ALLIED LEADERS (7): General Sir E. Ironside

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 26, 22 December 1939, Page 2

ALLIED LEADERS (7): General Sir E. Ironside

RMY methods have never rolled A the personality out of General Sir Edmund Ironside, G.C.B., K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., and a host of foreign decorations (including the German Iron Cross). He is Chief of the General Staff of the British Army on the home front, big, burly and a force in the land. His favourite expression is "Give me a free hand,"

which has led to numerous. scenes among the Army chiefs. General Ironside is 59, speaks six languages fluently and knows 14, and includes among his achievements a period as a secret service agent in South Africa. When war broke out in 1914 he was a British staff officer, 3rd grade; by 1918 he was in charge of a Brigade, and at the end of the war he was a Major-General in charge of the Archangel expedition, fighting in 83 degrees of frost. From then on he has held all the high posts. He went to Persia; to Iraq; was Commandant of the famous Camberley Staff College; Commander-in-Chief of Eastern Forces; Inspector- General Overseas Forces; Quartermaster-General in India, and, until recently, Governor of Gibraltar. This last post is regarded as a comfortable retiring job, but not for General Ironside. He got busy, turned the Rock almost upside down, and to-day its defences are really impregnable. He is famous for picking the right men and inspiring blind worship. Here is an example. In 1917, when he was in Persia (now Iran) he remarked on the bearing of a man in the ranks. There and then General Ironside called him out, made him an officer, and extracted a promise that he would never intrigue against the Shah. Six years later that man was Riza Pahlevi, Prime Minister. Later he became Shah of Iran.