C. Bomber Command. Fifty-two-year-old Admiral Cunningham—"A.B.C." to the men of the Senior Service—who now controls the ships of the Royal Navy serving on every ocean, will probably be remembered longer in the public mind as the fighting commander who made the Mediterranean "Cunningham's Pond," and that undoubtedly would be in line with his own thoughts on the subject, for he would far rather be at sea than, as he put it, "polishing the seat of my pants on an office chair." Motto in Action "The admiral viewed the obstacles with the eye of a seaman determined on attack," wrote Lord Nelson's flag captain of the moments preceding the Battle of the Nile, and the same could be said by any officer who has stood in similar circumstances on Admiral Cunningham's bridge. Though the two men may resemble each other in nothing else, their motto in action remains the same: "I will not lose a moment in attacking." The happiest time of A.B.C.'s career was with small ships. What he termed "the funeral procession to the anchorage" of the big ships of the line depressed him, and when he was Mediterranean C.-in-C. lie used his battle waggons" and cruisers with the dash usually associated with light cruiseis and destroyers. *He can be a bad-tempered man ashore —although in Washington he managed to work in complete harmony with his notoriously ill-tempered American opposite number, Admiral King but at sea he was possessed with a robust good humour that has made his ra<iy signals a byword in the Navy. Most of them, however, will not find a place in school history books. They have a saltiness which makes the best of them unprintable. • x il When, during an action against the Italians, H.M.S. Nelson, flying the nag of Admiral Somerville, narrowly missed being torpedoed, Admiral Cunningham signalled: "The success of your operation should console you for nearly getting a slap in the belly with a wet fish." Life Devoted to Navy To Vice-Admiral Pridham-Whippell, champion golfer, commanding the Mediterranean light forces, after attacking the Italians in the Otranto Straits, the C.-in-C. signalled: "Trust you had many opportunities for using your heavy mashie." It might be said that his whole life has been devoted to the Navy, which he entered at the age of 14. His first command, in World War J., was the destroyer Scorpion, which was in the thick of the Dardanelles operations. Later, in the Aegean, he made naval history by taking his ship to within 50 yards'of" the enemy positions ashore, and engaging them with small arms fire from the bridge and scuttles. From the Aegean he was transferred to the Dover Patrol in time to take part in the Zeebrugge operation. His 1914-18 service won him the D.S.O. and two bars. He was promoted to flag rank in 1932, and from 1934-36 he was rear-admiral commanding destroyers in the Mediterranean. The next year he became second-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1938 he was appointed Deputy-Chief of the Naval Staff. The outbreak of war found him Com-mander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, and there against heavy odds he established himself as the outstanding naval officer of the war. As an indication that, whatever his inclinations, his capacities fitted him for more delicate tasks than those of a fighting admiral, he was sent to Washington when America entered the war, and was a brilliant success. He was appointed to his present post in October, 1943. "The Wizard" Chief of the Imperial General Staff since 1941, Field-Marshal Brooke's ability to carry out the most difficult operations without apparent effort has earned him the nickname of "The Wizard.". A member of the famous family of "Fighting Brookes," he is one of the British Army's crop of Orangeman generals from Northern Ireland. and is the Army's efficiency ex-j pert, specialising in mechanisation, gunnery, and German tactics. His responsibilities as C.f.G.S. and chairman of the Chief-of-Staffs Committee. which determines the whole military strategy of the war in the broadest sense, are probably second only to those of Mr Churchill. His is the mind which directed the building up of the vast offensive —beginning with the invasion of North Africa —which has ended in complete victory. "Wizard" Brooke was the originator of the barrage map for controlling artillery fire, which came into general use by\all armies in the last war. and "marked the first attempt to direct artillery fire as a whole and on a rational basis." The British Army of today owes much of its training to the 52-year-old field-marshal, for between the wars he was an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, Commandant of the School of Artillery, Army Instructor at the Imperial Defence College, and Director of Military Training at the War Office. Many of the present corjw and divisional generals and chief staff officers have studied under him. He acquired n brilliant reputation as a teacher and was popular with his students both for bis gift of clear exposition and his dry humour. Montgomery's Tribute He is a master of direct and pungent speech. Speaking to Canadian staff officers in April, 1041,, he described the struggle with Hitler in terms of a boxing contest. "He was trying first for a foothold in the Balkans, but he stepped on the orange-peel of Yugoslavia. By bombing our western ports and waging stihrnarine war in the Atlantic, his left hand is trying to paralyse our lifeline. His right hand is the invasion hand, which he will try to use for the uppercut." In 1939 Brooke, then lieutenantgeneral, was G.0.C.