NEW LEADER OF GENERAL STAFF

Southland Times, Issue 24597, 20 November 1941, Page 5

NEW LEADER OF GENERAL STAFF

General Brook'e Is An Artillery Expert

As an Irishman born and brought up in France, Sir Alan Brooke was described early in the war as the “Perfect Ally.” He is 58 years of age. having been born on July 23, 1883. After four years artillery staff service in France during the last war, including a period with the Canadian Corps, he became widely known throughout the Army by his remarkable success as Commandant of the School of Artillery from 1929 to 1932. Then he went to the Imperial Defence College as the Army Instructor, and after a year in command of an infantry brigade he went to the War Office to become in turn Inspector of Artillery and Director of Military Training. In November 1937 he was sent to command the Mobile Division on its formation, but just as its first collective training was about to begin he was called away in July 1938 to take over command of the country’s anti-aircraft forces, which were being formed into a corps. He had hardly had time to study this new problem before the Munich crisis developed, but since then his grasp and energy have largely contributed to the efficiency which this side of Britain’s defence has now attained. In 1939 General Brooke became commander of the Southern Command and on the outbreak of war he went to France in command of the 2nd Corps. He supervised the withdrawal of his men from Dunkirk, spending several days on the bomb-torn beaches. STUDY OF ARTILLERY General Brooke should have good opportunity to apply the results of his exceptionally thorough study of artillery methods in his new position, the most important in the British Army. Lieutenant-General Paget, who commanded the British forces that were successfully withdrawn from the Aandalsnes area, during the Norwegian campaign, is 53. He was commissioned in 1910, serving with the Oxfordshire

and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and in the Great War was awarded the D. 5.0., the M.C., and the Italian Silver Medal for Military Valour. In 1938 he was appointed Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley. Last year he was made Chief of Staff of the Home Forces. Lieutenant-General Paget is the third son of the late Dr Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford. General E. A. Nye is 46 years of age. He was commissioned from the ranks in the last war. He was given his first battalion command, the Warwickshire Regiment, in 1937. He was promoted to major-general in 1940, when he became Director of Staff Duties at the War Office.