Freddie de Guingand

Major-General Sir Francis Wilfred "Freddie" de Guingand, (28 February 1900 – 29 June 1979) was a British Army officer who served as Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery's chief of staff from the Second Battle of El Alamein until the end of the Second World War.

He played an important diplomatic role in sustaining relations between the notoriously difficult Montgomery and his peers and superiors.

Francis Wilfred de Guingand was born in Acton, London, on 28 February 1900, the second of the four children of Francis Julius de Guingand, a briar-wood tobacco pipe manufacturer, and his wife Mary Monica Priestman.

He had an older sister, Marine Pauline, and two younger brothers.

The family lived comfortably near Gunnersbury Park in London.

He was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, starting in 1909, and then from 1915 at Ampleforth College.

De Guingand entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst on 10 September 1918, ranked fifteenth in his class on entry.

While there he acquired the nickname "Freddie", after Freddie the Frog, a popular cartoon character, an allusion to his French surname.

On graduation he chose to join the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own), which had sponsored the Officers' Training Corps unit at Ampleforth.

A graduate of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, de Guingand joined the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) in December 1919.

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the regiment on 17 December 1919.

Through the intervention of Montgomery, with whom he had formed a friendship during their service together the 1920s and 1930s, he secured a nomination to 1935–36 course at the Staff College, Camberley.

Encouraged by his father, who was elected Vice-Commodore of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in 1921, he acquired a passion for sailing.

The family owned a yacht that was normally kept at Burnham-on-Crouch, and sailed it to France and Spain on summer vacations.

De Guingand intended to join the Royal Navy, but was rejected for being colour blind, and joined the British Army instead.

He was immediately sent to join its 2nd Battalion in British India, where he was promoted to lieutenant on 17 December 1921.

A serious case of gallstones led to de Guingand being invalided back to the UK in 1922, but he recovered, and rejoined his regiment at Cork in Ireland.

He served in India and Ireland, and was seconded to the King's African Rifles in Nyasaland from 1926 to 1931.

In 1926 de Guingand volunteered for service on secondment with the King's African Rifles.

Overseas postings to colonial units were a popular option for young subalterns at the time, as they offered higher pay, greater responsibility, and occasional excitement.

He served in Nyasaland as adjutant of the 1st Battalion, Kings African Rifles, and then on the staff of the Officer Commanding Troops, Nyasaland.

During this time he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain on 10 June 1929, and to the permanent rank on 8 March 1930.

He served as Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, from 1939 to 1940, in which role he had exposure to the most senior officers in the army and developed skills in diplomacy.

After Hore-Belisha resigned, de Guingand was posted to the new staff college at Haifa in Mandatory Palestine as an instructor.

In December 1940, on the recommendation of the Staff College's Commandant Eric Dorman-Smith, he was posted to the Joint Planning Staff of Middle East Command in Cairo where he also took on the role of secretary to the Commanders-in-Chief Committee.

In February 1942 Dorman-Smith, now Deputy Chief of the General Staff at Middle East Command, recommended him for the position of Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East.

In this role he was successful, and after the First Battle of El Alamein he was appointed the Eighth Army's Brigadier General Staff.

When Montgomery assumed command of Eighth Army in August 1942 he became Montgomery's chief of staff.

His diplomatic skills proved advantageous when serving with Montgomery.

He proved indispensable not only in battle, but also in relations with the Americans – he was "liked and trusted by all".

He formed a close relationship with Walter Bedell Smith, the chief of staff to Supreme Allied Commander, General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower, and was able to smooth over many difficulties arising from Montgomery's personality and his problematic relationships with many of his peers and superiors.

De Guingand was on sick leave on several occasions, and only Montgomery's intervention kept the doctors from relieving him.

After the end of hostilities in Europe he spent time recuperating but was still not recovered when he was appointed as Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) in September 1945.

Montgomery had become aware that he was to succeed Alan Brooke as Chief of the Imperial General Staff in June 1946 and told de Guingand he wanted him as his Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

However, de Guingand failed to impress Brooke as DMI and as a result the job went to Frank Simpson.

De Guingand retired from the army In February 1947 and emigrated to Southern Rhodesia to pursue a career in business, achieving considerable success.

He wrote four books about his experiences: Operation Victory (1947), African Assignment (1953), Generals at War (1954), and From Brass Hat to Bowler Hat (1979).

Later that year he became the officer in charge of the regimental training cadre at Fulford Barracks in Fulford, North Yorkshire, where he became friends with Bernard Montgomery, who was a staff officer with the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division at the time.

The two played golf and contract bridge together.

Montgomery encouraged de Guingand to apply for staff college, but he was still too young to sit the entrance examination.