Frank Horton Berryman

Infobox Military Person
name= Frank Horton Berryman
lived= 11 April 1894 – Death date and age|1981|5|28|1894|4|11|df=yes
placeofbirth= Geelong, Victoria
placeofdeath=


caption= Lieutenant General Frank Berryman, VX20308, 13 March 1944
nickname= "Berry"
allegiance=Australia
branch=Australian Army
serviceyears= 1915 - 1954
rank= Lieutenant General
commands= II Corps
I Corps
unit=
battles= World War I:
*Western Front
World War II:
*Western Desert Campaign
*Syria-Lebanon campaign
*Netherlands East Indies campaign
*Battle of Buna-Gona
*Salamaua-Lae campaign
*Finisterre Range campaign
*Huon Peninsula campaign
*Philippines campaign (1944–45)
*Borneo Campaign (1945)
awards= Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Mention in Despatches (4)
laterwork=Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales

Lieutenant General Sir Frank Horton Berryman, KCVO, CB, CBE, DSO (11 April 1894 – 28 May 1981) was an Australian Army officer during World War II.

Education and Early Life

Frank Horton Berryman was born in Geelong, Victoria on 11 April 1894, the son of William Lee Berryman and Annie Jane Horton. He was educated at Melbourne High School, where he won the Rix prize for academic excellence.Peter Dean, 'The Forgotten Man: Lieut.-General Sir Frank Berryman', "Journal of the Australian War Memorial", No.37, October 2002. http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j37/berryman.htm ]

In 1913, he entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australia. Of 33 members of his class, nine died in the Great War, and six later became generals: Leslie Ellis Beavis, Frank Horton Berryman, William Bridgeford, John Austin Chapman, Edward James Milford and George Alan Vasey. The Great War caused his class to be graduated early, in June 1915.cite book | last = Horner | first = David | title = General Vasey's War | publisher = Melbourne University Press | date = 1992 | location = Melbourne | pages = pp. 4-10 | isbn = 0 522 84462 6 ]

Great War

Berryman was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Permanent Military Forces (PMF) on 29 June 1915, and joined the First AIF, in which he was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 1 July 1915."AMF Army List of Officers", October 1950]

He was posted to the 4th Field Artillery Battery of the 2nd Division Artillery, and sailed for Egypt in December 1915. The 2nd Division moved to France in March 1916. He became a temporary captain 1 April 1916, which became substantive on 10 June 1916. He was appointed to command the 18th Field Battery, and became a temporary major on 1 September 1917, which became substantive on 10 September 1917. He was wounded in the right eye in September 1918 while he was commanding the 14th Field Battery. From 28 October 1918 to 1 July 1919, he was Brigade Major of the 7th Infantry Brigade. He returned to Australia in October 1919. For his service as a battery commander, he was twice Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order. [LondonGazette|issue=31092|supp=yes|startpage=17|endpage=21|date=31 December 1918|accessdate=2007-11-27]

Between the Wars

Berryman was appointed to the Staff Corps on 1 October 1920. Although he was entitled to keep his AIF rank of major as an honorary rank, his substantive rank was still lieutenant. He was promoted to captain and brevet major on 1 March 1923, [LondonGazette|issue=33650|startpage=6095|date=7 October 1930|accessdate=2008-02-10] but was not promoted to the substantive rank of major until 1 March 1935.

Berryman attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1920 to 1923 and Staff College, Camberley from 1926 to 1928. He served at the Australian High Commission in London from 1929 to 1932. [LondonGazette|issue=33792|startpage=487|date=22 January 1932|accessdate=2008-02-10]

On 30 November 1925, he married Muriel Whipp. They eventually had a daughter and a son.

After nearly twenty years as a major, he was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 12 May 1935 and substantive rank on 1 July 1938, when he became Assistant Director of Military Operations at Army Headquarters. From December 1938 to April 1940 he was GSO1 of the 3rd Division.

