Lieutenant GeneralSir Alwyn Ragnar Garrett,KBE,CB (12 February 1900 – 4 November 1977) was a seniorcommander in theAustralian Army. He served asChief of the General Staff (CGS) from 1958 to 1960.

Ragnar Garrett
Brigadier Garrett, February 1944
Born	(1900-02-12)12 February 1900 Northam, Western Australia
Died	4 November 1977(1977-11-04) (aged 77) Mornington, Victoria
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Service years	1918–60
Rank	Lieutenant General
Service number	210 (NX12338, NX346)[1]
Commands	2/31st Battalion (1940–41) 8th Brigade (1945–46) Staff College, Queenscliff (1946–47, 1949–51) Western Command (1951–53) Southern Command (1954–58) Chief of the General Staff (1958–60)
Battles / wars	Second World War Mediterranean theatre Battle of Greece Battle of Crete South West Pacific theatre New Guinea campaign Bougainville campaign Occupation of Japan
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath Mentioned in Despatches
Other work	Principal, Australian Administrative Staff College (1960–64)

Born inWestern Australia, Garrett graduated from theRoyal Military College, Duntroon, in 1921. He wasadjutant andquartermaster in severalregiments of theAustralian Light Horse before undertaking staff training in England, which he completed just as the Second World War broke out. Garrett joined theSecond Australian Imperial Force soon afterwards, and commanded the2/31st Battalion in England before seeing action with Australianbrigades inGreece andCrete in 1941. Promoted tocolonel the following year, he held senior positions withI Corps inNew Guinea andII Corps onBougainville in 1944–1945. He was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire for his staff work.

After the war, Garrett served two terms as commandant of theStaff College, Queenscliff, in 1946–1947 and 1949–1951. Between these appointments he was posted to Japan with theBritish Commonwealth Occupation Force. Promoted tomajor general, he took charge ofWestern Command in August 1951, and becameDeputy Chief of the General Staff in January 1953. He took overSouthern Command as alieutenant general in October 1954, and was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath in 1957. As CGS from March 1958, Garrett focused on rearmament and reorganisation, initiating the Army's short-lived restructure into a "pentropic" formation. He wasknighted in 1959. After retiring from the military in June 1960, Garrett becamehonorary colonel of theRoyal Australian Regiment, and was principal of the Australian Administrative Staff College until 1964. He died atMornington, Victoria, in 1977.

Born on 12 February 1900 inNortham, Western Australia, Alwyn Ragnar Garrett was the son of accountant Alwyn Garrett and his Swedish wife Maria Carolina (née Wohlfahrt). Ragnar attendedGuildford Grammar School before entering theRoyal Military College, Duntroon, in 1918. He graduated in 1921 and was posted to theAustralian Light Horse as alieutenant.^[2][3] In November 1922, Garrett was appointedadjutant/quartermaster of the23rd Light Horse Regiment.^[3] The following month he served as an extraaide-de-camp to the newGovernor of South Australia, GeneralSir Tom Bridges.^[4] In November 1923, Garrett was seconded to theBritish Army, and spent the next twelve months attached to the2nd Dragoon Guards inBangalore, India.^[2][5] On his return to Australia in January 1925, he was reappointed adjutant/quartermaster of the 23rd Light Horse.^[3][6] He married Shirley Lorraine Hunter, a nurse, on 9 September at St Peter's Anglican Church in theAdelaide suburb ofGlenelg; the couple had a son and a daughter.^[2] Garrett became adjutant/quartermaster of the9th Light Horse Regiment atJamestown, South Australia, in February 1926.^[3] He was promoted tocaptain in November 1929.^[7][8]

