Vernon Sturdee
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant General
Sir Vernon Ashton Hobart Sturdee KBE
, CB
, DSO (16 April 1890 – 25 May 1966) was an Australian Army
commander who served two terms as Chief of the General Staff. A regular officer of the Royal Australian Engineers
who joined the Militia
in 1908, he was one of the original Anzacs during the First World War who participated in the landing at Gallipoli
on 25 April 1915. In the campaign that followed, he commanded the 5th Field Company, before going to lead the 8th Field Company and 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front
. In 1918 he was seconded to General Headquarters (GHQ) British Expeditionary Force as a staff officer.
Ranked colonel
at the outbreak of the Second World War, Sturdee was raised to lieutenant general
in 1940 and became Chief of the General Staff. He proceeded to conduct a doomed defence of the islands to the north of Australia against the advancing Japanese
forces. In 1942, he successfully advised the government to divert the Second Australian Imperial Force
troops returning from the Middle East
to Australia. He then became head of the Australian Military Mission to Washington, DC, where he represented Australia before the Combined Chiefs of Staff
. As commander of the First Army in New Guinea in 1944–45, Sturdee directed the fighting at Aitape
, and on New Britain and Bougainville. He was charged with destroying the enemy when opportunity presented itself, but had to do so with limited resources, and without committing his troops to battles that were beyond their strength.
When the war ended, Sturdee took the surrender of Japanese forces in the Rabaul
area. Now one of the Army's most senior officers, he succeeded General
Sir Thomas Blamey
as Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces
in December 1945. He became the Chief of the General Staff a second time in 1946, serving in the post until his retirement in 1950. During this term, he had to demobilise the wartime Army while providing and supporting the Australian contingent of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force
in Japan. He developed a structure for the post-war Army that included regular combat formations. As a result, the Australian Regular Army was formed, laying the foundations for the service as it exists today.
on 16 April 1890, the son of Alfred Hobart Sturdee and his wife Laura Isabell, née Merrett. Alfred Sturdee, a medical practitioner from England, came from a prominent naval family and was the brother of Lieutenant Doveton Sturdee
, who later became an Admiral of the Fleet
. Alfred emigrated to Australia in the 1880s, travelling as a ship's doctor. He served in the Boer War
, where he was mentioned in despatches for an incident where he rode under fire to a donga
near the enemy's position to come to the aid of wounded men. Re-enlisting in the Australian Army Medical Corps as a captain in January 1905, he was promoted to major
in August 1908 and Lieutenant Colonel
in December 1912. He later commanded the 2nd Field Ambulance at Gallipoli and, with the rank of colonel
, was Assistant Director of Medical Services of the 1st Division
on the Western Front
. His Australian-born wife Laura, known as Lil, was the sister of Charles Merrett
, a prominent businessman and Militia
officer. Her half-brother, Colonel Harry Perrin, was another prominent Militia officer.
Vernon Sturdee was educated at Melbourne Grammar School
, before being apprenticed to an engineer at Jaques Brothers, Richmond, Victoria
. Commissioned as a second lieutenant
in the Corps of Engineers, the Militia's engineer component, on 19 October 1908, he was promoted to lieutenant
in the Royal Australian Engineers
, as the permanent component was then known, on 1 February 1911. He married Edith Georgina Robins on 4 February 1913 at St Luke's Church of England, North Fitzroy
, Melbourne.
(AIF) on 25 August 1914 with the rank of lieutenant. He was promoted to captain on 18 October, and appointed adjutant
of the 1st Division Engineers. He embarked from Melbourne for Egypt
on the former P&O
ocean liner
RMS Orvieto on 21 October 1914. He participated in the landing at Anzac Cove
on 25 April 1915
, disembarking from the transport before 9:00. His duties included supervising the engineer stores park on the beach at Anzac Cove
, as well as the construction of Jam Tin Grenade
s. He was evacuated twice for hospital treatment for enteric fever and for serious damage to his stomach lining from internal burns as a result of too much "Condy's crystals" being put into drinking water. As a result, he was to suffer stomach problems for the rest of his life. In July, Sturdee contracted influenza
and was evacuated from Anzac Cove.
Sturdee was promoted to major
on 28 August 1915, and in September assumed command of the 5th Field Company, a unit raised in Egypt
to support the newly formed 2nd Division. From then until the end of the campaign, he was responsible for all engineering
and mining work at Steele's, Quinn's and Courtney's Posts, three of the northernmost and most dangerous and exposed parts of the line. He departed Anzac for the last time on 17 December 1915, two days before the final evacuation.
. There was already another 5th Field Company in Egypt, which had been raised in Australia. Accordingly, Sturdee's 5th Field Company was renumbered 8th, and assigned to the 5th Division when it was formed in February 1916. This move gave the new division an experienced field company, but at the expense of items of the company's mail going to France
for a time and arriving back in Egypt marked "Not Fifth, try Eighth."
The 5th Division moved to France in June 1916, where it participated in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles
in July. During the action, Sturdee's 8th Field Company supported the 8th Infantry Brigade
. A trench dug by the former facilitated the latter's withdrawal across No Man's Land
. For his service at Gallipoli and Fromelles, Sturdee was mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Heavy losses in the fighting at Fromelles prevented the 5th Division from participating in the Battle of the Somme, but to free up another division to participate, II Anzac Corps
organised "Franks Force" to take over a divisional frontage in the Houplines
sector and Sturdee became its Commander Royal Engineers (CRE). When the 5th Division finally moved to the Somme sector in November, Sturdee became CRE in charge of the road from Albert
to Montauban
.
