(1884-01-24)24 January 1884 Wagga Wagga, Colony of New South Wales
Died
27 May 1951(1951-05-27) (aged 67) Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
Buried
Fawkner Memorial Park, Victoria
Allegiance
Australia
Service/branch
Australian Army
Years of service
1906–1950
Rank
Field marshal
Service number
VX1 (2nd AIF)
Commands held
Allied Land Forces, South West Pacific Area (1942–1945)
Australian Military Forces (1942–1945)
I Corps (1940–1941)
6th Division (1939–1940)
3rd Division (1931–1937)
10th Brigade (1926–1931)
Battles/wars
First World War
Gallipoli campaign
Battle of the Somme
Battle of Pozières
Battle of Hamel
Hundred Days Offensive
Battle of Amiens
Battle of St Quentin Canal
Second World War
Battle of Greece
Battle of Crete
Syria–Lebanon campaign
New Guinea Campaign
Kokoda Track campaign
Battle of Milne Bay
Finisterre Range campaign
Operation Cartwheel
Salamaua–Lae campaign
Bougainville campaign
New Britain campaign
Borneo campaign
Occupation of Japan
Awards
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Bachelor
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (8)
Efficiency Decoration
(see full list)
10th Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police
In office 1 September 1925 – 9 July 1936
Monarchs
George V
Edward VIII
Governor
The Earl of Stradbroke
The Lord Somers
The Lord Huntingfield
Preceded by
Alexander Nicholson
Succeeded by
Alexander Duncan
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, CStJ, ED (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general of the First and Second World Wars. He is the only Australian to attain the rank of field marshal.
Blamey joined the Australian Army as a regular soldier in 1906, and attended the Staff College at Quetta. During the First World War he participated in the landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, and served as a staff officer in the Gallipoli campaign, where he was mentioned in despatches for a daring raid behind enemy lines. He later served on the Western Front, where he distinguished himself in the planning for the Battle of Pozières. He rose to the rank of brigadier general, and served as chief of staff of the Australian Corps under Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, who credited him as a factor in the Corps' success in the Battle of Hamel, the Battle of Amiens and the Battle of the Hindenburg Line.
After the war Blamey became the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and was involved in the creation of the Royal Australian Air Force. He resigned from the regular Army in 1925 to become Chief Commissioner of the Victoria Police, but remained in the Militia, rising to command the 3rd Division in 1931. As chief commissioner, Blamey set about dealing with the grievances that had led to the 1923 Victorian police strike, and implemented innovations such as police dogs and equipping vehicles with radios. His tenure as chief commissioner was marred by a scandal in which his police badge was found in a brothel, and a later attempt to cover up the shooting of a police officer led to his forced resignation in 1936.
During the Second World War Blamey commanded the Second Australian Imperial Force and the I Corps in the Middle East. In the latter role he commanded Australian and Commonwealth troops in the disastrous Battle of Greece. He attempted to protect Australian interests against British commanders who sought to disperse his forces. He was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of Middle East Command, and was promoted to general in 1941. In 1942, he returned to Australia as commander-in-chief of the Australian Military Forces and commander of Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific Area under American General Douglas MacArthur. On the orders of MacArthur and Prime Minister John Curtin, he assumed personal command of New Guinea Force during the Kokoda Track campaign, and relieved Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell under controversial circumstances. He planned and carried out the significant and victorious Salamaua–Lae campaign but during the final campaigns of the war he faced criticism of the Army's performance. He signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Australia at Japan's ceremonial surrender in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, and personally accepted the Japanese surrender on Morotai on 9 September.
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, CStJ, ED (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general of the First and Second...
Blamey may refer to: Blamey Barracks, Australian Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka, Wagga Wagga, in the Riverina region of New South Wales Blamey...
located within Blamey Barracks, about 9.5 km south-west of Wagga Wagga. Blamey Barracks is named after Field Marshal Sir ThomasBlamey, an Australian...
Commander of Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area, and General Sir ThomasBlamey, commander of Allied Land Forces, resulted in the sackings of three...
him of his decision to withdraw to Thermopylae. Lieutenant-General ThomasBlamey divided responsibility between generals Mackay and Freyberg during the...
July 2008. Hetherington, John (1973). Blamey, controversial soldier : a biography of Field Marshal Sir ThomasBlamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED. The Australian...
ISBN 978-0812985108. Hetherington, John (1973). Blamey, Controversial Soldier: a Biography of Field Marshal Sir ThomasBlamey. Canberra: Australian War Memorial....
resupply within eight weeks. In the summer of 1941, Lieutenant-General ThomasBlamey, commander of the Second Australian Imperial Force, with the support...
Sydney Rowell, Sir Edmund Herring and Sir Leslie Morshead. General Sir ThomasBlamey also commanded the force in 1942 while based in Port Moresby. At the...
has largely been unacknowledged due to his dismissal by General Sir ThomasBlamey, at the very point when Potts had fought the Japanese to exhaustion...
Bakopoulos Georgios Tsolakoglou British Commonwealth Henry Maitland Wilson ThomasBlamey Bernard Freyberg Germany Wilhelm List Sepp Dietrich Kurt Student...
commander of Allied land forces in the South West Pacific area, General ThomasBlamey, and was modelled on the British Special Operations Executive (SOE)...
he was then transferred to a less important posting by General Sir ThomasBlamey. Clowes was born at Warwick in Queensland, and entered the Royal Military...
(1935), Sir Douglas Evill (1940), Sir Arthur Coningham (1941), Sir ThomasBlamey (1942), Sir Leslie Morshead (1942), Sir Peter Drummond (1943) Most Distinguished...
the Fleet Sir Bruce Fraser, GCB, KBE (after 1941) Field Marshal Sir ThomasBlamey, GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED (after 1941) This is also the case with academic...
General Kuzma Derevyanko for the Soviet Union (9:16 a.m.) General Sir ThomasBlamey for Australia (9:17 a.m.) Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave for Canada...
June 1938 - HM King George VI (1895–1952; honorary) 8 June 1950 - Sir ThomasBlamey (1884–1951) 1 April 1954 - HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021;...
outbreak of Second World War in September 1939, Lieutenant General Sir ThomasBlamey appointed Vasey to the staff of the 6th Division. In March 1941, Vasey...
Three men have been promoted to this rank in the Australian Army. Sir ThomasBlamey is the only Australian-born officer promoted to the rank. Lord Birdwood...
Commander, Allied Land Forces, South West Pacific Area, General Sir ThomasBlamey, who was concurrently commanding New Guinea Force from Port Moresby...
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