Ronald Lawrence Hughes

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Ronald Lawrence Hughes
Ronald Lawrence Hughes SVN 1967 (AWM COL 67 1055 VN).jpg
Brigadier Hughes with Paul Hasluck, the Minister for External Affairs, in South Vietnam in 1967
Born(1920-09-17)17 September 1920
Adelaide, South Australia
Died2 February 2003(2003-02-02) (aged 82)
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
AllegianceAustralia
Service/branch Australian Army
Years of service1937–1977
Rank Major General
Commands held 1st Division (1974–75)
1st Australian Task Force (1967–68)
6th Task Force (1966–67)
3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1952–53)
2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1951–52)
Battles/wars Second World War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Awards Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Relations James Curnow Hughes (brother)

Major General Ronald Lawrence Hughes, CBE, DSO (17 September 1920 – 2 February 2003) was a senior infantry officer in the Australian Army, seeing service during the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Joining the Australian Army in 1937, after graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1939 he served in New Guinea and Borneo during the Second World War. He commanded the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) during the static phase of the war in Korea in 1952–1953. Later, he commanded the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) in South Vietnam in 1967–68, during some of the heaviest fighting of the war experienced by the Australians. He subsequently filled a number of senior command and staff positions before retiring in 1977.

Major general is a senior rank of the Australian Army, and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of major general. It is the third-highest active rank of the Australian Army, and is considered to be equivalent to a two-star rank. A major general commands a division or the equivalent.

Distinguished Service Order UK military decoration

The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat. Since 1993 all ranks have been eligible.

Australian Army land warfare branch of Australias defence forces

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) commands the ADF, the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA). The CA is therefore subordinate to the CDF, but is also directly responsible to the Minister for Defence. Although Australian soldiers have been involved in a number of minor and major conflicts throughout its history, only in World War II has Australian territory come under direct attack.

Contents

Early lifer

Hughes was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 17 September 1920. [1] The son of a light horseman who served in the Gallipoli and Palestine campaigns during the First World War, Hughes joined the Australian Army in 1937 and graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon as a lieutenant in the infantry in 1939. [1] [2]

Australian Light Horse light cavalry

Australian Light Horse were mounted troops with characteristics of both cavalry and mounted infantry, who served in the Second Boer War and World War I. During the inter-war years, a number of regiments were raised as part of Australia's part-time military force. These units were gradually mechanised either before or during World War II, although only a small number undertook operational service during the war. A number of Australian light horse units are still in existence today.

Gallipoli Campaign military campaign during World War I

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale, was a campaign of the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula. The Entente powers, Britain and France, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire by taking control of the straits that provided a supply route to Russia, the third member of the Entente. The invaders launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula, to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. The naval attack was repelled and after eight months' fighting, with many casualties on both sides, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn. It was a costly and humiliating defeat for the Allies and for the sponsors, especially Winston Churchill.

Royal Military College, Duntroon Australian Army training college

The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is located at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence headquarters at Russell Hill. It is comparable with the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the United States Military Academy at West Point. Duntroon is adjacent to the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), which is Australian Defence Force's tri-service military academy that provides military and tertiary academic education for junior officers of the Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy.

Military career

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he was posted to the Darwin Mobile Force as a platoon commander in 1940 as the threat of Japanese aggression in the Pacific grew. [3] As a regular officer in the Permanent Military Force Hughes subsequently undertook a variety of regimental, staff and training positions in 1942, including postings to Headquarters 2nd Australian Corps, the Australian Staff College and Advanced Land Headquarters, Brisbane. [1] [4] In 1943 Hughes was posted to Headquarters 1st Australian Corps and was involved in the amphibious landing at Nassau Bay, as a liaison officer with the American forces during the New Guinea campaign. [1] By 1944 he was a company commander in the 2/3rd Battalion fighting the Japanese at Wewak in New Guinea, and was later involved in the amphibious landing on Tarakan in Borneo in 1945 while attached to 26th Brigade. [1] Hughes finished the war as a major serving with the Australian Military Mission in Tokyo, in 1945–46. [3] [4]

Darwin Mobile Force

The Darwin Mobile Force was a mixed force of infantry and artillery raised by the Australian Army prior to the Second World War. It was the first regular infantry field force in the Australian military, although due to legislative restrictions that existed at the time it was established as part of the Royal Australian Artillery. Its formation marked a rare departure from the traditional Australian focus upon part-time citizen forces and is arguably a key moment in the development of a professional standing army. Attached to the 7th Military District, the Darwin Mobile Force were used to garrison the strategic port of Darwin in the Northern Territory, along with 9th Heavy Battery and the 7th Fortress Engineers, RAE, and to provide personnel with training and command experience. The force ceased to exist in August 1940 when its personnel were broken up and sent to other units.

A regular army is the official army of a state or country, contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following:

The Australian II Corps was an Australian Army corps. II Corps was established in early 1942 to command Australian Army units deployed to protect the Sydney region and later commanded operational units in New Guinea, Bougainville and New Britain. II Corps was disbanded on 24 September 1945 following the end of the Second World War.