On 13 February 1917, Sturdee was appointed to command the 4th Pioneer Battalion, with the rank of lieutenant colonel
. Pioneer battalions were organised as infantry but contained a high percentage of tradesmen and were employed on construction tasks under engineer supervision. Over the next nine months the 4th Pioneer Battalion maintained roads, built camps, laid cables and dug trenches and dugouts. By 1917, the Australian government was pushing strongly for British Army
officers holding Australian commands and staff posts to be replaced by Australians. As part of this "Australianisation" of the Australian Corps
, Sturdee became CRE of the 5th Division on 25 November 1917, replacing a British Army officer. Ironically, on 27 March 1918, Sturdee was seconded to General Headquarters (GHQ) British Expeditionary Force as a staff officer, remaining there until 22 October 1918. This provided a rare opportunity, for an Australian officer, of observing the workings of a major headquarters engaged in active operations. For his service on the Western Front, Sturdee was mentioned in despatches a second time, and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
for his work at GHQ.
. In 1921, he attended the Staff College
at Quetta
in British India. Sturdee was an instructor in military engineering and surveying at the Royal Military College, Duntroon
from 16 February to 31 December 1924, before returning to Melbourne to serve on the staff of the 4th Division until 26 March 1929. Posted to the United Kingdom
, he served at the War Office
and attended the Imperial Defence College
in 1931. From 1 January 1931 to 31 December 1932, he was the military representative at the High Commission of Australia in London.
Sturdee was Director of Military Operations and Intelligence at Army Headquarters in Melbourne from 14 February 1933 to 1 March 1938, a period "when the Army was at rock bottom", and was then the Director of Staff Duties until 12 October 1938. He was given the brevet rank of colonel on 1 July 1935. It became temporary on 1 July 1936 and finally substantive on 1 July 1937, over twenty years after he had become a lieutenant colonel in the AIF. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours List in 1939 for his services on the Army Headquarters staff.
Like his predecessor as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, Colonel John Lavarack
, and many other officers, Sturdee had little faith in the government's "Singapore strategy
", which aimed to deter Japanese aggression through the presence of a powerful British fleet based at Singapore
. In 1933, Sturdee told senior officers that the Japanese "would all be regulars, fully trained and equipped for the operations, and fanatics who like dying in battle, whilst our troops would consist mainly of civilians hastily thrown together on mobilisation with very little training, short of artillery and possibly of gun ammunition."
, implemented a reorganisation of the Army in which the old military districts were replaced by larger commands led by lieutenant general
s. On 13 October 1939, Sturdee was promoted from colonel to lieutenant general and assumed control of the new Eastern Command. He had to supervise the raising, training and equipping of the new Second Australian Imperial Force
units being formed in New South Wales
, as well as the now-conscript Militia.
On 1 July 1940, Sturdee accepted a demotion to major general
in order to become the commander of Second AIF's newly-raised 8th Division, receiving the Second AIF serial number NX35000. His period in this command was brief. On 13 August 1940, the Chief of the General Staff, General
Sir Brudenell White
, was killed in the Canberra air disaster
. Sturdee was restored to his rank of lieutenant general and appointed as Chief of the General Staff. As such, he was responsible for the training and maintenance of the AIF in the Middle East
and the Far East
—although not their operational control—and for the administration and training of the Militia.
As the prospect of war with Japan became more likely, so also did the need to make appropriate arrangements for leading the defence of Australia. In 1935, Lavarack had recommended that in the event of war, the Military Board be abolished and its powers vested in a Commander in Chief. In April 1941, the Minister for the Army
, Percy Spender
, recommended that this now be done, with Sturdee becoming Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces
. Instead, the government elected to adopt the British system, in which the Military Board (or Army Council
as it was called there) continued to operate, with a separate GOC
Home Forces. On 5 August 1941, Major General Sir Iven Mackay was appointed to this newly created post. However, the idea of a Commander in Chief did not go away and editorials in the Sunday Telegraph
and the The Sydney Morning Herald
advocated the appointment.
, the 2/40th Infantry Battalion
and 2/2nd Independent Company
to Timor
, and the 2/22nd Infantry Battalion to Rabaul
. Sturdee knew that their prospects were slim but expected them to "to put up the best possible defence" with what resources they had, and hopefully slow the Japanese advance to allow time for reinforcements to arrive in Australia. When there were doubts about the morale of one commander, Sturdee replaced him with a staff officer from Army Headquarters who volunteered for the position, well aware of the odds. All the garrisons were overrun after a spirited defence, except for the 2/2nd Independent Company, which managed to hold on in East Timor
.
In February 1942, on advice from Lavarack that the Dutch East Indies
would soon fall, Sturdee urged the Australian government that its 17,800 troops returning from the Middle East, originally bound for Java
, be diverted to Australia, from which an offensive could be launched with American assistance, instead of to Burma. When Prime Minister
John Curtin
backed his Chief of the General Staff, it brought him into conflict with British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
and President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
. In the end, Curtin won his point, and subsequent events vindicated Sturdee's appreciation of the situation. Official historian Lionel Wigmore concluded:
was appointed Commander in Chief. Blamey decided that after the hectic events of the previous months, Sturdee needed a rest and appointed him as Head of the Australian Military Mission to Washington, DC, where the war's strategy was now being decided. Sturdee accepted on condition that after a year's duty in Washington he would be appointed to an important command. In Washington, Sturdee represented Australia before the Combined Chiefs of Staff
and managed to obtain the right of direct access to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army
, General
George Marshall
. For his services as Chief of the General Staff, Sturdee was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1943.
