VISCOUNT GORT

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20912, 18 September 1939, Page 11

VISCOUNT GORT

OUR FIRST SOLDIER FIGHTER AND STRATEGIST REMARKABLE RECORD When, under the new Hore-Belisha policy of placing merit before age, Major-General Viscount Gort was promoted Chief of the Imperial General Staff two years ago he leapt over the heads of thirty generals. It was .the peak of a career which had been one of the most remarkable in the history of the British* Army, and augurs well for the direction of British forces in the present war. Lord Gort, unlike British generals in the World War, knows what modern warfare is like. He has performed regimental service and has been repeatedly decorated for his gallantry and ability in action. To-day, it is claimed, he is the only peer who won the Victoria Cross in the last great conflict. The young Viscount Gort succeeded his father at sixteen, was born in 1886, and Joined the Grenadier Guards as a second-lieutenant soon after hi 6 nineteenth birthday. When the war broke out nine years later he was serving as aide-de-camp to the General Officer Commanding the London District. He left for France with the first draft of British troops, and during the campaign there he served with his regiment’and on the Staff, winning golden opinions from his superiors, the Victoria Cross, the D.S.U. and two bars, and the Military Cross, being mentioned in dispatches eight times and receiving three wounds. His Victoria Cross was won for his conduct in September, 1918, when he was acting as commander of the Ist Grenadier Guards and the Guards Division was attacking across the Canal du Nord. He was wounded during the assault, but disregarded his injury and crossed open ground to obtain the assistance of a tank for bis battalion. In doing this he was wo-unded again, this time seve’/oiy. He was placed on a stretcher and lay there for a time, but soon .nusted on sitting up and directing iiie attack, which he guided to a triumphant conclusion. It was an illustration of the lot of the regimental ofilcei in the World War that with this record he ended his service in the field with the rank of captain, though he had held the acting rank of iieutenantcolonel for a year and a half. Goes To Camberley Lord Gort was at the first course held at the Staff College at Camberley after the war ended, and in January, 1921, be went back there as an instructor, remaining until April, 1923. He then returned to his regiment, now in command of it, 'and for a time was instructor at the Senior Officers’ School at Sheerness. In January, 1927, he became General Staff Officer First Grade, in command of the Shanghai Defence Force., then returned home for further staff employment, and next was sent to India with the rank of brigadier to become Director of Military Training there. This was at the end of 193*2, and he remained in India until 1936, when he was given the important post of Commandant of the Staff College at Camberley four months after his promotion to the rank of major-general. After eighteen months at Camberley he left to take up the key post of Military Secretary to the Secretary of War (in this case Mr L. Hore-Belisha) with the local rank of lieutenant-gen-eral. This post is one of great importance for the Military Secretary is also Secretary to the Army Council and can exercise great influence on Army appointments if he chooses to do so. At Camberley Lord Gort had made a great impression; lie deepened that impression when he came into close contact with the Secretary of War, who was working hard at Army reform, and at the end of 1937, while slill 51 years of age, he became Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Advantage of Experience This is all to the good, for in the last war the French generals were mostly over 60 years of age, the Germans, “unless royal puppets,” even older, though after the first debacle the real power of command rested with “two comparative youths in the early fifties’’ —'Falkenhayn and Ludendorff, the former being actually in danger of losing his post because he was “too young,” while the latter had to hide his real power behind the ancient figure of Hindenburg. The British commanders were mostly in the late fifties, and some of them died of strain before they even saw action. To his key post Lord Gort has brought, therefore, an experience of staff work, regimental service under battle conditions, administration, and a study of strategy which is certainly not ecilpsed by any other modern commander. He is not likely to fall into the error of underrating the power of the defensive as his predecessors did in the years of 1914-18, and knowing from observation the stopping power of modern weapons lie may be expected to approach British strategy from a realist point of view. He is air-minded also, for in 1932 ae learned to fly, and he thus will be able to consider the general pattern of the war on the Western Front without becoming the prey to any pro-air warfare or anti-air warfare bias such as affects sune commanders with experience in only one service. Lord Gort’s name is John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, sixth Viscount Gort, and his nickname in the Army is “Tiger.” As his name suggests, he is descended from Robert Surtees; in fact, the author of “Jorrocks” was his grandfather. Army’s Best Soldier When Lord Gort was appointed C.I.G.S. the Earl of Cavan, who had formerly held the post, called him “the Army’s best soldier.” But he is no purely Army man. “The battle honours which mark milestones in the history of the British Empire,” he told cadets at Woolwich recently, “were won by co-operation between the various arms of the Services.” He has been incessantly around the various commands, inspecting, advising, planning and he has laid greater emphasis on officer-training than it has ever had before. One of his moves has been to open the commissioned ranks more easily to n.c.o.s. He has been a great worker, often at his post until p.m., vigorous, taciturn, and, in his spare time, a huntsman and yachtsman. As C.I.G.S. he has to decide all questions of military policy affecting the Empire, advise on the conduct of operations, collect intelligence, train

the Army staff and choose its officers, choose candidates for commissions, and advise the War Cabinet, which will give orders to the Army in the field. He is the first military member of the Army Council, on which the Secretary of War is supreme, and he is also a member of the Committee of Imperial Defence, a somewliat mysterious body on which the Prime Minister sits which has many sub-committees and keeps Cabinet informed on matters ranging from strategy to research. Above all, he is responsible for the shape of the military forces—how far they are mechanised, what tacu.cs they adopt, and what training is given them.