De Guingand, Major General Francis

1900–1979

   De Guingand was a British General and Chief Staff to MONTGOMERY in North Africa and northwest Europe. De Guingand had a lot of experience of staff work before he began working with Montgomery and proved invaluable in the detailed negotiations with the other service Chiefs in the Desert. Montgomery used him as a representative at planning conferences. In northwest Europe de Guingand’s main contribution was to smooth relations between Montgomery and EISENHOWER and it fell to him to present the plan for a quick northern thrust into Germany. He wrote his account of the war in Operation Victory and his verdict on Mongomery was ‘when tackling a problem…[Montgomery] cuts away all the frills and gets down to those factors that really matter. He simplifies— this to some extent is true, but the resultant dividend is enormous.’ De Guingand was a tactful diplomat and also a great admirer of American energy and power.