Sturdee returned to Australia and assumed command of the First Army on 1 March 1944. His headquarters was initially located in Queensland
, but on 2 October 1944 it opened at Lae
and Sturdee assumed command of the troops in New Guinea
. These included Lieutenant General Stanley Savige
's II Corps, with its headquarters at Torokina
on Bougainville
; Major General Alan Ramsay
's 5th Division on New Britain
; Major General Jack Stevens
' 6th Division at Aitape
; and the 8th Infantry Brigade
west of Madang
. On 18 October, Blamey issued an operational instruction that defined the role of the First Army: "by offensive action to destroy enemy resistance as opportunity offers without committing major forces." Sturdee was concerned by this order's ambiguity and sought clarification from Blamey. The Commander in Chief responded by stating that "my conception is that action must be of a gradual nature" involving the use of patrols to determine Japanese strengths and positions before large offensives were undertaken. The situation on New Britain was straightforward enough; the enemy was known to be stronger that the Australian forces there—although it was not realised just how much stronger— and so the best that could be done was eliminate small numbers of Japanese troops by aggressive patrolling. At Aitape, Stevens was tasked with pushing the Japanese back far enough to protect the airfields; but the 6th Division might be required for use elsewhere.On Bougainville, Savige had the strength and ability to conduct a major campaign, but Blamey counselled caution.
Sturdee therefore had to conduct three widely separated campaigns, the Aitape-Wewak campaign
, the New Britain campaign and the Bougainville Campaign, juggling a number of contradictory requirements, and doing so with limited resources. Shipping, which was controlled by General
Douglas MacArthur
's GHQ South West Pacific Area, was a source of "continual anxiety." On 18 July 1945, Sturdee wrote to Savige:
On 6 September 1945, Sturdee received the surrender of Japanese forces in the First Army area from General Hitoshi Imamura
, the commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army, and Admiral Jinichi Kusaka
, the commander of the South East Area Fleet, in a ceremony held on the deck of the British aircraft carrier
at Rabaul. The two Japanese swords handed over in the surrender ceremony, together with the sword worn by Sturdee, which was his father's, were presented to the Australian War Memorial
by Lady Sturdee in 1982. For his service in the final campaigns, Blamey recommended Sturdee for a knighthood, but this was reduced to a third mention in despatches.
In November 1945, the Minister for the Army, Frank Forde
, informed Blamey that the government had decided to re-establish the Military Board and he should vacate his office. Sturdee became Acting Commander in Chief on 1 December 1945. On 1 March 1946, the post of Commander in Chief was abolished and Sturdee became Chief of the General Staff again. There was much work to be done. The wartime Army had a strength of 383,000 in August 1945, of whom 177,000 were serving outside Australia. These troops had to be demobilised, but what should replace the wartime Army had not yet been determined. Sturdee and his Vice Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell
, had to develop an appropriate structure. The proposal submitted to Cabinet
called for national service
, a regular army of 33,000 and reserves of 42,000; but the government baulked at the £20m per annum price tag. A smaller force of 19,000 regulars and 50,000 reservists at a cost of £12.5m per annum was finally approved in 1947. Conditions of service were also overhauled. This laid the foundations for the Australian Army of the next fifty years, in which operations were conducted by regular troops rather than the Militia or specially enlisted expeditionary forces. At the same time, the Army still had to handle huge stockpiles of equipment, stores and supplies. Some were far in excess of the Army's needs and had to be deposed of. Hospitals still had to be run, although some were transferred to the Department of Repatriation. The Army had to maintain its schools and training establishments, if only on a cadre basis. Moreover, the Army had to field and maintain part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force
in Japan.
Sturdee retired on 17 April 1950. In recognition of his services, he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1951. In retirement, he continued to live in Kooyong, Melbourne. He became a director of the Australian arm of Standard Telephones and Cables
and was honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
from 1951 to 1956. The Army named the Landing Ship Medium Vernon Sturdee
after him. He died on 25 May 1966 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, where he was accorded a funeral with full military honours, and cremated. Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring
, a boyhood friend from Melbourne Grammar, was Principal Pall Bearer. Sturdee was survived by his wife, their daughter and one of their two sons. Before he died, he burned all his private papers. "I have done the job," he said. "It is over."
Lieutenant General (Australia)
Lieutenant general is the second-highest active rank of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of lieutenant general. It is also considered a three-star rank....
Sir Vernon Ashton Hobart Sturdee KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, DSO (16 April 1890 – 25 May 1966) was an Australian Army
Australian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
commander who served two terms as Chief of the General Staff. A regular officer of the Royal Australian Engineers
Royal Australian Engineers
The Royal Australian Engineers is a corps of the Australian Army . The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Staff Cadets, Armoured and Artillery Corps...
who joined the Militia
Australian Army Reserve
The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen Military Forces, the Militia and, unofficially, the...
in 1908, he was one of the original Anzacs during the First World War who participated in the landing at Gallipoli
Landing at Anzac Cove
The landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian and New Zealand forces on 25 April 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the Peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the first...
on 25 April 1915. In the campaign that followed, he commanded the 5th Field Company, before going to lead the 8th Field Company and 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. In 1918 he was seconded to General Headquarters (GHQ) British Expeditionary Force as a staff officer.
