Reg Pollard (general)
Sir Reginald George Pollard | |
---|---|
Born | Bathurst, New South Wales | 20 January 1903
Died | 9 March 1978 Wyrallah, New South Wales | (aged 75)
Allegiance | Australia |
Service/branch | Australian Army |
Service years | 1921–1963 |
Rank | Lieutenant General |
Service number | 214 (NX70398) [1] |
Commands held | 2/31st Battalion (1941) Recruit Training Centre (1946) Australian Army Component BCOF (1953) Eastern Command (1957–1960) Chief of the General Staff (1960–1963) |
Battles/wars | Second World War
Mentioned in Despatches |
Other work | Australian Secretary to Elizabeth II (1970) |
Born in
Pollard's early post-war roles involved recruit training, land/air warfare, administration, and planning. In 1953, he was promoted to
Early life
Reginald George Pollard was born on 20 January 1903 in
Ranked
Second World War
Following the declaration of war, Pollard served as Assistant Military Liaison Officer at the Australian High Commission, London; during this posting he spent two weeks attached to the British Expeditionary Force in France.[2][6] Promoted major, he joined the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in June 1940.[2] The provisions of the Defence Act (1903) prohibited members of the PMF or the CMF fighting outside Australian territory except as volunteers in the AIF.[12] Pollard was appointed brigade major of the 25th Brigade, an Australian infantry formation raised in England, mostly from logistics personnel, to help combat a possible invasion by Nazi Germany.[2][13] The brigade became part of the Australian 9th Division, and in January 1941 sailed for the Middle East; it was transferred to the 7th Division on arrival.[13]
In March 1941, Pollard was assigned to the 7th Division's headquarters staff in Libya under Lieutenant General
Returning to Australia in August 1942, Pollard was appointed General Staff Officer Grade 1 of the 6th Division; he served on its headquarters in Papua from September until mid-November, when he became Major General George Vasey's senior staff officer at the 7th Division.[2][20] Pollard received the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in operations at Gona and Sanananda, during which he "displayed unlimited energy and ascertained vital information for use in future operations"; the award was promulgated on 21 December 1943.[21][22] At the conclusion of the Papuan campaign in January 1943, Pollard was posted to Queensland with the 6th Division, which was undergoing training and reinforcement.[2][23] He was Chief Instructor of the Senior Staff School at Duntroon from December 1943 until February 1945, when he became deputy director of Military Operations at General Sir Thomas Blamey's Allied Land Forces Headquarters in Melbourne.[2][24]
Post-war career
Rise to Chief of the General Staff
Pollard held command of the Army's
In January 1952, Pollard succeeded Colonel John Wilton as Director of Military Operations and Plans at Army Headquarters, and became Chairman of the Joint Planning Committee.[2][28] That August he was one of the Australian delegates joining the Minister for External Affairs, Richard Casey, for the inaugural meeting of the ANZUS Council in Honolulu; the US and New Zealand delegations were led, respectively, by Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Minister for External Affairs Clifton Webb.[2][29] Pollard also took part in planning for the atomic test at Montebello, Western Australia, in October 1952.[30] Promoted to temporary brigadier in March 1953, Pollard acted as Australian military advisor to Prime Minister Robert Menzies at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London that June.[2][31] From July to November he served as commander of the Australian Army Component of the British Commonwealth Forces Korea; the role was responsible for managing the turnover of Australian troops in the theatre and the upkeep of their personal records.[2][32] Pollard was later appointed Deputy Adjutant General at Army Headquarters, and his rank of brigadier became substantive in December 1953.[2][6]
In September 1954, Pollard was promoted to temporary
Chief of the General Staff
On 1 July 1960, Pollard succeeded Lieutenant General
As CGS, Pollard oversaw a major restructure of the Army.[2] Following the lead of the US military, in 1960 the Australian Army replaced its "triangular" divisional structure of three infantry battalions under brigade headquarters, with a "pentropic" organisation consisting of five larger battalions without a brigade layer between division and battalion headquarters.[44] The reorganisation had been sponsored by Garrett and agreed to by Townley in December 1959.[41][45] According to historian Chris Clark, Pollard was "personally ambivalent" about the change, which was intended to rationalise resources and strengthen the battalions for overseas deployments but also resulted in the disbandment of the citizens' brigades and many other militia units.[2][44] The US in any case abandoned the pentropic system in June 1961, and the Australian Army ultimately returned to the triangular formation following a review commissioned by Pollard's successor as CGS, Lieutenant General Wilton, in October 1964.[46][47] Another of Pollard's focus areas as CGS was the academic qualifications of Army officers. Concerned that Duntroon graduates would begin to fall behind their tertiary-educated peers in the community, he worked to make the college a degree-granting institution, though this did not come to fruition until 1968.[48]
In December 1961, Pollard told the Secretary of the Defence Committee that he considered the Army's strength inadequate to support the government's policy of "forward defence", which involved meeting Communist aggression in South East Asia, well away from the Australian mainland. The CMF, he contended, was not properly equipped to provide relief for regular forces deployed overseas, and conscription "would appear to be politically and economically out of the question".
