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LT GEN Cyril Clowes |
Lieutenant General Cyril Clowes CBE DSO MC was a professional Australian soldier with a career spanning 38 years. Highly decorated and wounded during the First World War, in which he saw action both at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, he served in the Permanent Military Force betwwen World Wars. He was commanding officer in the first land victory against the Japanese in the Second World War, the Battle of Milne Bay, Papua and again decorated. Like several other senior officers involved in the Papuan Campaign, he was then transferred to 'less important' postings for the remainder of the war.
Cyril Albert Clowes was born in 1892 in Warwick, Queensland (Australia). He was the eldest child of Albert Clowes and Beatrice Hall Odling. [1] He was educated at Toowoomba Grammar School, East Toowoomba, Queensland. In 1898, when he was six years old, his mother died.
Cyril entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1911. In August 1914 he graduated and was appointed Lieutenant in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) with a commission in the Permanent Military Force.
On 14th August 1914, Cyril was commissioned in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), his young nation's all-volunteer expeditionary force for the (First World) War. [2] He embarked aboard HMAT Argyllshire A8 on 18th October 1914 in Sydney. [3]
Posted to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Cyril landed at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915, serving as a forward observation officer and directing naval gunfire against Turkish positions. He was wounded at Gallipoli. After he recuperated, Cyril was promoted to Captain in the 2nd Division Artillery in Egypt during January 1916. Cyril was awarded the Serbian Order of the White Eagle, Third Class. [4]On the Western Front during 1916, Cyril served as the 2nd Division's Trench Mortar Officer and was awarded the Military Cross (MC). [5] He received a promotion to Major in January 1917 and the following year was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his work at Villers-Bretonneux. [6] He returned to Australia in April 1919, and left the AIF in late June. He was Mentioned in Despatches, equivalent to today's Commendation for Gallantry. [7] For his war service he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
In 1920 Cyril took up a post as instructor at Duntroon, and remained there until 1925. That year he married Eva Florence Magennis in Yass, New South Wales. [8] He was soon after transferred to Brisbane, Queensland.
In Brisbane, he undertook staff, training, and command duties until 1930. He filled similar positions in Sydney and Darwin until, in 1936, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He went to England and completed a gunnery staff course, before returning to Australia as the Chief Instructor at Sydney's School of Artillery. In August 1939 he was given command of Australia's 6th Military District, receiving a promotion to Colonel.
When the Second World War began, Cyril was made a temporary Brigadier in the Second Australian Imperial Force, and in April 1940 was appointed commander of the I Corps Artillery. He performed very well under pressure in directing the fighting withdrawal at Pinios Gorge, Greece, in April 1941. Although Greece fell, Cyril's tactics minimised casualties during the withdrawal of the allied force; making him an ANZAC once more. He was again Mentioned in Despatches [9] and awarded the Greek War Class First Class. [10] He returned to Australia in January 1942, was promoted to temporary Major General, and given command of the 1st Division.
Cyril was next appointed commander of the Milne Bay Force, arriving and assuming command of the Australian troops there just four days before the Japanese began landing, beginning the Battle of Milne Bay. Hugely successful in repelling the Japanese attack, at times called suicidal in its intensity, Cyril afterward bore the 'punishment' for being friendly with his superior officer, Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell. Commander-in-Chief Blamey disliked Rowell, as is well documented, and by association, anyone friendly to him. When Milne Bay Force was redesignated 11th Division in 1943, Cyril was transferred to various staff postings until the end of the war. He was promoted to Lieutenant General, appointed Commander of the order of the British Empire (CBE) [11] and once more Mentioned in Despatches. [12] Peter Brune summed it up rather well in his book, In A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in Papua; "Clowes was a man of few words to those he knew and even less to those he did not. His quiet, calm disposition merely masked a professional, highly trained and courageous officer who was at his best in a crisis". [13] For his additional war service, Cyril was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939-1945.
Cyril retired from the Army with the rank of Lieutenant General in June 1949, aged 57 years.
In retirement, Cyril spent his time gardening and playing golf.
Predeceased by his wife and survived by their daughter, Cyril passed away on 19th May 1968 in the Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria, and was buried with full military honours and Anglican rites in Springvale Cemetery. He was 76 years of age. [14]
Cyril was deservedly very highly decorated (in order of precedence):
Featured German connections: Cyril is 20 degrees from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 26 degrees from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 25 degrees from Lucas Cranach, 20 degrees from Stefanie Graf, 19 degrees from Wilhelm Grimm, 23 degrees from Fanny Hensel, 31 degrees from Theodor Heuss, 22 degrees from Alexander Mack, 37 degrees from Carl Miele, 14 degrees from Nathan Rothschild, 22 degrees from Hermann Friedrich Albert von Ihering and 16 degrees from Ferdinand von Zeppelin on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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Categories: Warwick, Queensland | Toowoomba Grammar School, East Toowoomba, Queensland | Royal Military College, Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory | 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, World War I | 4th Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, World War I | 1st Division Artillery, Australian Imperial Force, World War I | 2nd Division Artillery, Australian Imperial Force, World War I | Headquarters 1st Division, Australian Army, World War II | Headquarters 11th Division, Australian Army, World War II | Australian Army Generals | Australian Army Generals, World War II | Commanders of the Order of the British Empire | Distinguished Service Order | Military Cross | Mentioned in Despatches | Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 | Repatriation General Hospital, Heidelberg, Victoria | Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Springvale, Victoria | Australia, Notables in the Military | Notables | Anzacs, World War I | Anzacs, World War II | Wounded in Action, Australia, World War I