Ranked colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
at the outbreak of the Second World War, Sturdee was raised to lieutenant general
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
in 1940 and became Chief of the General Staff. He proceeded to conduct a doomed defence of the islands to the north of Australia against the advancing Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
forces. In 1942, he successfully advised the government to divert the Second Australian Imperial Force
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...
troops returning from the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
to Australia. He then became head of the Australian Military Mission to Washington, DC, where he represented Australia before the Combined Chiefs of Staff
Combined Chiefs of Staff
The Combined Chiefs of Staff was the supreme military command for the western Allies during World War II. It was a body constituted from the British Chiefs of Staff Committee and the American Joint Chiefs of Staff....
. As commander of the First Army in New Guinea in 1944–45, Sturdee directed the fighting at Aitape
Aitape-Wewak campaign
The Aitape–Wewak campaign was one of the final campaigns of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Between November 1944 and the end of the war in August 1945, the Australian 6th Division, with air and naval support, fought the Imperial Japanese 18th Army in northern New Guinea...
, and on New Britain and Bougainville. He was charged with destroying the enemy when opportunity presented itself, but had to do so with limited resources, and without committing his troops to battles that were beyond their strength.
When the war ended, Sturdee took the surrender of Japanese forces in the Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
area. Now one of the Army's most senior officers, he succeeded General
General (Australia)
General is the second highest rank, and the highest active rank, of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of General; it is also considered a four-star rank....
Sir Thomas Blamey
Thomas Blamey
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars, and the only Australian to date to attain the rank of field marshal....
as Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces
Australian Military Forces
The Australian Military Forces was the official name of the Army of Australia from 1916 to 1980. This encompassed both the "regular army", and the forces, variously known during this period as the Militia, the Citizen Military Forces and the Australian Citizen Military Force .Initially this...
in December 1945. He became the Chief of the General Staff a second time in 1946, serving in the post until his retirement in 1950. During this term, he had to demobilise the wartime Army while providing and supporting the Australian contingent of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force
British Commonwealth Occupation Force
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force , was the name of the joint Australian, Canadian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 21 February 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952...
in Japan. He developed a structure for the post-war Army that included regular combat formations. As a result, the Australian Regular Army was formed, laying the foundations for the service as it exists today.
Education and early life
Vernon Ashton Hobart Sturdee was born in Frankston, VictoriaFrankston, Victoria
Frankston is a suburb within the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia. It is located 40 km southeast of the state capital Melbourne at the southernmost edge of Greater Melbourne, near the beginnings of the Mornington Peninsula...
on 16 April 1890, the son of Alfred Hobart Sturdee and his wife Laura Isabell, née Merrett. Alfred Sturdee, a medical practitioner from England, came from a prominent naval family and was the brother of Lieutenant Doveton Sturdee
Doveton Sturdee
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, 1st Baronet, GCB, KCMG, CVO was a British admiral.-Naval career:...
, who later became an Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet
An admiral of the fleet is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments...
. Alfred emigrated to Australia in the 1880s, travelling as a ship's doctor. He served in the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
, where he was mentioned in despatches for an incident where he rode under fire to a donga
Donga (ditch)
In Afrikaans and Zulu, a Donga is a ditch formed by the erosion of soil. The word means "bank, side of a gully" in Zulu.They were extensively used by both sides during the Boer Wars as serendipitous defensive positions. Though present during this period, Dongas have become increasingly prevalent...
near the enemy's position to come to the aid of wounded men. Re-enlisting in the Australian Army Medical Corps as a captain in January 1905, he was promoted to major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in August 1908 and Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in December 1912. He later commanded the 2nd Field Ambulance at Gallipoli and, with the rank of colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
, was Assistant Director of Medical Services of the 1st Division
1st Division (Australia)
The 1st Division is the main formation of the Australian Army and contains the majority of the army's regular forces. Its headquarters is in Enoggera, a suburb of Brisbane...
on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. His Australian-born wife Laura, known as Lil, was the sister of Charles Merrett
Charles Merrett
Colonel Sir Charles Edward Merrett CBE was an Australian merchant, agriculturist and political activist....
, a prominent businessman and Militia
Australian Army Reserve
The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen Military Forces, the Militia and, unofficially, the...
officer. Her half-brother, Colonel Harry Perrin, was another prominent Militia officer.
Vernon Sturdee was educated at Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School
Melbourne Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, located in South Yarra and Caulfield, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
, before being apprenticed to an engineer at Jaques Brothers, Richmond, Victoria
Richmond, Victoria
Richmond is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra...
. Commissioned as a second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in the Corps of Engineers, the Militia's engineer component, on 19 October 1908, he was promoted to lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
in the Royal Australian Engineers
Royal Australian Engineers
The Royal Australian Engineers is a corps of the Australian Army . The RAE is ranked fourth in seniority of the corps of the Australian Army, behind the Staff Cadets, Armoured and Artillery Corps...
, as the permanent component was then known, on 1 February 1911. He married Edith Georgina Robins on 4 February 1913 at St Luke's Church of England, North Fitzroy
Fitzroy North, Victoria
Fitzroy North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Yarra and Moreland. At the 2006 Census, Fitzroy North had a population of 11,069....
, Melbourne.
Gallipoli
Sturdee joined the Australian Imperial ForceFirst Australian Imperial Force
The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...
