11 - Two armies – two headquarters 1944–45

Summary

On 13 April 1944 Berryman moved to the Atherton Tableland where he became acquainted with the units under his command before returning to Brisbane for meetings with Adv LHQ and GHQ. In late April he finally got a chance to go to Melbourne for some leave with his family. During this period the Australian Army's future was undecided. Plans had been put together at Adv LHQ, in Berryman's absence, for operations based in Darwin to seize the islands in the Arafura Sea, but as Berryman learnt first hand from GHQ's chief of staff, the operation was a ‘contingent one only and will be governed by the results of the big operations through the central Pacific’.

During this period Blamey had accompanied Curtin to London for conversations with the British Prime Minister and the Combined Chiefs of Staff on future strategy in the Pacific. By this stage Blamey was well aware that MacArthur was planning to reduce the role of the Australian forces in the SWPA, and he was searching for a new way to keep the nation's military effort relevant. The British were looking for a way to re-enter the Pacific War to recapture their lost colonial possessions and maintain an effective alliance with the Americans. Blamey's discussions with the Combined Chiefs led him to conclude that he had an agreement to establish a Commonwealth Army to operate on MacArthur's flank to reoccupy Singapore. However, Blamey had misread both the strategy and the Combined Chiefs.