New Army Chief takes over

General Sir David Richards

General Sir David Richards took over from General Sir Richard Dannatt as Chief of the General Staff, the head of the British Army, on 28 August. Richards served with the Royal Artillery, and later as a commander in East Timor, Sierra Leonne and Afghanistan. As a result Richards has far more operational experience than any British Commander has had for many years, paricularly of the most important conflict that our forces are fighting in at the present time.

He will probably take a slightly different approach than his predecessor, Richard Dannatt, who gained a reputation for being outspoken, and also from his predecessor Mike Jackson, who surprisingly seemed to have been house-trained by New Labour. From what he has already said it seems like while he’s not afraid to upset people, there will be a bit more thought behind his statements than we have seen from his predecessor. Dannatt was never afraid to speak his mind on the big issues, even if it got him into hot water with the Prime Minister. Some people may think that its unconstitutional for a general to speak out in public like that against the government, but when the government is particularly inept, and squaddies lives are at risk and public opinion is with him, its difficult to argue.

So obviously, being Chief of General Staff is something of a tightrope, between toeing the line, keeping the army fit for what its called on to do, making cuts and standing up for our servicemen and women. I’m afraid I think that any senior officer who doesnt stand up for those underneath him isnt deserving of the job and needs to remember how they got there in the first place. Having said that, seeing how the Government tried to shamefully smear Richard Dannatt over the issue of close air support, and then how Gordon Brown personally vetoed his expected promotion to Chief of Defence staff, its only to clear what the establishment does to officers who say the wrong things.

Richards upset the NATO countries by saying of his time in Afghanistan, “…caused a bit of an upset in Nato and the MoD by forcefully pointing out that we had insufficient troops for the task given us — not even a reserve — and that the international community’s effort there was approaching something close to anarchy.”
He seems to have started well by saying in an eary press release that he believes the armies best asset is its people: the soldiers and their families. Which I think in all the talk about equipment and budgets and cuts, seems to get forgotten.

Chiefs of the General Staff tend to be pigeonholed as either one of the lads or an MOD lapdog, but it could well be that Richards transcends the two… watch this space!

The tragedy of Poland

In all the talk about the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War – and of the war in general – one aspect that always seems to be forgotten is the plight of Poland.

Poland is one of those countries that thanks to Geography, ends up being a battlefield. In ancient times it was invaded by mongols, tartars, austrians, germans, russians, all manner of nations. In more modern times, it was occupied by Napoleon as a puppet state. It was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of the First World War, when a Polish state was finally born. This was short lived, as in 1939 the Panzers rolled over the border, shortly followed by the Soviets on the eastern border, and between them the two dictatorial states carved up Poland.

Poland was destined to lose more of a proportion of its population during the war than any other – 6 million people, almost 18% of its population pre-war. This included millions of Jews, Gypsies, and others that the Nazis considered Untermenschen, sub-human. Many of the concentration camps were located in Poland – Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, Chelmno. The ghettos of Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz housed many Jews forced into captivity before being transported to the camps.

Tragically, the country that Britain and France had gone to war to protect, finished the war arguably just as subjugated as in 1939. The Soviets occupied the country. Furthermore, both its east and western borders were adjusted, to take in german territory in the west and land ceded to Russia in the east. A puppet communist regime was rapidly set up. It was a very unhappy time for many Poles, as religion was heavily pressured. Poland remained under the Soviet yoke until the dramatic events of 1989, which were brought about in part by the struggle of Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement in the Gdansk shipyards, and the leadership offered by John Paul II, the Polish Pope.

So, think about it. Until recently, Poland has spent more time than not either being invaded, fought over, occupied or controlled. I’ve been to Poland and it is a very interesting country with some lovely architecture and fascinating culture. And despite all the furore about Polish diaspora in this country, every Pole I have ever met has been earnest, honest and hard-working. Sadly I think more than a few British people could learn something from their work ethic.

For me, the over-riding thought is, think how relatively lucky we have been in history. And how tragic it was that the very reason we went to war in 1939, was sacrificed at the altar of global politics in 1945.