(AIF) on 25 August 1914 with the rank of lieutenant. He was promoted to captain on 18 October, and appointed adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...
of the 1st Division Engineers. He embarked from Melbourne for Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
on the former P&O
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, is a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century. Following its sale in March 2006 to Dubai Ports World for £3.9 billion, it became a subsidiary of DP World; however, the P&O...
ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
RMS Orvieto on 21 October 1914. He participated in the landing at Anzac Cove
Landing at Anzac Cove
The landing at Anzac Cove was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian and New Zealand forces on 25 April 1915. The landing, north of Gaba Tepe on the Aegean coast of the Peninsula, was made by soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was the first...
on 25 April 1915
ANZAC Day
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
, disembarking from the transport before 9:00. His duties included supervising the engineer stores park on the beach at Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
, as well as the construction of Jam Tin Grenade
Jam Tin Grenade
The Double Cylinder, No 8 and No 9 hand grenades, also known as the "Jam Tin", were early designs used by the British Army in World War I.The Double Cylinder was one of the many grenades designed for British use in the early part of the First World War in response to the failings of the No 1...
s. He was evacuated twice for hospital treatment for enteric fever and for serious damage to his stomach lining from internal burns as a result of too much "Condy's crystals" being put into drinking water. As a result, he was to suffer stomach problems for the rest of his life. In July, Sturdee contracted influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
and was evacuated from Anzac Cove.
Sturdee was promoted to major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
on 28 August 1915, and in September assumed command of the 5th Field Company, a unit raised in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to support the newly formed 2nd Division. From then until the end of the campaign, he was responsible for all engineering
Military engineer
In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
and mining work at Steele's, Quinn's and Courtney's Posts, three of the northernmost and most dangerous and exposed parts of the line. He departed Anzac for the last time on 17 December 1915, two days before the final evacuation.
Western Front
On returning to Egypt after the evacuation of Anzac, Sturdee assumed responsibility for the provision of hutting at the AIF reinforcement camp at Tel el KebirTall al Kabir
Tall al Kebir or Tel-el-Kebir is 110 km north-north-east of Cairo and 75 kilometres south of Port Said on the edge of the Egyptian desert at the altitude of 29 m...
. There was already another 5th Field Company in Egypt, which had been raised in Australia. Accordingly, Sturdee's 5th Field Company was renumbered 8th, and assigned to the 5th Division when it was formed in February 1916. This move gave the new division an experienced field company, but at the expense of items of the company's mail going to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for a time and arriving back in Egypt marked "Not Fifth, try Eighth."
The 5th Division moved to France in June 1916, where it participated in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles
Battle of Fromelles
The Battle of Fromelles, sometimes known as the Action at Fromelles or the Battle of Fleurbaix , occurred in France between 19 July and 20 July 1916, during World War I...
in July. During the action, Sturdee's 8th Field Company supported the 8th Infantry Brigade
8th Brigade (Australia)
8th Brigade is an Australian Army Reserve combined-arms formation stationed in New South Wales.The 8th Brigade is one of six brigades of the Australian Army's 2nd Division, and includes units and personnel from all Armoured, Infantry, Artillery, Engineers, Signals, Ordinance , Medical, Nursing,...
. A trench dug by the former facilitated the latter's withdrawal across No Man's Land
No Man's Land
No man's land is an unoccupied area between two opposing positions.No Man's Land may also refer to:-Places:In the United Kingdom* No Man's Land, Cornwall, England* No Man's Land Fort, off the coast of England* Nomansland, Devon, England...
. For his service at Gallipoli and Fromelles, Sturdee was mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Heavy losses in the fighting at Fromelles prevented the 5th Division from participating in the Battle of the Somme, but to free up another division to participate, II Anzac Corps
II Anzac Corps
The II ANZAC Corps was an Australian and New Zealand First World War army corps formed in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the reorganization of the Australian Imperial Force following the evacuation of Gallipoli in November 1915, under the command of William Birdwood...
organised "Franks Force" to take over a divisional frontage in the Houplines
Houplines
Houplines is a communes in the Nord department in northern France.It is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole.Adjoining the communal cemetery is the Houplines Communal Cemetery Extension, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintained cemetery containing the graves of 466 identified...
sector and Sturdee became its Commander Royal Engineers (CRE). When the 5th Division finally moved to the Somme sector in November, Sturdee became CRE in charge of the road from Albert
Albert, Somme
Albert is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.It is located about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume.-History:Albert was founded as a Roman outpost called Encre, in about 54 BC...
to Montauban
Montauban
Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse....
.
On 13 February 1917, Sturdee was appointed to command the 4th Pioneer Battalion, with the rank of lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
. Pioneer battalions were organised as infantry but contained a high percentage of tradesmen and were employed on construction tasks under engineer supervision. Over the next nine months the 4th Pioneer Battalion maintained roads, built camps, laid cables and dug trenches and dugouts. By 1917, the Australian government was pushing strongly for British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officers holding Australian commands and staff posts to be replaced by Australians. As part of this "Australianisation" of the Australian Corps
Australian Corps
The Australian Corps was a World War I army corps that contained all five Australian infantry divisions serving on the Western Front. It was the largest corps fielded by the British Empire army in France...
