NOTED SOLDIER

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25300, 6 September 1945, Page 7

NOTED SOLDIER

GOVERNOR-GENERAL A REMARKABLE LIFE babijy I)AYS in dominion Although his birthplace was England, the new Governor-General, LieutenantGeneral Sir Bernard Freyberg, grew up jn New Zealand. Born at Richmond-on-Thames. he was brought to the Dominion by his parents at the age of two and was educated at Wellington College arid Victoria College, Wellington. He became a noted athlete and was particularly prominent as a swimmer. He is 55 years of age. In 1911 he went to the United States j n search of adventure, and was in Jlexico at the time of the revolution. After his services had been refused by the Mexican leader Huerta, he joined the guerilla army of Pnueho Villa. The outbreak of the first world war drew him to iOnglaud and he joined the Naval Brigade in time to participate in the Antwerp landing, where he received his first battle wound. Daring Feats Sir Bernard first broke into the world's news when he won the D.S.O. for n daring feat at Gallipoli. Volunteering lor the task, he was taken on a destroyer by night to the neck of the peninsula and after darkening his body with boot polish and oil tie slipped overboard and swam to the beach, towing a, raft of flares which he ignited at intervals. On shore he carried out a reconnaissance which took him to the outposts of a large Turkish army; then he returned to the beach and swam out to the point where the destroyer should have been waiting. In the darkness, however, he was unable to locate it, and chilled and cramped he swam round for several hours until picked up on the verge of exhaustion. By his unaided actions he had immobilised a whole army, for the Turks believed that the flares presaged another landing and stood on the defensive instead of going to the support of forces which were being defeated further south. As Colonel Freyberg, a battalion commander in the West Surrey Regiment, ho won the Victoria Cross in 1916 for conspicuous bravery and brilliant leadership. By personal gallantry he led an attack straight through the enemy lines, but owing to mist and heavy fire his command became much disorganised. Rallying his men and re-forming them, he led a second assault and captured many prisoners. During the advance he was twice wounded, but he again rallied his men, and although unsupported in a very advanced position lie held his ground for the remainder of the day and throughout the night under extremely heavy fire of all descriptions. Promotion Earned In the morning he organised an attack on a fortified village, personally leading the assault. Five hundred more prisoners were taken, and Sir Bernard was again wounded. Later the same afternoon he received a further serious wound, but refused to leave the line until he had issued final orders. In May, 1917. he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in command of a brigade, being the youngest officer of that rank in the British Army. After the war he was posted to the Grenadier Guards. Shortly afterward he married the daughter of the late Colonel Sir Herbert Jekyll, K.C.M.G., his best man being Sir James Barrie, who made Sir Bernard the subject of his famed rectorial address entitled "Youth and . Courage," delivered at St. Andrew's ' University. Sir Bernard never lost his early enthusiasm for swimming, and in 1925 he attempted to cross the English Channel. He swam strongly until he entered the last two miles, at which point he was ahead of the standing record, when one of his old war wounds in the log became increasingly troublesome, and that, together with a strong ebb tide, forced him to abandon the attempt. Challenge to Doctors

Continuing his professional soldiering career, he became a staff officer at the War Office in 1935, and one year later was promoted to major-general, being the first "new army" officer to rise from a temporary wartime commission to be a major-general in the permanent army. In 1937, however, lie retired through his failure to pass the medical tests prescribed by military regulations for retention on the active list of the Army. He fought against the medical authorities in attempts to remain in the Army as hard as ever he fought on any battlefield, but his heart was supposed to be affected, and-he was not allowed to continue. He challenged the doctors to take part with him in a mountaineering expedition, the survivors to test his heart when they reached the summit—if any of them did —but the offer was not accepted and Sir Bernard went disconsolate into retirement Returning to active service soon after the outbreak of the second world war, he was given the command of the Second IS.Z.E.F., being an immediate and unanimous choice. Under his leadership, the New Zealand Second Division became the splendid fighting machine that later helped sweep Rommel from the desert, ana fought its way from the toe of Italy to Trieste. Spirit as Leader Sir Bernard took over his command with immense zest, exuding an offensive spirit in the war's early period completely at variance with the accepted military theory of those Maginot Line days. At the first parade of his troops be told them that there was no way to win the war except to go out and kill Germans. It was not until April, 1941, that he led his division into battle — and that was the campaign in Greece, lost before it was begun. He received his most serious wound in the second world war in the fighting near Minqa Qaim, shortly after Rommel took Tobruk in 1942. The New Zealand Division became surrounded and their ammun ; tion was exhausted. Asked by two war correspondents what he proposed to do, Sir Bernard replied, "We will break out." When it was pointed out. that ths ammunition was all gone. Frpvberg grimly replied, "I have 10.000 perfer-tly good bayonets!" Using these bayonets, the Division broke out with a minimum of loss, but Sir Bernard was wounded in the neck and was out of action for nearly a month. Sir Bernard was included in the New Year Honours List in 1942, being made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In June of the same year he was granted the temporary rank of lieutenant-general. Five months later the King conferred upon him the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of thi Bath. Son a Soldier Early last Year, it was rumoured in England that* Sir Bernard would enter politics after the war, being named as prospective Conservative candidate for Spelthorne, Middlesex. In May this year, however, he announced that he had decided not to stand, owing to military considerations. The possibility of his appointment as the next Governor-Gen-eral of the Dominion was first discussed in London in June last. Sir Bernard's only son, Paul Richard Freyberg, joined the Second N.Z.F.E. as a private early in the war at the a p of 17J, winning his commission in "the field. He was wounded in action at the end of 1941. In December, 1942, it was announced that he had returned to England and received a commission ln the Grenadier Guards, as ho intended to become a regular soldier. Sir Bernard has several relatives in the Dominion. One brother, Mr Cuthhert Frevberg, lives at Kerikeri, and another brother. Mr Claude Freyberg, lives in Wellington.