In March 1930, Garrett was posted as adjutant/quartermaster to the3rd Light Horse Regiment atMount Gambier, South Australia.^[3][9] As a speaker at Mount Gambier'sAnzac Day commemorations on 25 April 1934, he was reported as warning of the poor state of Australia's preparedness for war, admonishing: "We shall not have the time that we had before the last war, and we shall not be fighting for our homes thousands of miles away. We shall be fighting at our own back door. That is what we have to prepare for."^[10] That August he was transferred to the4th Light Horse Regiment atWarrnambool, Victoria, as adjutant/quartermaster.^[11] Garrett was posted to the staff of Army Headquarters,Melbourne, in March 1936, and departed for England in November 1937 to attend theStaff College, Camberley.^[3][12] He was promoted tomajor in July 1938, and returned to Australia upon theoutbreak of the Second World War.^[2][3]

Garrett joined theSecond Australian Imperial Force in November 1939, and was appointedbrigade major of the18th Brigade under BrigadierLeslie Morshead in January 1940.^[2][13] The brigade departed for theMiddle East in May but, owing to the military situation following theFall of France, it wasdiverted to Britain, arriving in June.^[2][14] Garrett was promotedlieutenant colonel on 16 September and took command of the2/31st Battalion the same day; he handed over toSelwyn Porter in February 1941, and departed England for the Middle East.^[2][15] From March to June he served as General Staff Officer Grade 2 (Operations) ofI Corps under Lieutenant GeneralSir Thomas Blamey.^[3][16] In April Garrett was briefly seconded to Savige Force, whichfought in Greece under BrigadierStanley Savige.^[2][16] Savige recorded that when Garrett was posted back to corps headquarters, it "affected me more than the bombing ... I was very sorry to lose Garrett, who served me splendidly over the hectic days of the recent past".^[17] Garrett was also attached to the19th Brigade inCrete.^[2]

Returning to Australia, Garrett was promoted to temporarycolonel in April 1942 and became senior operations officer in the1st Armoured Division, which formed a key part of the forces held in reserve to contest a Japanese invasion.^[2][18] He was posted to Army Headquarters, Melbourne, in October as Director of Armoured Fighting Vehicles.^[2] In September 1943, he was appointed General Staff Officer Grade 1 (Operations) of I Corps under Lieutenant GeneralSir Edmund Herring inNew Guinea.^[2][19] Three months later he was promoted to temporarybrigadier and became Brigadier General Staff of I Corps.^[3] He continued to serve in that position as I Corps was redesignatedII Corps in April 1944,New Guinea Force the following month, and finally II Corps again in October 1944 for the campaign onBougainville under Lieutenant General Savige.^[2][20][21] The campaign was controversial in that it appeared to have little impact on the main drive against Japan; Garrett was quoted as calling it "an absolute waste of time".^[22]

Garrett was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire for his "skill, direction, and supervision of the highest order" in having "prepared and guided all staff work to meet every conceivable requirement in the complete reorganisation of forces in New Guinea"; the honour was promulgated inThe London Gazette on 19 July 1945.^[23][24] Garrett was also responsible for interrogating the first Japanese peace envoy to make contact with the Australians on Bougainville, on 18 August 1945, and was present when the instrument of surrender was signed on 8 September.^[25][26] In November 1945, he took command of the8th Brigade in New Guinea.^[27] He oversaw the brigade's return to Australia before its disbandment in March 1946.^[2][28] His "exceptional service in the field" in theSouth West Pacific Area earned him amention in despatches, which was gazetted on 6 March 1947 and backdated to 2 November 1946.^[29][30]

Following a three-month course at the Staff College, Camberley, Garrett was appointed commandant of theStaff College, Queenscliff, Victoria, in June 1946.^[3] He was posted to Japan in March 1947, becoming Brigadier-in-Charge of Administration for theBritish Commonwealth Occupation Force in July. The size and scope of the occupation declined considerably during his tour, which finished in October 1949.^[2] Approximately 2,400 Australians, most from the67th Battalion, remained by late 1948, compared to 11,000 in October 1946.^[31][32] In December 1949, Garrett resumed command of the Staff College, Queenscliff.^[2] Promoted temporarymajor general, he was appointedGeneral Officer Commanding (GOC)Western Command, which covered the state ofWestern Australia, in August 1951.^[2][33] He becameDeputy Chief of the General Staff in February 1953.^[3]