, Sturdee became CRE of the 5th Division on 25 November 1917, replacing a British Army officer. Ironically, on 27 March 1918, Sturdee was seconded to General Headquarters (GHQ) British Expeditionary Force as a staff officer, remaining there until 22 October 1918. This provided a rare opportunity, for an Australian officer, of observing the workings of a major headquarters engaged in active operations. For his service on the Western Front, Sturdee was mentioned in despatches a second time, and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for his work at GHQ.
Between the wars
Sturdee embarked for Australia on 16 November 1918, where his AIF appointment was terminated on 14 March 1919. He was entitled to his AIF rank of lieutenant colonel as an honorary rank, but his substantive rank was still only that of a captain. He was given the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel on 1 January 1920, but this would not become substantive until 1 April 1932. Sturdee initially served as Senior Engineer Officer on the staff of the 3rd Military District at Victoria Barracks, MelbourneVictoria Barracks, Melbourne
Located on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Australia, Victoria Barracks Melbourne is of architectural and historical significance as one of the most impressive 19th century government buildings in Victoria, Australia.-Pre-World War II:...
. In 1921, he attended the Staff College
Command and Staff College
The Command and Staff College was established in 1907 at Quetta, Balochistan, British Raj, now in Pakistan, and is the oldest and the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army. It was established in 1905 in Deolali and moved to its present location at Quetta in 1907 under the name of Quetta...
at Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
in British India. Sturdee was an instructor in military engineering and surveying at the Royal Military College, Duntroon
Royal Military College, Duntroon
The Royal Military College, Duntroon is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is situated on picturesque grounds at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence...
from 16 February to 31 December 1924, before returning to Melbourne to serve on the staff of the 4th Division until 26 March 1929. Posted to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, he served at the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
and attended the Imperial Defence College
Royal College of Defence Studies
The Royal College of Defence Studies is an internationally-renowned institution and component of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom...
in 1931. From 1 January 1931 to 31 December 1932, he was the military representative at the High Commission of Australia in London.
Sturdee was Director of Military Operations and Intelligence at Army Headquarters in Melbourne from 14 February 1933 to 1 March 1938, a period "when the Army was at rock bottom", and was then the Director of Staff Duties until 12 October 1938. He was given the brevet rank of colonel on 1 July 1935. It became temporary on 1 July 1936 and finally substantive on 1 July 1937, over twenty years after he had become a lieutenant colonel in the AIF. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours List in 1939 for his services on the Army Headquarters staff.
Like his predecessor as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, Colonel John Lavarack
John Lavarack
Lieutenant General Sir John Dudley Lavarack KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was an Australian soldier who was Governor of Queensland from 1 October 1946 to 4 December 1957, the first Australian-born governor of that state....
, and many other officers, Sturdee had little faith in the government's "Singapore strategy
Singapore strategy
The Singapore strategy was a strategy of the British Empire between 1919 and 1941. It was a series of war plans that evolved over a twenty year period to deter or defeat aggression by the Empire of Japan by basing a fleet of the Royal Navy at Singapore. Ideally, this fleet would be able to...
", which aimed to deter Japanese aggression through the presence of a powerful British fleet based at Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. In 1933, Sturdee told senior officers that the Japanese "would all be regulars, fully trained and equipped for the operations, and fanatics who like dying in battle, whilst our troops would consist mainly of civilians hastily thrown together on mobilisation with very little training, short of artillery and possibly of gun ammunition."
Defence of Australia
In 1939, the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Ernest SquiresErnest Squires
Lieutenant General Ernest Ker Squires CB, DSO, MC was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served as Chief of the General Staff .-Military career:...
, implemented a reorganisation of the Army in which the old military districts were replaced by larger commands led by lieutenant general
Lieutenant General (Australia)
Lieutenant general is the second-highest active rank of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of lieutenant general. It is also considered a three-star rank....
s. On 13 October 1939, Sturdee was promoted from colonel to lieutenant general and assumed control of the new Eastern Command. He had to supervise the raising, training and equipping of the new Second Australian Imperial Force
Second Australian Imperial Force
The Second Australian Imperial Force was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act , neither the part-time Militia nor the full-time Permanent Military Force could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to...
units being formed in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, as well as the now-conscript Militia.
On 1 July 1940, Sturdee accepted a demotion to major general
Major General (Australia)
Major General is a senior rank of the Australian Army, and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of Major General. It is the third-highest active rank of the Australian Army, and is considered to be equivalent to a two-star rank...
in order to become the commander of Second AIF's newly-raised 8th Division, receiving the Second AIF serial number NX35000. His period in this command was brief. On 13 August 1940, the Chief of the General Staff, General
General (Australia)
General is the second highest rank, and the highest active rank, of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of General; it is also considered a four-star rank....
Sir Brudenell White
Brudenell White
General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White KCB, KCMG, KCVO, DSO was a senior officer in the Australian Army, who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1920 to 1923 and again from March to August 1940, when he was killed in the Canberra air disaster.-Early Life and career:White was born in St...
, was killed in the Canberra air disaster
Canberra air disaster, 1940
The 1940 Canberra air disaster was a plane crash that occurred near Canberra, the capital of Australia, on 13 August 1940, during World War II. The six passengers, including three members of the Australian Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff, and the four crew were all killed...
. Sturdee was restored to his rank of lieutenant general and appointed as Chief of the General Staff. As such, he was responsible for the training and maintenance of the AIF in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
—although not their operational control—and for the administration and training of the Militia.
As the prospect of war with Japan became more likely, so also did the need to make appropriate arrangements for leading the defence of Australia. In 1935, Lavarack had recommended that in the event of war, the Military Board be abolished and its powers vested in a Commander in Chief. In April 1941, the Minister for the Army
Minister for Defence (Australia)
The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...