World War II

Berryman joined the Second AIF on 4 April 1940 with the rank of full colonel, and became GSO1 of the 6th Division in succession to Sidney Rowell who stepped up to become chief of staff of the I Corps. Berryman's talent for operational staff work came to the fore, and as senior operations staff officer of the 6th Division, he was responsible for the operational staff work for the attacks on Bardia and Tobruk. For his services, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), [LondonGazette|issue=35209|supp=yes|startpage=3881|date=8 July 1941|accessdate=2007-11-27] and Mentioned in Despatches. [LondonGazette|issue=35396|startpage=7339|date=26 December 1941|accessdate=2008-02-10]

This period was far from harmonious however. Despite the friction between Militia and Staff Corps officers, Berryman choose to assess officer on performance. This meant that Berryman viewed some Militia officers, like Brigadier Stanley Savige of the 17th Infantry Brigade, with disdain yet he maintained very good relations with other Militia officers such as Brigadier Arthur Samuel Allen of the 16th Infantry Brigade and Major General Iven Mackay. There were also personal rivalries with other Staff Corps officers such as Colonel George Vasey. Yet even those who disliked him personally respected his abilities as a staff officer. [Dean, P.J., "The Making of a General: Lost Years Forgotten Battles: Lieutenant General Frank Berryman 1894-1941", PhD Thesis, University of New South Wales, 2007. http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-NUN/public/adt-NUN20071022.112921/ ]

In January 1941, Berryman became Commander, Royal Artillery, 7th Division and was promoted to Brigadier. During the Syria-Lebanon campaign, he commanded "Berry Force" at Battle of Merdjayoun. Although he had built his reputation as a gunner and a staff officer, Berryman showed in Syria that he was a thrusting commander who led from the front and repeatedly demonstrated his coolness under fire. When his headquarters came under shell fire for the first time, Berryman sat calmly eating his breakfast "among the flying brick dust and bursting shells", simply telling the men to shut the door, "so they can eat breakfast without being covered in dust". During the Vichy French counterattack, Berryman was given command of the Australian forces in the centre of the position around Merdjayoun. For two weeks, outnumbered and outgunned, he battled to retake the strategically important town and stop the Vichy French from penetrating the Allied positions.

On 3 August 1941, Berryman became Brigadier General Staff (BGS) - chief of staff - of I Corps, again in succession to Sidney Rowell, who became Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS). As such, he served under Lieutenant General John Lavarack. Along with the headquarters staff of I Corps, Berryman arrived in Jakarta on 26 January 1942 to plan its defence. It soon became apparent that the situation was hopeless and any troops committed to the defence of Java would be lost.

Berryman returned to Australia, where he was promoted to Major General on 6 April 1942, when he became Major General General Staff - chief of staff - of Lavarack's First Army.

On 14 September 1942, Berryman became DCGS under the Commander in Chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey, in succession to Major General George Vasey. When New Guinea Force split into a rear headquarters under Blamey and an advanced headquarters under Lieutenant General Edmund Herring, so the latter could go forward to direct the Battle of Buna-Gona, Blamey brought Berryman up from Advanced LHQ in Brisbane to simultaneously act as chief of staff of New Guinea Force.

As such, Berryman formed a very close professional and personal relationship with Blamey, and henceforth Berryman would be Blamey's chief of staff and head of operational planning, which made him "one of the most important officers in the Australian Army in its struggle against the Japanese."

Blamey and Berryman remained close for the rest of the war, and Blamey came to rely heavily on Berryman for advice. It was Berryman who was sent to Wau to investigate the difficulties that Major General Stanley Savige was having, and it was Berryman who exonerated Savige.

Berryman was intimately involved with the planning of the Salamaua-Lae campaign, working closely with Brigadier General Stephen Chamberlin at General Douglas MacArthur's GHQ in Brisbane. Berryman established good working relations with the Americans, even though their staff practices were quite different to those of the Australian Army.

Berryman was also involved in the plan's execution, once more becoming chief of staff at New Guinea Force under Blamey. Berryman was frustrated at the failure of the Vasey's 7th Division to destroy the Japanese retreating from Lae, and personally annoyed by the way that Vasey forwarded compliments to Brigadier General Ennis Clement Whitehead while leaving any complaints about air support to be taken up by Berryman.

