Frank Berryman
Sir Frank Horton Berryman, was an Australian Army officer who served as a general during the Second World War. The son of an engine driver, he entered Duntroon in 1913. His class graduated early after the First World War broke out, and he served on the Western Front with the field artillery. After the war, he spent nearly twenty years as a major.
Berryman joined the Second Australian Imperial Force on 4 April 1940 with the rank of full colonel, and became General Staff Officer Grade 1 of the 6th Division. He was responsible for the staff work for the attacks on Bardia and Tobruk. In January 1941, Berryman became Commander, Royal Artillery, 7th Division, and was promoted to brigadier. During the Syria-Lebanon campaign, he commanded "Berryforce". He returned to Australia in 1942, becoming Major General, General Staff, of the First Army. Later that year, he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff under the Commander in Chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey, who brought him up to Port Moresby to simultaneously act as chief of staff of New Guinea Force. Berryman was intimately involved with the planning and execution of the Salamaua–Lae campaign and the Huon Peninsula campaign. In November 1943 he became acting commander of II Corps, which he led in the Battle of Sio. In the final part of the war, he was Blamey's representative at General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's headquarters and the Australian Army representative at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.
After the war, Berryman commanded Eastern Command. He directed the military response to the 1949 Australian coal strike. Berryman hoped to become Chief of the General Staff but was passed over as he was seen as a "Blamey man" by Prime Minister Ben Chifley. He retired and became the Director General of the Royal Tour of Queen Elizabeth II in 1954. He was chief executive officer of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales from 1954 to 1961.
Education and early life
Frank Horton Berryman was born in Geelong, Victoria, on 11 April 1894, the fourth of six children and the eldest of three sons of William Lee Berryman, a Victorian Railways engine driver, and his wife, Annie Jane, née Horton. William Berryman joined in the 1903 Victorian Railways strike and, when it failed, was reinstated with a 14 per cent pay cut, only regaining his 1903 pay level in 1916. Frank was educated at Melbourne High School, where he served in the school Cadet Unit, and won the Rix prize for academic excellence. On graduation, he took a job with the Victorian railways as a junior draughtsman.In 1913, Berryman entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, having ranked first among the 154 candidates on the entrance examination. Of the 33 members in his class, nine died in the First World War, and six later became generals: Leslie Beavis, Berryman, William Bridgeford, John Chapman, Edward Milford and Alan Vasey. Berryman rose to fifth in order of merit before his class graduated early, in June 1915, because of the outbreak of the First World War.
First World War
Berryman's Duntroon class had not yet completed its military training. Major General William Throsby Bridges decided that regimental duty would rectify that deficiency, so he assigned the Duntroon cadets as regimental officers of the First Australian Imperial Force, rather than as staff officers. Cadets were given the choice of service in the infantry or light horse. One cadet, Lawrence Wackett, protested that he wished to serve in the technical services. When asked if they would prefer the technical services, twelve cadets, including Berryman, Beavis, Clowes, Vasey, and Wackett stepped forward. Berryman was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Permanent Military Forces on 29 June 1915 and again in the First AIF on 1 July 1915. He was posted to Lieutenant Colonel Harold Grimwade's 4th Field Artillery Brigade of the 2nd Division Artillery, along with Vasey and Milford. Berryman embarked for Egypt with the 4th Field Artillery Brigade on the transport Wiltshire on 17 November 1915. In Egypt, Berryman briefly commanded the 4th Brigade Ammunition Column before it was absorbed into the 2nd Division Ammunition Column.The 2nd Division moved to France in March 1916. Berryman became a temporary captain on 1 April 1916, a rank which became substantive on 10 June 1916. In January 1917, he was posted to the 7th Infantry Brigade as a trainee staff captain. During the Second Battle of Bullecourt he served with 2nd Division headquarters. He was appointed to command the 18th Field Artillery Battery, and became a temporary major on 1 September 1917, which became substantive on 10 September 1917. This was as far as he could go, for Duntroon graduates could not be promoted above major in the AIF. This policy was aimed at giving them a broad range of experience, which would benefit the Army, while not allowing them to outnumber the available post-war positions.