, Percy Spender
Percy Spender
Sir Percy Claude Spender, KCVO, KBE, QC, , was an Australian politician. diplomat and jurist.Spender was born in Sydney and educated at the prestigious Fort Street High School and later the University of Sydney. He joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1915...
, recommended that this now be done, with Sturdee becoming Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces
Australian Military Forces
The Australian Military Forces was the official name of the Army of Australia from 1916 to 1980. This encompassed both the "regular army", and the forces, variously known during this period as the Militia, the Citizen Military Forces and the Australian Citizen Military Force .Initially this...
. Instead, the government elected to adopt the British system, in which the Military Board (or Army Council
Army Council (1904)
The Army Council is a governing board for the British military organization. It was created in 1904 along with other institutional changes made in that year to the British Army....
as it was called there) continued to operate, with a separate GOC
General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...
Home Forces. On 5 August 1941, Major General Sir Iven Mackay was appointed to this newly created post. However, the idea of a Commander in Chief did not go away and editorials in the Sunday Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
and the The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
advocated the appointment.
East Indies campaign
Sturdee attempted to defend the islands to the north of Australia as best he could. With only one AIF infantry brigade available, 23rd Infantry Brigade, he could only afford to defend the islands most strategically important to the defence of Australia. He sent the 2/21st Infantry Battalion to AmbonAmbon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of , and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...
, the 2/40th Infantry Battalion
2/40th Battalion (Australia)
The 2/40th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Formed in mid-1940 from personnel recruited from Tasmania, the battalion took part in the fighting against the Japanese on Timor in 1942...
and 2/2nd Independent Company
2/2nd Commando Squadron (Australia)
The 2/2nd Commando Squadron was one of 12 independent companies or commando squadrons raised by the Australian Army for service during World War II. The 2/2nd served in Timor, New Guinea and New Britain during World War II, taking part in the Battle of Timor in June 1942 as part of Sparrow Force...
to Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
, and the 2/22nd Infantry Battalion to Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
. Sturdee knew that their prospects were slim but expected them to "to put up the best possible defence" with what resources they had, and hopefully slow the Japanese advance to allow time for reinforcements to arrive in Australia. When there were doubts about the morale of one commander, Sturdee replaced him with a staff officer from Army Headquarters who volunteered for the position, well aware of the odds. All the garrisons were overrun after a spirited defence, except for the 2/2nd Independent Company, which managed to hold on in East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
.
In February 1942, on advice from Lavarack that the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
would soon fall, Sturdee urged the Australian government that its 17,800 troops returning from the Middle East, originally bound for Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, be diverted to Australia, from which an offensive could be launched with American assistance, instead of to Burma. When Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
backed his Chief of the General Staff, it brought him into conflict with British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. In the end, Curtin won his point, and subsequent events vindicated Sturdee's appreciation of the situation. Official historian Lionel Wigmore concluded:
Island campaigns
In March 1942, the Military Board was abolished and General Sir Thomas BlameyThomas Blamey
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars, and the only Australian to date to attain the rank of field marshal....
was appointed Commander in Chief. Blamey decided that after the hectic events of the previous months, Sturdee needed a rest and appointed him as Head of the Australian Military Mission to Washington, DC, where the war's strategy was now being decided. Sturdee accepted on condition that after a year's duty in Washington he would be appointed to an important command. In Washington, Sturdee represented Australia before the Combined Chiefs of Staff
Combined Chiefs of Staff
The Combined Chiefs of Staff was the supreme military command for the western Allies during World War II. It was a body constituted from the British Chiefs of Staff Committee and the American Joint Chiefs of Staff....
and managed to obtain the right of direct access to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...
, General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
George Marshall
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...
. For his services as Chief of the General Staff, Sturdee was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1943.
Sturdee returned to Australia and assumed command of the First Army on 1 March 1944. His headquarters was initially located in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, but on 2 October 1944 it opened at Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
and Sturdee assumed command of the troops in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. These included Lieutenant General Stanley Savige
Stanley Savige
Lieutenant General Sir Stanley George Savige, KBE, CB, DSO, MC, ED , was an Australian Army soldier and officer who served in World War I and World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant general....
's II Corps, with its headquarters at Torokina
Torokina
Torokina is a coastal village on the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. It is located on the western coast of that island, at ....
on Bougainville
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
; Major General Alan Ramsay
Alan Ramsay
Major General Sir Alan Hollick Ramsay , CBE, CB, DSO, ED, was a soldier in the Australian Army, who served in the First World War and was a general during the Second World War. He was mentioned in dispatches three times....
's 5th Division on New Britain
New Britain
New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...
; Major General Jack Stevens
Jack Stevens
Major General Sir Jack Edwin Stawell Stevens KBE, CB, DSO, ED was a senior officer in the Australian Army during the Second World War...
' 6th Division at Aitape
Aitape
Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals...