Berryman was next involved with the planning for the landing at Finschhafen, brokering a compromise landing plan between Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey and Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring. When Berryman discovered that the United States Seventh Fleet did not intend to reinforce the 9th Division he immediately went to Blamey, who took the matter up with MacArthur. However, it was Berryman who brokered a compromise deal with Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender to reinforce Finschhafen with a battalion in APDs.

On 7 November 1943, Berryman became acting commander of II Corps, a post which became permanent on 20 January 1944, superseding Vasey, whose 7th Division was diplomatically placed directly under Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead's New Guinea Force. II Corps was left with the 5th and 9th Divisions. Berryman was promoted to Lieutenant General on 20 January 1944.

As in Syria, Berryman proved a hard driving commander. In December 1943, II Corps broke out of the position around Finschhafen and began a pursuit along the coast. Whenever the Japanese Army attempted to make a stand, Berryman attacked with 25-pounder artillery barrages and Matilda tanks. Berryman was aware that seasonal changes were making the surf rougher and making it ever harder to operate the US Army LCMs and Australian Army DUKWs that he depended for the logistical support of his troops, but he realised that the Japanese Army's supply difficulties were greater than his own, and he gambled that if he pushed hard enough the Japanese would be unable to regroup and organise a successful defence.

Between Finschhafen and Sio, 3,099 Japanese dead were counted and 38 prisoners taken, at a cost of 8 Australians were killed and 48 wounded. In the 5th Division's subsequent drive from Sio to link up with the US 32nd Infantry Division at Saidor, 734 Japanese were killed and 1,775 found dead, while 48 prisoners were taken. Australian casualties came to 4 killed and 6 wounded. MacArthur considered Berryman's performance "quite brilliant". For his part in the campaign, Berryman was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 8 March 1945. [LondonGazette|issue=36972|supp=yes|startpage=1297|date=6 March 1945|accessdate=2008-02-10]

II Corps was renumbered I Corps on 13 April 1944 and returned to Australia. There, Blamey gave Berryman his next assignment. In preparation for the Philippines campaign (1944–45), General MacArthur moved the advance element of GHQ to Hollandia in Dutch West Papua, where it opened in late August 1944. To maintain contact with GHQ, General Blamey formed a new headquarters, Forward Echelon LHQ, which opened at Hollandia on 7 September under Berryman, who became his personal representative at GHQ. Forward Echelon LHQ later moved with GHQ to Leyte in February 1945, and Manila in April 1945. Berryman's role was to "safeguard Australian interests" at GHQ, but he also defended GHQ against criticism from the Australian Army.

As well as liaising with GHQ, Forward Echelon LHQ became responsible for planning operations involving Australian troops. Plans were worked up for operations on Luzon and Mindanao before it was finally decided that Borneo would be the Australian Army's objective. In all of this Berrymen kept in close contact with Blamey. Berryman was the Australian Army representative at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.

Later life

After the war, Berryman was appointed to command Eastern Command, an appointment he held from March 1946 until his retirement at age 60 in April 1954. Berryman hoped to become Chief of the General Staff in succession to Lieutenant General Vernon Sturdee but he was seen as a "Blamey man" by the Prime Minister, Ben Chifley and his Labor government colleagues, who did disliked the former Commander-in-Chief. The job was instead given to Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell. He received a further Mention in Despatches on 6 March 1947 (dated 2 November 1946). [LondonGazette|issue=37898|supp=yes|startpage=1091|date=4 March 1947|accessdate=2008-02-10] The United States government awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm in 1948."Who's Who in Australia" (1977), pp. 107-108] Following the change of government in 1949, Berryman lobbied Sir Eric Harrison, the Liberal Minister for Defence Production for the job on the retirement of Rowell in 1954, but he was now considered too old for the job.Dennis "et all", "Oxford Companion to Australian Military History", pp. 96-97]

Berryman became the Director General of the Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954, for which he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO). [LondonGazette|issue=40159|startpage=2500|date=27 April 1954|accessdate=2008-02-10]

He was Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1954 to 1961.

He died on 28 May 1981.

References