While commanding the 18th Field Battery, Berryman saw action at the Battle of Passchendaele. For his service as a battery commander in this battle, he received a Mention in Despatches:
In September 1918, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His citation, signed by Major General Charles Rosenthal, read:
Berryman was later nominated for a bar to his Distinguished Service Order for the September 1918 fighting, but this was subsequently downgraded to a second Mention in Despatches. He was wounded in the right eye in September 1918 while he was commanding the 14th Field Artillery Battery. Although his wound was serious enough to warrant hospitalisation, there was no permanent damage to his vision. It was however the end of his career as a battery commander, as the Army took the opportunity to transfer him to a staff post. From 28 October 1918 to 1 July 1919, he was brigade major of the 7th Infantry Brigade. With the war over, he returned to Australia in October 1919.
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—and pay grade—was still lieutenant. Promotion was painfully slow. He was promoted to captain and brevet major on 1 March 1923, 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. On returning to Australia, he became an inspecting ordnance officer at the 2nd Military District. From its headquarters at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, the 2nd Military District administered the Army in most of New South Wales. He enrolled in a Bachelor of Science program at the University of Sydney. On 30 November 1925, he married Muriel Whipp. They eventually had a daughter and a son.
Berryman discontinued his university studies to prepare for the entrance examination for Staff College, Camberley. Eighteen Australian Army officers sat the exam that year, but only Berryman and one other officer passed. Only two Australian officers were accepted into staff college each year, so Berryman's attendance from 1926 to 1928 marked him out as one of the Australian Army's rising talents. It also allowed him to forge useful contacts with the British Army. Berryman later recalled, "The advantage of this was that in war we had the same doctrine of tactics and administration, which was essential if we had to work together. More than that, the officers who had to carry out their duties in cooperation knew each other personally." After graduation he was posted to the High Commission of Australia, London, from 1929 to 1932, where he served under the Military Liaison Officer, Major General Julius Bruche.
After nearly twenty years as a major, Berryman was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 12 May 1935. Promotion to substantive rank, which carried the rank's pay as well as status, occurred on 1 July 1938, when he became assistant director of Military Operations at Army Headquarters. From December 1938 to April 1940 he was General Staff Officer Grade 1 of the 3rd Division. The slow rate of promotion of regular officers in the inter-war years fostered a sense of injustice and frustration among officers with good war records who found themselves outranked by Militia officers who had enjoyed faster promotion.
Second World War
Libya
The final straw for many regular officers was Prime Minister Robert Menzies' announcement that all commands in the Second AIF would go to Militia officers, which Berryman considered "a damn insult to the professional soldier, calculated to split the Army down the centre. We were to be the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. We, the only people who really knew the job, were to assist these Militia fellows."Berryman joined the Second AIF on 4 April 1940 with the rank of full colonel, receiving the AIF serial number of VX20308, and became General Staff Officer Grade 1 of Major General Iven Mackay's 6th Division, in succession to Sydney Rowell who stepped up to become chief of staff of I Corps. Berryman soon established a good working relationship with Mackay. Despite the friction between Militia and Staff Corps officers, Berryman chose to assess officers on performance. This meant that while Berryman viewed some Militia officers, like Brigadier Stanley Savige of the 17th Infantry Brigade, with disdain, he maintained good relations with others. There were also personal and professional rivalries with other Staff Corps officers, such as Alan Vasey. Yet even those who disliked Berryman personally for his lack of patience and tact and referred to him as "Berry the Bastard" respected his abilities as a staff officer.
Mackay and Berryman were determined that the Battle of Bardia would not be a repeat of the disastrous landing at Anzac Cove in 1915. Berryman's talent for operational staff work came to the fore. From studies of aerial photographs, he selected a spot for the attack where the terrain was most favourable. His plan provided for the coordination of infantry, armour and artillery. Though at times he proved secretive and hard to deal with, during the battle his forceful personality provided a good foil to the sometimes indecisive Mackay. Later that month Berryman planned the equally successful Battle of Tobruk. For his services in this campaign, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.