Leslie Morshead

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Leslie James Morshead (August 1941)

Leslie James Morshead , KCB , KBE , CMG , DSO (born September 18, 1889 in Ballarat , Victoria , † November 24, 1959 in Sydney , New South Wales ) was an Australian officer in the Australian Army , who was one of the most important generals in military history Australia during World War II was. He was among other things during the Second World War in 1941 commander of the Australian troops at the siege of Tobruk and in the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942 was commander of the 9th Division. At the end of the Second World War, in 1945, as commander of the Australian troops, he also took part in Operation Oboe to liberate Borneo from the Japanese .

Life

First World War and the interwar period

Frank Horton Berryman trained as an officer in the Australian Army and initially participated in the First World War as a major of the 2nd Battalion (2nd Battalion) at the Battle of Gallipoli (February 19, 1915 to January 9, 1916). For his services in this battle he was mentioned in the war report on January 28, 1916 (Mentioned in dispatches) . He was on 16 April 1916 to March 3, 1919 as Acting Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) commander ( Commanding Officer ) of the 33rd Infantry Battalion (33rd Infantry Battalion) , which he during the further course of the war in the Battle of Messines (7 . to June 14, 1917), the Third Battle of Flanders (July 31 to November 6, 1917), the Spring Offensive (March 21 to July 17, 1918) and the Hundred Days Offensive (August 8, 1918 to November 11, 1918), which ended with the Armistice of Compiègne . For his services in this use was mentioned again on June 1, 1917 in the war report and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He also received the Knight's Cross of the French Legion of Honor on January 28, 1919 .

After the war, Morshead was from July 14, 1919 to August 31, 1919, initially Assistant Adjutant General of the Australian Imperial Force depots in the United Kingdom . On December 12, 1919, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). After his formal promotion to lieutenant colonel on June 16, 1920, he was commander of the 2./35 between September 20, 1920 and March 30, 1921. Infantry Battalion (2nd / 35th Infantry Battalion) and then from 31 March 1921 to 30 June 1922 the commander of the 19th Infantry Battalion (19th Infantry Battalion) . He was subsequently released from active military service between July 1, 1922 and July 31, 1926 and was on the so-called Unemployed List , as he was not accepted into regular military service. He was then from August 1, 1926 to May 13, 1931 commander of the 36th Infantry Battalion (36th Infantry Battalion) and was then again on the Unemployed List between May 14, 1931 and February 28, 1933 . He was, however, for during this time on January 1, 1933 Colonel (Colonel) promoted and was then from January 1, 1933 to April 30, 1933, first commander of the 14th Infantry Brigade (14th Australian Infantry Brigade) , and between 1 March 1934 and November 1, 1936 commander of the 15th Australian Infantry Brigade .

After he was again on the Unemployed List from November 2 to December 31, 1936 , Leslie Morshead was the commander of the 5th Australian Infantry Brigade between January 1, 1937 and October 12, 1939 . In this use, he was awarded the provisional rank of Brigadier General (Temporary Brigadier) on May 1, 1938 .

World War II and post-war period

Lieutenant General Frank Horton Berryman with his wife (1944)

At the beginning of World War II was Brigadier Frank Horton Berryman on October 13, 1939 commander of the first stationed in the United Kingdom and then in the Middle East used the 18th Infantry Brigade (18th Australian Infantry Brigade) . For his services there he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on January 1, 1941 . He then became the commanding general ( General Officer Commanding ) of the 9th Infantry Division (9th Australian Infantry Division) deployed during the Africa campaign in North Africa and remained in this position until March 14, 1943. During the siege of Tobruk (April 10 to November 27, 1941) he was also the commandant of the Tobruk Fortress between April 14 and October 21, 1941 . On September 12, 1941, a demonstration of the tank vehicles called Hobart's Funnies took place in front of Generals Harold RL Alexander , Bernard Montgomery and Morshead. Everyone was very impressed and Montgomery named the tank the Scorpion . On December 31, 1941, he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Polish Order Virtuti Militari .

On January 6, 1942, Major General (Temporary Major-General) Morshead for his services in the Middle East to Knight Commander struck the Order of the British Empire and led since then the name suffix sir . He was also commanding general of the Australian troops of the Australian Imperial Force in the Middle East from March 27, 1942 to March 14, 1943 and as such commanded the XXX during the Second Battle of El Alamein (October 23 to November 4, 1942) Corps of the British Army under Lieutenant General Oliver Leese belonging to the 9th Infantry Division.

To November 24, 1942 Leslie Morshead was as a lieutenant general (Lieutenant-General Temporary) for his military achievements in the Middle East to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath beaten (KCB). He then succeeded Lieutenant General Edmund Herring from 1943 until his replacement by Lieutenant General Frank Berryman in 1944, Commanding General of the II Corps (II Australian Corps) . He took over in 1944 the post of Commanding General of the Australian soldiers in and out of local members of the Territory of Papua and Territory of New Guinea existing New Guinea Force . On January 21, 1944 he replaced Lieutenant General Iven Mackay as Commanding General of the Second Army (2nd Australian Army) and held this position until July 23, 1944, whereupon Major General Herbert Lloyd succeeded him. Most recently, on July 24, 1944, he took over from Lieutenant General Frank Berryman as commanding general of the I Corps (I Australian Corps) and held this position until the corps was dissolved at the end of the Second World War in 1945. At the end of the Second World War he also took part in Operation Oboe (May 1, 1945 to August 15, 1945) to liberate Borneo from the Japanese . For his services in the Western Pacific he was mentioned again on November 2, 1946 in the war report. After the end of the war he retired from active military service.

In 1954, Leslie Morshead took over the post of President of the Bank of New South Wales from Colin Sinclair and held this office until his death on November 24, 1959, when John Cadwallader succeeded him.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 29455, HMSO, London, January 28, 1916, p. 1208 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  2. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 30107, HMSO, London, June 1, 1917, p. 5422 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  3. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 30111, HMSO, London, June 4, 1917, p. 5468 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  4. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 31150, HMSO, London, January 28, 1919, p. 1446 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  5. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 31684, HMSO, London, December 9, 1919, p. 15436 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  6. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 35029, HMSO, London, December 31, 1940, p. 9 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 35397, HMSO, London, December 30, 1941, p. 7369 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  8. ↑ London Gazette . No. 35408, HMSO, London, January 6, 1942, p. 139 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  9. ↑ KNIGHTS AND DAMES (leighrayment.com)
  10. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 35794, HMSO, London, November 20, 1942, p. 5091 ( PDF , accessed March 5, 2019, English).
  11. ↑ KNIGHTS AND DAMES (leighrayment.com)
  12. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 37898, HMSO, London, March 4, 1947, p. 1091 ( PDF , accessed March 4, 2019, English).
personal data
SURNAME Morshead, Leslie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morshead, Leslie James (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian Lieutenant General
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Ballarat , Victoria
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1959
Place of death Sydney , New South Wales