In December 1953, Garrett succeeded Major GeneralEric Woodward as Adjutant-General and Second Military Member of the Military Board.^[34] He was promoted temporarylieutenant general in October 1954 and appointed GOCSouthern Command, which was headquartered in Melbourne and controlled, as of April 1953, several majorCitizen Military Forces (CMF) formations including the3rd Infantry Division, the4th and6th Infantry Brigades, the2nd Armoured Brigade, and two artillery groups.^[2][35] His elevation to lieutenant general was made permanent in December 1954.^[2] Garrett was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath in theQueen's Birthday Honours on 13 June 1957.^[36] He succeeded Lieutenant GeneralSir Henry Wells asChief of the General Staff (CGS) on 23 March 1958.^[2][37] Garrett was raised toKnight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the1959 New Year Honours.^[38]

The Army underwent significant change during Garrett's term as CGS.^[2] In March 1959, he chaired the first meeting of the Military Board at the new Army Headquarters inCanberra, following its move from Melbourne.^[39][40]Alan Stretton, executive officer to the Military Board at the time, recalled Garrett's sense of humour and "most informal" manner.^[41] In August, the CGS announced to his senior officers a radical reorganisation of the Army that would strengthen the regular forces and reduce reliance on the CMF, which sinceFederation had formed the backbone of Australia's military. This plan included the abolition ofNational Service, to which the Federal government had already agreed, and the introduction of a "pentropic" divisional structure.^[42] Garrett championed the pentropic structure to overcome what he saw as the weakness of the traditional battalion for overseas deployments, and to ensure compatibility with theUS Army'spentomic formations. The Australian Army's traditional "triangular" divisional structure of three infantry battalions under a brigade headquarters was to be replaced with an organisation consisting of five larger battalions (hence "pentropic") without a brigade layer between division and battalion headquarters.^[43] The plan was opposed by CMF officers as it would result in the disbandment of the citizens' brigades and many of the old militia battalions.^[42][43] Under the new structure the CMF would not only shrink, its units would lose traditional ties to local communities through the establishment of new multi-battalion state-based regiments, leading to suspicion in some quarters that the entire process was designed to demolish the CMF.^[43][44]

Garrett was concerned not only with changing the Army's organisation but with upgrading its equipment; by the early 1960s the Army would acquire theFN 7.62mm rifle, theM60 machine gun, theM101 105mm howitzer, theM113 armoured personnel carrier, and new mortars and radios.^[43] He also advocated strongly for the Army to operate its own helicopters and light aircraft; theAustralian Army Aviation Corps was eventually established in July 1968.^[46] Garrett was scheduled to retire from the Army on his sixtieth birthday in February 1960 but the government extended his term.^[37] He retired on 30 June 1960 and was succeeded by Lieutenant GeneralReg Pollard, whom Garrett had recommended for the post in the face of opposition from theMinister for the Army,John Cramer, who had attempted to appoint Major GeneralIvan Dougherty, a retired CMF officer.^[47] Although Garrett's proposed reorganisation of the Army along pentropic lines went ahead under Pollard, it proved short-lived. The US Army abandoned the system in June 1961, and the Australian Army returned to the triangular formation following a review commissioned by Pollard's successor as CGS, Lieutenant GeneralSir John Wilton, in October 1964.^[48][49]

On retiring from the military, Garrett became principal of the Australian Administrative Staff College, a private institution delivering courses to senior business and government personnel atMount Eliza, Victoria.^[2][50] During his four-year tenure, he lobbied for the reintroduction of conscription, and when the Federal government brought in a newselective service scheme in 1965, he was invited to draw the first ballot of names.^[51][52] Garrett also recommended that the Army should have a division prepared for war at all times.^[53] He served ashonorary colonel of theRoyal Australian Regiment and theRoyal Western Australia Regiment from 1960 until 1965, when he was appointed Chairman of the Western Australian Coastal Shipping Commission, a position he held until 1970. He died on 4 November 1977 atMornington, Victoria, and was cremated. His wife had predeceased him.^[2]

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