Like any other honour there is no set time Lord Byng was made a Field Marshal some thirteen years after retirement from the Army and some two years after his last paid employment. He was then in his seventies. Rudolph Lambart had been retired several years before he was promoted whilst J C Smuts was given his some 23 Years after his last operational command. All recent British 5 Stars have been promoted some years after retirement.

20 years ago, when access was easier to Victoria Barrack, Melbourne, I was a post Army career Victoria Barracks tour guide for 3 years and know all about Menzies, Curtin, Shedden and the War Cabinet Room in A Block (new wing).

See Melways map page 1C. The War Cabinet Room was in the smaller square building marked A. I got Melways decades ago to put the building layout into it to help tourists and visitors to the barracks. Helicopters fly over it all the time and Google map have it on line now too.

As I said before if Blamey should have been a Field marshal why was he not promoted to that rank during WW2?

Adrian, You are missing the point Blamey was Sturdee’s superior officer for the whole of the war. That is the CGS for the duration of the war until late 1945 was subordinate to the Commander in Chief of the AMF-Blamey. The promotion to Field Marshal was for a variety of reasons not least of which was Menzies desire to impress on the USA and in particular the UK that Australia had done much of the heavy lifting in the Pacific and demanded a seat at any policy table which happened to be going. Think ANZUS which deliberately excluded the UK. The wartime issue is simple the ALP Government quite rightly and correctly regarded it as a gift of the sovereign and as with knighthoods refused to recommend any of them either in 1943 or 1945 quite rightly pointing out that rank wise there was nothing a Field Marshal could do that a General could not. Remember that the Commander in Chief SW Pacific Area-Macarthur only was elevated to 5 Star in late 1944. No one was prepared in Canberra to offend his sensibilities in the matter. Curtin regarded his advice more highly than any Australian officer except perhaps Sir Frederick Shedden -Secretary of the Department of Defence. Sturdee was never promoted to full general at any point.

So why was Blamey not promoted during WW2 then?

His superior officer, the Chief of the General Staff, were Lt Generals during WW2 which would see Blamey out ranking them. They were Lt Gen Sturdee then Lt Gen Northcott and then Sturdee again Sturdee was in New Guinea commanding troops when Northcott was GCS.

The other essential pint to get straight is Blamey. People may not like or respect him that’s fair enough but do not question his eligibility even under Adrian Jackson’s criteria. He was Australia’s senior Army officer in WW2- that is Adrian- senior to the CGS as Commander in Chief Australian Military forces. As such he was an Army Group Commander Australia’s 1st and 2nd Armies and the US 8th Army (Eichelberger)

Lets get a few things straight regardless as to whether we should or should not promote either Monash or Chauvel or both to Field Marshal. There is not now nor has there ever been a prescription or requirement for a Field Marshal to have commanded an Army Group, Army or even a Corps in the field. There is no job that a Field Marshal could do that could not be done by a four star general. Field Marshal rank is conferred in the Honours list as an award for distinguished service. Neither is there any prescription as to size of a formation. In 1918 the British 10th Army in Italy consisted of 2 Corps a total of 4 Divisions. Its commander went on to be promoted to Field Marshal. Australia’s 3rd Corps in World War 2 was just one Division (10th) plus line of Communication troops. Numbers do not matter in this matter

However Monash was promoted general in the late 1920’s at the insistence of the Chief of the General Staff (now Chief of Army) Lt Gen Sir Harry Chauvel when PM Scullon proposed promoting Chauvel to General as Chief of the General Staff (the senior Army officer). Both were ptomoted to general then.

As far as field marshal rank is concerned an officer of this rank commands a number of armies and Australia has never had a force that large in either WW1 or WW2. General Blamey was promoted FM by PM Menzies on his death bed but that promotion was not appropriate either. Menzies never served in the ADF so what would he know about rank?