Ragnar Garrett

Sir Alwyn Ragnar Garrett , KBE , CB (born February 12, 1900 in Northam , Western Australia , † November 4, 1977 in Mornington , Victoria ) was an Australian Lieutenant General , who was last Chief of the General Staff of the Army ( Australian Army ) between 1958 and 1960 was.

Life

Officer training and World War II

Garrett completed military training and after completing it in 1918 found various uses as an officer and staff officer. After his promotion to lieutenant colonel on September 16, 1940, he was commander of the 2./31. From September 16, 1940 to February 26, 1941 during the Second World War . Infantry battalion and subsequently between March 4 and June 4, 1941 General Staff Officer for Operations (G 2) of the 1st Australian Corps. During this time he took part in the Battle of Greece and the Battle of Crete (May 20 to June 1, 1941). After he was seconded from June 17, 1941 to April 5, 1942 to special services for the establishment of armed units in the Middle East and the United Kingdom , he was awarded the temporary rank (Temporary Rank) of a colonel on April 6, 1942 and he was as such between April 6 and October 27, 1942 General Staff Officer (G 1) of the 1st Australian Armored Division.

Garrett then acted from October 28, 1942 to July 31, 1943 as head of the Armored Combat Vehicle Department at Army Headquarters and then briefly between August 1 and September 12, 1943 as General Staff Officer at Army Headquarters, before moving between the September 13th and December 7th, 1943 General Staff Officer for Operations (G 1) of the 1st Australian Corps. After being promoted to colonel and being awarded the temporary rank of brigadier general on December 8, 1943, he served between December 8, 1943 and April 11, 1944, initially as a brigadier general in the staff of the 1st Australian Corps and then from April 12th to 12th on May 5, 1944 as Brigadier General on the staff of the II. Australian Corps. During this time he took part in the Battle of New Guinea and the Battle of Bougainville and was Brigadier General in the staff of the armed forces in New Guinea between May 6 and October 1, 1944 and then again from October 2, 1944 to October 9, 1945 Brigadier General on the staff of the 2nd Australian Corps, with which he participated in the occupation of Japan .

Post-war period and Chief of the Army General Staff

Brigadier General Ragnar Garrett (left) in conversation with Air Marshal Wife John McCauley and Lt. Gen. Horace Robertson (1947)

After the war, Garrett between 10 October 1945 and the 14 February 1946 was commander ( Commanding Officer ) of the 8th Australian Infantry Brigade and until March 4, 1946 at the port of 15 February as a communications officer for Victoria Lines drafted, one about 10, 25 km long fortification on Malta . After he had completed a course at Staff College Camberley of the British Army between March 5 and June 8, 1946 , he held the post of commandant of the Australian Staff College in Queenscliffe Borough from June 9, 1946 to January 6, 1946 for the first time . He was then used again in Japan, initially between April 4 and July 15, 1947 as commander of the base of the occupation forces of Great Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations and then from July 16, 1947 to December 21, 1949 as a brigadier general for the administration of these occupation forces. At the same time he was in personal union between June 1, 1948 and December 21, 1949 also commander of the land forces of the occupation forces of Great Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations in Japan.

After his return, Garrett took over again between December 22, 1949 and 1951, the post of Commandant of the Australian Staff College and then from 1951 to 1953 as Commanding General of the Army Command West (Western Command) . He was then Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff and Adjutant General at the Army Headquarters between 1953 and 1954, before he was Commanding General of the Army Command South (Southern Command) from 1954 to 1958 . On March 23, 1958, Lieutenant General Garrett replaced Lieutenant General Henry Wells as Chief of the General Staff of the Army ( Australian Army ) and held this position until June 30, 1960, when Lieutenant General Reg Pollard succeeded him. On January 1, 1959, he was made Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), so that from then on he carried the suffix "Sir". He was also awarded the title of Companion des Order of the Bath (CB).

Web links

• Entry in generals.dk
• Knighs and Dames (leighrayment.com)