The Architect of Victory: The Military Career of Lieutenant General Sir Frank Horton Berryman

Peter J. Dean

Apr 2011 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

Lieutenant General Sir Frank Berryman is one of the most important, yet relatively unknown officers in the history of the Australian Army. Despite his reputedly caustic personality and noted conflicts with some senior officers, Berryman was crucial to Australia's success during the Second World War. But did the man known as 'Berry the Bastard' deserve his reputation? Bold, calculating and talented, Berryman was at the forefront of operations that led to the defeat of the Japanese, and his operational planning secured Australia's victories at Bardia, Tobruk and in New Guinea during the Pacific War. With access to rare private papers, Peter Dean charts Berryman's special relationships with senior US and Australian officers such as MacArthur, Chamberlin, Blamey, Lavarack and Morshead, and explains why the man poised to become the next Chief of General Staff would never fulfil his ambition.

About the author

Peter Dean is a Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. He teaches on the Centre's graduate program as well as at the Australian Command and Staff College. He is currently working on a history of the Australian-American military relationship in the South West Pacific, 1942–1945, which is being funding through a United States Studies Centre (USSC) Grant. As part of this project, Peter will be a Research Associate at the USSC at the University of Sydney, and a visiting scholar at Georgetown University and the Australian Defence Force Academy, UNSW. Peter is a contributing editor to the journal Global War Studies and a peer review editor for Cambridge University Press and Murdoch Press.