-in-C,, Southern Command. On September 1 he was given command of the Second Army Corps and went with it to France. It was due to Brooke's rapid decision and energetic action that a defensive flank was formed to meet the situation when the Belgian Army ceased fighting. A man who commanded a division under him in that campaign, Bernard Montgomery, has often since spoken of the

unbounded admiration and loyalty he felt lor hie chief. Just before the Dunkirk evacuation Brooke was transferred to command British forces south of the Somme, where a last-minute attempt was being made to form a new front. The surrender of French generals made success impossible, and the British had to withdraw. Brooke himself narrowly escaped capture, leaving St. Nazaire in a small boat. Almost immediately afterward he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces. Those were the grave days when invasion seemed an hourly probability. It was Brooke's task to recreate an army to meet the menace. To this work he brought his long experience of Army training and his practical knowledge of the enemy's methods in the field, lie made the country into a fortress. Ho trained his troops in every form of offensive and defensive warfare, from parachutes to tanks. From the time of his appointment as C.1.G.5., Brooke's strategy lias been on a world pattern; he has travelled to Quebec, Cairo, Teheran, Casablanca, Yalta; has conferred with the highest authorities of the United Nations, and has presided over the discussions of the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff. Sir Charles Portal Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles Portal, who was appointed Chief of Air Staff in 1940, is the first man in the history of the R.A.F. to rise to that exalted position from the ranks. He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1914 and transferred to the R.F.C. the following year. A dour man, who /has never been seen to lose his temper or his calm even in the blackest aavS of London's blitz, ho has yet managed to become known as "The Killer," "the man with the offensive mind," and "the bomber* boy." It was not until he was appointed C.A.S. that he was able to go for the enemy properly from his point of view, although as head of Bomber Command he had greatly intensified our air attack, then a mere shadow of the terrible power it has since become. "Combined bombing will soon destroy Germany's industry and power at a rate which outstrips repair," he argued when he controlled Bomber Command. When he got his final appointment"" he commented tersely: "Good! Now we will bomb bell out of them," and proceeded to do just that. He makes very heavy demands on his staff, but none of them works as hard as he does. His highest praise is "Good show"; his worst condemnation "Bad Show." He himself puts in an average of 12 hours' work a day, seven days a week. Wide Experience Portal's outstanding characteristic is his ability to do everything just a little better than anyone else. After the last war, in the early days of the Air Ministry, he, as squadron-leader in the Operations Branch, was recognised as Sir Hugh Trenchard's right-hand man. From there he went to command a bomber squadron, and as a pilot won for it the first year the bombing trophy. The squadron won the trophy again next year, this time with its C.O. as bomb-aimer. As officer commanding the forces in Aden, Portal was the leading exponent of "control without occupation." He was outstanding as an instructor at the Imperial Defence College, where, although younger and with less service than many of the students, his comments on their work and contributions to discussions were alwavs accepted without question. He has had wide experience. In the last war he became a colonel in the R.F.C. at 25. Fie was three times mentioned in despatches—the first time as a corporal—and won the M.C. and the D.S.O. After the war he served as an instructor, commanded a bombing squadron, served in Aden and India, and with the Royal Naval College, and was on the Air Staff. In 1937 he was appointed Director of Organisation, R.A.F. In April. 1940, he became A.0.C., Bomber Command, and the following October was made C.A.S. Incidentally, it was due to Portal that the R.A.F. developed its high skill in lfight flying—matched by no other air force in the world —on the importance of which he never failed to insist.