Quote:
Originally Posted by Herakles  It might have been a French general just after D Day when he said that he wished the 9th Div was there. |
It was this man: Freddie de Guingand:
Freddie de Guingand From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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search Major General Sir Francis Wilfred de Guingand KBE,
CB,
DSO (
1900 -
1979), better known as
Freddie de Guingand, was a
British Army officer who served with
Montgomery from
El Alamein to the surrender of the
Wehrmacht in the West.
De Guingand was educated at
Ampleforth College and Sandhurst. He joined the
Middlesex Regiment in 1919, was seconded to
King's African Rifles, 1926-1931 and was the Officer Commanding Troops,
Nyasaland, 1930-1931 before returning to his regiment.
He attended staff college at Camberley and at the outbreak of the
Second World War became Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War, Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East, 1942 before serving as Montgomery's
chief of staff. He was responsible for the running of Montgomery's armies on their journey from Egypt to the Rhine.
Montgomery appointed De Guingand as his chief of staff soon after his arrival in the desert to supersede
Claude Auchinleck.
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.