Retirement
Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of sixty, Pollard left the military on 20 January 1963, having recommended Wilton as his successor.
Notes
- ^ "Pollard, Reginald George". Department of Veterans' Affairs. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
- ^ "Royal Military College, Duntroon". The Queanbeyan Age. 12 December 1924. p. 6. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ Moore, Duntroon, p. 64
- ^ Moore, Duntroon, pp. 69–70
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j The Army List, p. 185
- ^ a b "Biography: Lieut-Gen. Sir Reginald Pollard". The Western Herald. 1 February 1963. p. 7. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ "Weddings". The Bathurst Times. 7 November 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ "Personal". The National Advocate. 17 December 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ "Annual meeting". The West Australian. 3 October 1936. p. 18. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ Dawnay; Headlam, The Army Quarterly, p. 161
- ^ Johnston, The Australian Army in World War II, p. 5
- ^ a b "25th Brigade". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ a b Long, To Benghazi, p. 303 Archived 4 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dexter, Greece, Crete and Syria, p. 464 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dexter, Greece, Crete and Syria, p. 513 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "No. 35396". The London Gazette. 30 December 1941. pp. 7339–7358.
- ^ "AIF men on staff". The Advertiser. 23 January 1942. p. 9. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ McCarthy, South-West Pacific Area, pp. 118–119 Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ McCarthy, South-West Pacific Area, p. 414 Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "South-West Pacific". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 December 1943. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ "No. 36297". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 December 1943. p. 5574.
- ^ Dexter, The New Guinea Offensives, p. 55 Archived 16 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Long, The Final Campaigns, p. 593 Archived 10 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Personal". The Argus. 19 February 1947. p. 4. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Stephens, Going Solo, p. 308
- ^ "National Service, 1951–59". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "Australian for artillery talks". The Advocate. 9 January 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "Pact talks in Hawaii". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 July 1952. p. 2. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "New type of weapon experts believe". The Canberra Times. 4 October 1952. p. 1. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "PM will speak on world situation". The Mercury. 4 June 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- ^ O'Neill, Combat Operations, p. 238
- ^ Horner, Strategic Command, p. 200
- ^ "Check-up on Malaya force". The Argus. 6 December 1955. p. 22. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "Malaya force has complaints". The Canberra Times. 23 December 1955. p. 1. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "General Pollard new Army chief of staff". The Canberra Times. 18 February 1960. p. 2. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "NSW Governor farewelled". The Canberra Times. 1 August 1957. p. 1. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ Palazzo, The Australian Army, pp. 224, 238
- ^ "No. 40498". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 June 1955. p. 3298.
- ^ "No. 41728". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 1959. p. 3735.
- ^ a b c d Horner Strategic Command, pp. 194–195
- ^ "No. 42371". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1961. p. 4180.
- ^ Grey, The Australian Army, pp. 199–200
- ^ a b Grey, The Australian Army, pp. 204–207
- ^ McNeill, To Long Tan, p. 13
- ^ Grey, The Australian Army, pp. 209
- ^ Dennis et al, Oxford Companion to Australian Military History, pp. 419–420
- ^ Moore, Duntroon, pp. 269–275
- ^ Horner, Strategic Command, pp. 198, 396
- ^ McNeill, To Long Tan, p. 25
- ^ McNeill, To Long Tan, p. 12
- ^ McNeill, To Long Tan, pp. 38–39
- ^ Horner, Strategic Command, p. 215
- ^ "No. 45110". The London Gazette. 29 May 1970. pp. 6039–6040.
- ^ "In brief: General dies". The Canberra Times. 11 March 1978. p. 3. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
References
- The Army List of Officers of the Australian Military Forces. Melbourne: OCLC 780459393.
- OCLC 2338035.
- Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; Prior, Robin (2008) [1995]. The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2nd ed.). South Melbourne: ISBN 978-0-19-551784-2.
- Dexter, David (1961). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series One (Army) Volume VI – The New Guinea Offensives. Canberra: OCLC 2028994.
- ISBN 0-19-554114-6.
- ISBN 0-19-555282-2.
- ISBN 978-1-84603-123-6.
- OCLC 150466804.
- Long, Gavin (1963). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series One (Army) Volume VII – The Final Campaigns. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 1297619.
- McCarthy, Dudley (1959). Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series One (Army) Volume V – South-West Pacific Area. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 3134247.
- McNeill, Ian (1993). To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966. North Sydney: ISBN 1-86373-282-9.
- Moore, Darren (2001). Duntroon 1911–2001: A History of the Royal Military College of Australia. Canberra: ISBN 1-876439-97-1.
- ISBN 0-642-04330-2.
- Palazzo, Albert (2011). The Australian Army: A History of Its Organisation 1901–2001. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-195-51506-0.
- Stephens, Alan (1995). Going Solo: The Royal Australian Air Force 1946–1971. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-42803-1.