World War II
In October 1939, Allen was given command of the 16th Brigade in the Second AIF's 6th Division. Later in 1940, Allen was in North Africa, where his brigade fought at Bardia and Tobruk. In March, Allen and the brigade left North Africa for the ill-fated Greek campaign, following which he was awarded the Greek War Cross.
He was then given command of the 7th Division, and commanded it in the invasion of Syria and Lebanon, against Vichy French forces. Allen was officially promoted to Major General in August 1941.
Following the outbreak of war with Japan, Allen returned to Australia in March 1942, and in August took charge of operations against the Japanese advance along the Kokoda Track. Although he was successful, Allen nevertheless came under what many consider unfair criticism from the Allied commander in the South West Pacific Area, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur and the Allied land forces commander, the Australian General Thomas Blamey, for moving too slowly in pursuit of the Japanese across the Owen Stanley Ranges. He was relieved of his command on 29 October 1942. Lesser appointments followed, but in October 1944, Blamey recommended Allen be made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), although Allen was never appointed.
Read more about this topic: Arthur Samuel Allen
Famous quotes containing the words war ii, world and/or war:
“Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920’s and 1930’s when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother’s keeper.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“This land is your land & this land is my land—sure—but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway.”
—Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (b. 1941)
“War is bestowed like electroshock on the depressive nation; thousands of volts jolting the system, an artificial galvanizing, one effect of which is loss of memory. War comes at the end of the twentieth century as absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political. That a war can be represented as helping a people to “feel good” about themselves, their country, is a measure of that failure.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)