Freddie de Guingand
Encyclopedia
Major-General Sir Francis Wilfred de Guingand KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 (1900–1979), better known as Freddie de Guingand, was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 officer who served with Montgomery from El Alamein
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle took place over 20 days from 23 October – 11 November 1942. The First Battle of El Alamein had stalled the Axis advance. Thereafter, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery...

 to the surrender of the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 in the West. He was a brilliant staff officer, evidenced by the fact that Montgomery, who demanded nothing less than perfection, retained him as chief of staff for over two and a half years. He was also a consummate diplomat whose skills proved vital in sustaining relations between the notoriously difficult Montgomery and his peers and superiors.

Early life

De Guingand was educated at Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...

 and Sandhurst. He joined the Middlesex Regiment
Middlesex Regiment
The Middlesex Regiment was a regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms when the 57th and 77th Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county's militia and rifle volunteer units.On 31 December 1966 The Middlesex Regiment was amalgamated with three...

 in 1919, was seconded to King's African Rifles
King's African Rifles
The King's African Rifles was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from the various British possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within the East African colonies as well as external service as...

, 1926–1931 and was the Officer Commanding Troops, Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....

, 1930–1931 before returning to his regiment.

Despite failing the entrance exams to attend Staff College, he was nominated for the 1935-36 course at Camberley through the intervention of Montgomery with whom he had served in the 1920s and formed a friendship.

World War II

At the outbreak of the Second World War, still a major, de Guingand became Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War in which role he had exposure to the most senior officers in the army and developed skills in diplomacy. In January 1940 he was posted as an instructor to the new staff college at Haifa in the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After a short period as Commandant of the newly formed School of Combined Operations, he was posted in December 1940, on the recommendation of the Staff College's Commandant Eric Dorman-Smith
Eric Dorman-Smith
Eric Edward Dorman-Smith , later de-Anglicised to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was a British Army soldier who served with distinction in World War I, and then seems to have become something of a bête noire to the British military establishment because of his lively mind, and unorthodox...

, to the Joint Planning Staff of GHQ Middle East
Middle East Command
The Middle East Command was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to defend British interests in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean region.The...

 in Cairo where he also took on the role of secretary to the Commanders-in-Chief Committee.

He was involved in controversy when it was discovered he had on his own initiative been planning from an early date the evacuation of the expeditionary force to Greece. However, with the support of the naval and air C-in-Cs he was allowed to continue with his prescient plans.

In February 1942 Dorman-Smith, by this time Deputy Chief of the General Staff in Cairo, recommended de Gingaud for the vacant post of Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East. In this role he proved to be very successful and after the First Battle of El Alamein
First Battle of El Alamein
The First Battle of El Alamein was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, fought between Axis forces of the Panzer Army Africa commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Allied forces The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert...

 he was appointed as Eighth Army
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was one of the best-known formations of the British Army during World War II, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns....

's Brigadier General Staff (Operations).

When Montgomery was appointed to command Eighth Army in August 1942 he summoned de Guingand to meet him. He later wrote: He was to serve as Montgomery's chief of staff, responsible for the running of Montgomery's armies, on their journey from Egypt to the Rhine. He was promoted major-general after the surrender of the Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943.

De Guingand was to prove indispensable to Montgomery, not only in battle, but also in relations with the Americans. De Guingand seems to have been blessed with considerable diplomatic skills, which proved useful when serving with Montgomery. He formed a close relationship with Walter Bedell Smith
Walter Bedell Smith
Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith was a senior United States Army general who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forces Headquarters during the Tunisia Campaign and the Allied invasion of Italy...

, Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower and was able to smooth over many difficulties arising from Montgomery's problematic relationships with many of his peers and superiors. He was awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander)
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements...

 by the United States in April 1945. He was also knighted KBE in 1944, an unusual honour for a major-general.

Dealing with these problems placed great strains on de Guingand and during the first half of 1944 he was away on sick leave on several occasions. After the end of hostilities in Europe he spent time recuperating but was still not recovered when appointed as Director of Military Intelligence at the War Office. Montgomery had become aware that he was to succeed Alan Brooke as Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1946 and told de Guingand he wanted him as his Vice Chief. However, still recovering from illness, de Guingand failed to impress Brooke as DMI and as a result the Vice Chief job went to someone else.

Post war

In 1946 de Guigand retired from the army and arrived in Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...

 to pursue a career in business, achieving considerable success. In addition he wrote the following books: Operation Victory, Generals at War, African Assignment and From Brass Hat to Bowler Hat. His memoirs did not always cast Montgomery in a favourable light and as a result their friendship suffered.

In 1973 he made an appearance and was interviewed on the now famous British TV documentory series World at War
World at War
World at War can refer to:* The World at War, a British television series documenting World War II* Call of Duty: World at War, a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch* A World At War, a WWII-themed board wargame by GMT Games...

.
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