Chief of Staff (CGS) GHQ Cairo, November 1942

Is anyone able to inform me who occupied this position during this period? The CGS seems to have been replaced so often it is difficult to tell who was in this position and when.

Thanks in advance...

 

Don Juan

General Harding - who was still CGS in late Italy…..he designed the Gothic Line Battle - Aug '44 - which Leese had changed - and cost us thousands

of men and Tanks
cheers

 

There is a very big chance I'm wrong, but this (incredibly good and absurdly long) interview has Harding as Deputy Chief of Staff in '42:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80008532

Perhaps he stepped up later the same year.

"Deputy Chief of Staff for organisation, equipment and training at GHQ Middle East, 1942"
(Reels 19 & 20 if you want to dip in)

Edit:

Thomas (Tom) Corbett was CoS until August '42.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Corbett_(Indian_Army_officer)#cite_note-lh-1

I suspect that Richard (Dick) McCreery took over from him until transferring to CoS 18th Army Group in Tunisia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_McCreery#cite_note-lh-3

 

Thanks very much Gents, it was McCreery who was the CGS in November 1942.

He held the post from 23rd Aug 1942 to 16th Feb 1943. Harding was GOC 7th Armoured Division at this time (and was seriously wounded in January 1943).

McCreery reverted from Major-General to Colonel in May 1943 - wonder what happened there?

 

It was unlikely to have been a major disgrace as in August he was also advanced from Companion to Knight Commander in the order of the Bath after just six months at the former rank.

Edit: Are you certain about that rank reversion? I just read on some random genealogy page that his major-generalcy was made permanent in 1943.

 

I got the info here:

http://www.generals.dk/general/McCreery/Sir_Richard_Loudon/Great_Britain.html

 

Odd:

1943-02-16 Reverted to Temporary Major-General
1943-05-21 Reverted to Colonel
1943-07-14 Major-General (Dated back to 1943-05-15)

Can anybody shed further light?

 

McCreery left 18th Army Group a day after the end of the campaign in Tunisia and returned to England on 15th May 1943. He heard that he was taking over VIII Corps from Herbert Lumsden on 24th July 1943.

 

What rank would a Chief of Staff of an army Group 'usually' be?

"1943-02-17 – 1943-07-29 Chief of Staff 18th Army Group [North Africa]"

De Guingand was a Maj. General at 21st Army Group, wasn't he?

 

And then got the message to take up X Corps on 24th August 1943...

He took a downward step from Lieut General to Major General when he took up the role as Chief of Staff to the Army Group Commander - it seems that both Alex and he saw it as "temporary arrangement".

source: Richard Mead's "The Last Great Cavalryman".

By most accounts (including my Dad) General McCreery was a quite outstanding commander of 8th Army during the closing months of the Italian campaign.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

As a side note, there's something very odd going on with his descendants:

http://celiagreen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/open-letter-to-family-of-late-general.html
http://celiagreen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/biography-of-general-sir-richard.html
http://celiagreen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/pretending-that-nothing-is-wrong.html

 

Celia's complaint appears to be that McCreery's son Charles no longer has instant access to millions of pounds worth of research grants.

Eye-watering isn't it? There are people who obsessively blog about being hard done by because their financial problems aren't instantly solved by social contacts.

Also, what an amazing insight into the upper class.

 

I had a dig around there but a lot of the background is implied rather than stated - as if it is meant solely for those in the know. The nub of the matter seems to be that Richard McCreery and his wonderfully-named wife, Lettice, (both now deceased) cut their son off financially after being informed - perhaps falsely - that he was dabbling in illicit drugs. The son himself - Charles - appears silent on the matter himself, but Celia Green (presumably his partner) seems vocally indignant on his behalf and smells conspiracy among the family.

If it were a private diary, it would be cheap to pry, but it's all published online!