7 - War with Japan 1941–42

Summary

Berryman cemented his reputation within army circles as a tireless worker by yet again working himself to the point of exhaustion during the Syrian campaign. But before he could take a well-deserved break he dragged himself to a party at Brigadier Stevens' headquarters on the night of 14 July. Here General Blamey ‘asked me if I would like a staff job again but I said I preferred my command’. The next day Berryman was evacuated to hospital, and a few days later Brigadier Sydney Rowell arrived to announce that he had been posted back to Australia to become Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS) and that Berryman was to replace him as Brigadier General Staff (BGS – chief of staff) I Australian Corps under Lieutenant-General Lavarack.

Although he recognised the great significance of being named chief of staff to the only Australian corps overseas, this was not a posting that Berryman coveted. After Rowell came to see him, he wrote to his wife that it would be ‘wretched’ to leave his CRA job with the 7th Division:

a command to me is more pleasant than a staff job…however the BGS job is a very important & responsible one & many would like it. I have not sought it at all – it has just come to me. When General Blamey asked me about resuming staff work I told him I preferred my present job & I thought that might have caused him to change his mind but it apparently had little effect. […]