He formed a close relationship with Walter Bedell Smith, the chief of staff to Supreme Allied Commander, General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower, and was able to smooth over many difficulties arising from Montgomery's personality and his problematic relationships with many of his peers and superiors.ĭe Guingand was on sick leave on several occasions, and only Montgomery's intervention kept the doctors from relieving him. He proved indispensable not only in battle, but also in relations with the Americans – he was "liked and trusted by all". His diplomatic skills proved advantageous when serving with Montgomery. When Montgomery assumed command of Eighth Army in August 1942 he became Montgomery's chief of staff. In this role he was successful, and after the First Battle of El Alamein he was appointed the Eighth Army's Brigadier General Staff. In February 1942 Dorman-Smith, now Deputy Chief of the General Staff at Middle East Command, recommended him for the position of Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East. In December 1940, on the recommendation of the Staff College's Commandant Eric Dorman-Smith, he was posted to the Joint Planning Staff of Middle East Command in Cairo where he also took on the role of secretary to the Commanders-in-Chief Committee.
He served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, from 1939 to 1940, in which role he had exposure to the most senior officers in the army and developed skills in diplomacy.Īfter Hore-Belisha resigned, de Guingand was posted to the new staff college at Haifa in Mandatory Palestine as an instructor. Through the intervention of Montgomery, with whom he had formed a friendship with during their service together the 1920s and 1930s, he secured a nomination to 1935–36 course at the Staff College, Camberley. He served in India and Ireland, and was seconded to the King's African Rifles in Nyasaland from 1926 to 1931. He played an important diplomatic role in sustaining relations between the notoriously difficult Montgomery and his peers and superiors.Ī graduate of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, de Guingand joined the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) in December 1919. Major-General Sir Francis Wilfred "Freddie" de Guingand, KBE, CB, DSO (28 February 1900 – 29 June 1979) was a British Army officer who served as Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery's chief of staff from the Second Battle of El Alamein until the end of the Second World War.
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