The Shadow Men: The leaders who shaped the Australian Army from the Veldt to Vietnam by Craig Stockings

Author:Craig Stockings [Stockings, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: NewSouth
Published: 2017-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

authorised me [Northcott] to approve of all matters on his behalf concerning policy generally, except in the case of major movements of troops, when I was to refer to him before giving direction, and similarly to L[ieutenant-]G[eneral] A[dministration] [Wynter] in regard to actual delegation of authority for expenditure and administrative details.81

Later in the war when Blamey was absent from Australia for lengthy periods, such as his three-month tour accompanying the Prime Minister to Britain and the US in mid-1944, he left Northcott in command.82

Northcott’s position was a delicate one but he excelled. It was greatly to his credit that he carried out his duties as a trusted and loyal lieutenant without the problems that characterised a similar command arrangement in the Royal Australian Air Force between Air Vice-Marshals George Jones and William Bostock. This was mostly due to Northcott’s personality and, while Blamey recognised that his subordinate was an exceptional soldier, there were four essential elements that cemented their relationship, ‘loyalty, skill, tact, and devotion to duty’.83 The first, at least in the eyes of Blamey, was probably Northcott’s strongest characteristic. He served all of his superiors loyally, even at times when it did not serve his personal interests. Certainly this loyalty was not blind, but when it came to his relationship with Blamey, as Sir Frank Berryman suggested: ‘If you serve him [Blamey] loyally you got back one hundredfold.’84 It was for this reason that both Berryman and Northcott survived and even thrived under Blamey’s command, unlike others who were sacked or sidelined.85

Blamey’s confidence in and close relationship with Northcott and Berryman is apparent in their correspondence. Blamey confided in his two key subordinates when he wanted discretion and information treated confidentially. In a letter to Northcott in late 1942 discussing current operations and future troop movements, he concluded, ‘I am sending a copy of this letter direct to Major-General Berryman and I hope it will not be necessary to discuss it with anyone else for the present. As you know, the moment any matter of this kind is announced in Australia, it immediately gives rise to a crop of rumours.’86

Blamey’s appointment as C-in-C AMF was far from unanimous among the military and political hierarchy. There were a small number of senior officers who clumsily attempted to influence the Minister for the Army, Frank Forde, in the appointment of the C-in-C AMF. Nothing came of this so-called ‘revolt of the generals’, but it did little to cement Blamey’s position. Later in September 1942 William Dunstan, the general manager of the Melbourne Herald, told Rowell that John Curtin at one stage was not entirely satisfied with Blamey and that there ‘has been a canvas of names. You, Northcott, Herring, Morshead’.87 Again nothing came of this. There is no doubt that Northcott had his own ambitions; however, in his relationship with Blamey and his peers this was never a problem as it was for others, notably Gordon Bennett, Lavarack and Rowell. Although Northcott’s name might have been mooted as a possible replacement for Blamey, Northcott probably never contemplated himself as a candidate.

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