Controvercial Soldier - Our Tom Blamey

Our Research Uncovers Startling ‘New’ Proof

Over the past five years Bernie McDonald and I plus our new research associate, Arthur Orchard, have read over one hundred books; poured over thousands of archive documents; interviewed dozens of family members, contemporaries (or their offspring); delved into private diaries and unpublished manuscripts – always looking for the answer these key questions:

1. Was Tom Blamey so hated, and/or so loved and why?
2. By which mechanism was one of the most prominent military leaders in World War 2 made almost invisible in the country he strove to save?
3. Was Tom Blamey a crook; a coward; an uncaring hedonist who lived the good life and cared not a jot for the men he sent into battle?

We must stress, these accusations are not ours. They have been levelled against Tom Blamey from the likes of Chester Wilmot, Raymond Paull, Sir Charles Moses, C.E.W. Bean, Keith Murdoch, Sydney Rowell, Paul Ham, Peter Brune, Carl Bridge, Peter Fitzsimons, Michael McKernon, Neil McDonald and scores of others. Just the other day, Michael Carlton, while writing about Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd in the Sydney Morning Herald, for some strange reason, felt the need to give Tom Blamey a good kicking. Are these people justified? Maybe, maybe not.

When Bernie and I began this project we had no agenda; no preconception of where the life and times of Tom Blamey would take us. Neither of us are particularly politically aligned and both, as ex-journalists, were only attracted to Tom Blamey because he was, and is, one of the most truly interesting characters in Australian history. All we ever encountered was a barrage of hatred, rumour, vitriol and detestation about this man which, sometimes, borders on the bizarre.

All very well. This makes for a tremendous story but we didn’t want to go down the sensationalist road without documentary evidence. There had to be another side to Tom’s saga for if not why did so many people tell us, privately, that they would have followed Tom Blamey to Hell and back. And on the other hand, why have we received threats and been told to back off altogether. One correspondent told me that to say anything good about Tom Blamey was like “…spitting on the graves of all those boys he killed…”.

I’m burying the lead here, but this news flash is about the results of our latest expedition to the Australian War Memorial archives, and the National Archives in Canberra. We have copies of hundreds of documents that have been sitting there in our nation’s capital for over 70 years. They were there for all to see. All one has to do is ask for them and then spend the time reading them carefully.

Our news flash is this: that we HAVE answered all the burning questions about Tom Blamey. It’s all there in black and white. And to find out, as we have done, if Tom Blamey is guilty or innocent as charged then you’ll have to look out for ‘The Blamey Enigma’ documentary. I hear tell that it could be screened nationally around ANZAC Day 2013… but more about that later.

Yours truly,

Bill Halliwell
Commander-In-Chief Productions
March 2012

Tom’s Morotai Speech To The Japanese

Many people visiting our web site have been looking for the text of General Blamey’s devastating speech made to the Japanese General surrendering to him at Morotai on the 9th of September 1945.

Like Tom Blamey, it’s a hard-hitting, call a spade a spade speech that lays the blame for Japanese atrocities and war crimes right at the feet of the senior Japanese officers assembled before him on the Morotai sports ground.

Over ten thousand servicemen, women civilians and officials attended this huge event to see the Japanese oppressors humbled before Tom Blamey. The speech on our web site is a copy of Tom’s speech that was printed in advance and handed out to all service personnel who attended that day.

Sadly, some people are selling copies of this speech on the internet. We have made it easy for you to copy the text of this speech for free. Please copy it and pass it around as it’s a true landmark in Australian military history.
Download the original speech: PDF HERE.

Army Badge
SURRENDER OF JAPANESE FORCES
__________________

Address Delivered by

COMMANDER - in- CHIEF, AUSTRALIAN MILITARY FORCES
GENERAL SIR THOMAS BLAMEY
to
Lt - General Teshima, Commander Second Japanese Army
On the occasion of the signing of their Surrender
___________

MOROTAI, 9th SEPTEMBER, 1945

LIEUT.-GENERAL TESHIMA, COMMANDER, SECOND JAPANESE ARMY:
"The Japanese Navy has been destroyed. The Japanese Merchant Fleet has been reduced to a mere fraction. The Japanese Air Force has been driven from the sky. The Japanese armies have been defeated everywhere and all that remained for them was to await their inevitable total distruction. Japanese cities lie in waste and Japanese industry has been destroyed. Never before in history has so numerous a nation been so completely defeated.
"To escape the complete destruction of the nation, the Emperor of Japan has yielded to the Allied Forces and an instrument of total surrender has been signed in his name. He has charged you to obey the orders which I shall give you.
"In carrying out these orders, the Japanese Army and Navy organisation will be retained for convenience. Instructions will be issued by the designated Australian commanders to the Commanders of the respective Japanese Forces, placing upon you and your subordinate Commanders the responsibility for carrying our your Emperor's direction to obey all orders given to you by me.
"You will ensure that all Allied personnel, prisoners of war or internees in Japanese hands are safeguarded and nourished and delivered over to the Allied Commanders.
"You will collect, lay down and safeguard all arms, ammunition and instruments of war until such time as they are taken over by the designated commanders. You will be given adequate time to carry this out. An official date will be named and any Japanese found in possession after that date of any arms, ammunition or instrument of war of any kind will be dealt with summarily by the Australian Commander on the spot.
"Orders will be given for these and other matters as I consider necessary and you will ensure the obedience to all such orders without delay.
"In receiving your surrender I do not recognise you as an honourable and gallant foe, but you will be treated with due but severe courtesy in all matters.
"I recall the treacherous attack upon our ally, China, in 1938. I recall the treacherous attack made upon the British Empire and upon the United States of America in December, 1941, at a time when your authorities were making the pretence of ensuring peace.
"I recall the atrocities inflicted upon the persons of our nationals as prisoners of war and internees, designed to reduce them by punishment and starvation to slavery.
"In the light of these evils, I will enforce most rigorously all orders issued to you, so let there be no delay or hesitation in their fulfilment at your peril."

This project is benefiting from material researched from within the collections of the Australian War Memorial http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/