; and the 8th Infantry Brigade
8th Brigade (Australia)
8th Brigade is an Australian Army Reserve combined-arms formation stationed in New South Wales.The 8th Brigade is one of six brigades of the Australian Army's 2nd Division, and includes units and personnel from all Armoured, Infantry, Artillery, Engineers, Signals, Ordinance , Medical, Nursing,...
west of Madang
Madang
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
. On 18 October, Blamey issued an operational instruction that defined the role of the First Army: "by offensive action to destroy enemy resistance as opportunity offers without committing major forces." Sturdee was concerned by this order's ambiguity and sought clarification from Blamey. The Commander in Chief responded by stating that "my conception is that action must be of a gradual nature" involving the use of patrols to determine Japanese strengths and positions before large offensives were undertaken. The situation on New Britain was straightforward enough; the enemy was known to be stronger that the Australian forces there—although it was not realised just how much stronger— and so the best that could be done was eliminate small numbers of Japanese troops by aggressive patrolling. At Aitape, Stevens was tasked with pushing the Japanese back far enough to protect the airfields; but the 6th Division might be required for use elsewhere.On Bougainville, Savige had the strength and ability to conduct a major campaign, but Blamey counselled caution.
Aitape-Wewak campaign
The Aitape–Wewak campaign was one of the final campaigns of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Between November 1944 and the end of the war in August 1945, the Australian 6th Division, with air and naval support, fought the Imperial Japanese 18th Army in northern New Guinea...
, the New Britain campaign and the Bougainville Campaign, juggling a number of contradictory requirements, and doing so with limited resources. Shipping, which was controlled by General
General (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...
Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
's GHQ South West Pacific Area, was a source of "continual anxiety." On 18 July 1945, Sturdee wrote to Savige:
On 6 September 1945, Sturdee received the surrender of Japanese forces in the First Army area from General Hitoshi Imamura
Hitoshi Imamura
-External links:...
, the commander of the Japanese Eighth Area Army, and Admiral Jinichi Kusaka
Jinichi Kusaka
, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Fellow Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka was his cousin.-Biography:A native of Ishikawa Prefecture, Kusaka graduated from the 37th class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy, ranked 21st in a class of 179 cadets...
, the commander of the South East Area Fleet, in a ceremony held on the deck of the British aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
at Rabaul. The two Japanese swords handed over in the surrender ceremony, together with the sword worn by Sturdee, which was his father's, were presented to the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
by Lady Sturdee in 1982. For his service in the final campaigns, Blamey recommended Sturdee for a knighthood, but this was reduced to a third mention in despatches.
Post war
Frank Forde
Francis Michael Forde PC was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia. He was the shortest serving Prime Minister in Australia's history, being in office for only eight days.-Early life:...
, informed Blamey that the government had decided to re-establish the Military Board and he should vacate his office. Sturdee became Acting Commander in Chief on 1 December 1945. On 1 March 1946, the post of Commander in Chief was abolished and Sturdee became Chief of the General Staff again. There was much work to be done. The wartime Army had a strength of 383,000 in August 1945, of whom 177,000 were serving outside Australia. These troops had to be demobilised, but what should replace the wartime Army had not yet been determined. Sturdee and his Vice Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell
Sydney Rowell
Lieutenant General Sir Sydney Fairbairn Rowell, KBE, CB was an Australian soldier who served as Chief of the General Staff from 17 April 1950 to 15 December 1954...
, had to develop an appropriate structure. The proposal submitted to Cabinet
Cabinet of Australia
The Cabinet of Australia is the council of senior ministers of the Crown, responsible to parliament. The Cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister the Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, and serves at the former's pleasure. The strictly private...
called for national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
, a regular army of 33,000 and reserves of 42,000; but the government baulked at the £20m per annum price tag. A smaller force of 19,000 regulars and 50,000 reservists at a cost of £12.5m per annum was finally approved in 1947. Conditions of service were also overhauled. This laid the foundations for the Australian Army of the next fifty years, in which operations were conducted by regular troops rather than the Militia or specially enlisted expeditionary forces. At the same time, the Army still had to handle huge stockpiles of equipment, stores and supplies. Some were far in excess of the Army's needs and had to be deposed of. Hospitals still had to be run, although some were transferred to the Department of Repatriation. The Army had to maintain its schools and training establishments, if only on a cadre basis. Moreover, the Army had to field and maintain part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force
British Commonwealth Occupation Force
The British Commonwealth Occupation Force , was the name of the joint Australian, Canadian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 21 February 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952...
in Japan.
Sturdee retired on 17 April 1950. In recognition of his services, he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1951. In retirement, he continued to live in Kooyong, Melbourne. He became a director of the Australian arm of Standard Telephones and Cables
Standard Telephones and Cables
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd was a British telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications and related equipment R&D manufacturer. During its history STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including PCM and optical fibres.The company began life in London as...
and was honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
The Royal Corps of Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is a corps of the Australian Army that has responsibility for the maintenance and recovery of all land electrical and mechanical equipment...
from 1951 to 1956. The Army named the Landing Ship Medium Vernon Sturdee
Australian landing ship medium Vernon Sturdee (AV 1355)
The Australian landing ship medium Vernon Sturdee was a United States Navy landing ship medium which was later sold to Australia and operated by the Australian Army....
after him. He died on 25 May 1966 at the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, where he was accorded a funeral with full military honours, and cremated. Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring
Edmund Herring
Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Francis Herring, KCMG, KBE, DSO, MC, KStJ, ED, QC was an Australian Army officer during the Second World War, Lieutenant Governor of Victoria, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria.A Rhodes scholar, Herring was at New College, Oxford, when the First World...
, a boyhood friend from Melbourne Grammar, was Principal Pall Bearer. Sturdee was survived by his wife, their daughter and one of their two sons. Before he died, he burned all his private papers. "I have done the job," he said. "It is over."