35 Facts About Henry Wynter

Henry Wynter served on a series of staff posts on the Western Front.

Henry Wynter embarked for the Middle East in May 1940 with the advance party of I Corps but the convoy he was travelling with was diverted to the United Kingdom.

Henry Wynter was appointed to command the AIF there, with a key role in the defence of southern England.

Henry Wynter was a lieutenant of Cadets from 1 July 1906 to 2 February 1907.

Henry Wynter was promoted to lieutenant on 24 March 1908 and captain on 24 June 1909.

On 1 February 1911 Henry Wynter transferred to the Administrative and Instructional Staff of the 1st Military District, nominally with the rank of probationary lieutenant, but he was allowed to retain his Militia rank of captain.

Henry Wynter was promoted to captain in the Permanent Military Forces on 1 July 1913.

Henry Wynter married Ethel May White, a nurse, on 5 September 1913.

Henry Wynter joined the First Australian Imperial Force on 24 April 1916 as a major, having been promoted to the brevet rank on 1 December 1915.

Henry Wynter became brigade major of the 11th Infantry Brigade, part of the newly formed 3rd Division.

Henry Wynter embarked for the United Kingdom from Sydney with the 11th Infantry Brigade headquarters on the transport HMAT Demosthenes on 18 May 1916, arriving on 20 July 1916.

The 3rd Division continued its training on the Salisbury Plain in England but in October 1916 Henry Wynter was sent to the 4th Division in France as its Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General.

Henry Wynter was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 23 July 1917.

Henry Wynter rejoined the Australian Corps headquarters on 1 February 1919.

Henry Wynter returned to Australia, disembarking in Sydney on 19 February 1920.

Henry Wynter was entitled to retain his AIF rank as an honorary rank but would not be promoted to the substantive rank until 1 October 1931.

Henry Wynter was posted to the 4th Military District but his sojourn in Australia was brief.

Twenty had been brigadier generals; five had been awarded the Victoria Cross and no less than 170, including Henry Wynter, had been awarded the Distinguished service Order.

On returning to Australia in 1923, Henry Wynter was posted to Army Headquarters in Melbourne as a staff officer.

Henry Wynter published a paper on the command of the Imperial forces in wartime in the British Army Quarterly in 1925.

Henry Wynter became a notable critic of the Singapore strategy of the government of Prime Minister Stanley Bruce.

Henry Wynter argued for a more balanced policy of building up the Army and Royal Australian Air Force, rather than relying on the Royal Australian Navy, which was receiving the lion's share of defence funding at the time.

In retaliation, in March 1937, Parkhill had Henry Wynter posted to the staff of the 11th Mixed Brigade in Queensland at his substantive rank of lieutenant colonel, with a consequentially reduced salary.

Parkhill lost his seat in the 1937 election and Lavarack recalled Henry Wynter, who had been promoted to colonel on 1 July 1937, to command the new Army Command and Staff College, which opened at Victoria Barracks, Sydney on 1 July 1938.

In October 1939, Henry Wynter was promoted to major general and assumed command of Northern Command.

Henry Wynter joined the Second Australian Imperial Force on 22 April 1940, and was given the AIF serial number QX6150.

Henry Wynter embarked from Melbourne on 15 May 1940 with the advance party of I Corps with orders to establish a base organisation in the Middle East but the convoy he was travelling with was diverted to the United Kingdom.

Henry Wynter decided that, given the immediate danger of a German invasion of the United Kingdom, his force had to be ready to fight.

Henry Wynter therefore reorganised the troops available to form a second infantry brigade.

In September Henry Wynter was informed that his force would become the nucleus of a new 9th Division and on 23 October 1940 he was appointed to command it.

Henry Wynter arrived back in Sydney on 12 April 1941 and his AIF appointment was terminated on 6 July 1941.

Henry Wynter assumed command of Eastern Command on 12 December 1941.

In Blamey's reorganisation of the Army in April 1942, Henry Wynter was appointed Lieutenant General Administration at Allied Land Headquarters in Melbourne.

Henry Wynter was admitted to the 115th General Hospital in Heidelberg, Victoria where he died on 7 February 1945.

Henry Wynter was buried with military honours in Springvale cemetery.