Brigadier G S Brunskill CBE MC

Well written ts account (201pp, on microfilm) recording his career as a regular officer with the British and Indian Armies, 1910 - 1945, including: officer training as the King's Indian Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, 1910 - 1911, when he was commissioned; service with the 1st Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, 1911 - 1912; with the 47th Sikhs at Jullunder in the Punjab, 1912 - August 1914, when his regiment was mobilised as part of the Jullunder Brigade (3rd Lahore Division), landing in France in September 1914; active service in France, September 1914 - November 1914, when he lost an eye; returning to his Regiment in April 1915, his leg left was broken within weeks during the Second Battle of Ypres; after convalescence, service in the Military Secretary's (India) Branch at the War Office until 1917 when appointed DAAG on the Lines of Communication of the XIV Corps in Italy; after transferring to the British Army and the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1920, as a Staff Captain in the Adjutant-General's Branch at the War Office during the post-war re-organisation, 1920 - 1924; after attending Staff College at Camberley, 1924 - 1926, as company commander, 1926 - 1927, and 2nd i/c, and CO, 1931 - 1937, of the 1st Battalion KSLI in India; as GSO2 in Aden, 1927 - 1928, and at Army HQ, India, 1928 - 1931; Colonel i/c of Administration in Palestine, 1937 - 1941, during the Arab Revolt; Brigadier i/c of Administration in Greece (being evacuated in April 1941), Crete, and then of 1st Corps in the UK, 1941- 1943; establishing the Congo - Cairo supply route (later AFLOC) until May 1943 when he returned to the UK, remaining Brigadier i/c of Administration in Northern Ireland until 1945, when he retired; and commenting on army life; his love of sport; the conditions in India; the welfare of the troops; the friction between Lieutenant General Sir Henry Lawson and Field Marshal Earl Cavan in Italy; antagonism between the army and the RAF but good relations between Field Marshal Earl Wavell and Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris in Palestine; General Lord Freyberg's defence of Crete; and the army's lack of preparation administratively for war.

Unrestricted