Hughes was married in 1947 and he and his wife Joan later had three sons, Alan, David and Geoffrey. [5] In 1951 he assumed command of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment at Puckapunyal, Victoria, which was heavily involved in training officers and soldiers as reinforcements for Australian forces fighting in Korea. [1] In July the following year Hughes took over command of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) in Korea, a position he filled until March 1953. [6] His younger brother, Jim, had previously served in the battalion as a platoon commander, and had been awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the Battle of Maryang San. He too would later also reach the rank of major general. [1] [7] Commanding 3 RAR during the static phase of the war he believed in active patrolling, but was doubtful of the value of operations to capture Chinese prisoners and the casualties that were incurred during these missions. For his leadership which he was later awarded the Distinguished Service Order. [1] In 1956, Hughes was posted as a student to the Joint Services Staff College in the United Kingdom, and later instructed there. In 1964 he went to Indonesia as Military Attaché during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. Returning to Australia in 1966, Hughes was promoted to brigadier, taking over command of the Queensland-based 6th Task Force. [3]

2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment battalion of the Australian Army

The 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is an amphibious light infantry battalion of the Australian Army part of the 1st Division Amphibious Task Group based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville.

Korean War 1950–1953 war between North Korea and South Korea

The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border.

3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment battalion of the Australian Army

The 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment is a mechanised infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Townsville as part of the 3rd Brigade. 3 RAR was initially formed in 1945 as the 67th Battalion and has seen active service in Japan, Korea, Malaya, South Vietnam, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq.

During 1967–68 Hughes commanded the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) based in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, which was involved in counter-insurgency operations against the Viet Cong. [1] Hughes took over command from Brigadier Stuart Graham on 20 October 1967. [8] By the second half of 1967 the Viet Cong seemed to have melted away in Phuoc Tuy Province, abandoning many of their bunker systems and avoiding the main roads and towns, causing Graham to speculate that the Viet Cong may have fled to the border, perhaps leaving the province altogether. [9] Meanwhile, 1 ATF was reinforced, with 3 RAR arriving in December 1967 to bring the task force up to full strength with three infantry battalions supported by armour, artillery, aviation and engineers. [10] Throughout 1968 1 ATF spent much of its time deployed away from Phuoc Tuy Province, assisting US forces countering a number of major offensives. [11] Hughes' period in command witnessed heavy fighting during Operation Coburg (24 January − 1 March 1968), which was mounted in response to the communist Tet Offensive, and the Battle of Coral–Balmoral (12 May – 6 June 1968). [3] For this he was subsequently made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. [1]

1st Australian Task Force

The 1st Australian Task Force was a brigade-sized formation which commanded Australian and New Zealand Army units deployed to South Vietnam between 1966 and 1972. 1 ATF was based in a rubber plantation at Nui Dat, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Ba Ria in Phuoc Tuy Province and consisted of two and later three infantry battalions, with armour, aviation, engineers and artillery support. At the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966, units of 1 ATF defeated a Viet Cong force of at least regimental strength. While the task force was primarily responsible for securing Phuoc Tuy Province, its units, and the Task Force Headquarters itself, occasionally deployed outside its Tactical Area of Responsibility including during Operation Coburg and the Battle of Coral–Balmoral in 1968. Other significant actions included Hat Dich in late-December 1968 and early 1969, Binh Ba in June 1969, and Long Khanh in June 1971. 1 ATF was withdrawn in late 1971.

Counter-insurgency military operation aimed at defeating enemy irregular or insurgent forces

A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency (COIN) is defined by the United States Department of State as "comprehensive civilian and military efforts taken to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes". An insurgency is a rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents. It is

the organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify or challenge political control of a region. As such, it is primarily a political struggle, in which both sides use armed force to create space for their political, economic and influence activities to be effective.

Viet Cong mass political organization in South Vietnam and Cambodia

The Việt Cộng, also known as the National Liberation Front, was a mass political organization in South Vietnam and Cambodia with its own army – the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (PLAF) – that fought against the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War, eventually emerging on the winning side. It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled. Many soldiers were recruited in South Vietnam, but others were attached to the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), the regular North Vietnamese army. During the war, communists and anti-war activists insisted the Việt Cộng was an insurgency indigenous to the South, while the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments portrayed the group as a tool of Hanoi. Although the terminology distinguishes northerners from the southerners, communist forces were under a single command structure set up in 1958. The headquarters of the Viet Cong based at Memot came to be known as Central Office for South Vietnam or COSVN by its MACV and South Vietnamese counterparts, a near-mythical "bamboo Pentagon" from which the Việt Cộng's entire war effort was being directed. For nearly a decade the fabled COSVN headquarters, which directed the entire war effort of the Viet Cong was the target of the RVN/US war effort, and which would have collapsed the insurgency war effort. US and South Vietnamese Special Forces sent to capture them usually were killed very quickly or returned with heavy casualties to the point that teams refused to go. Daily B-52 bombings had failed to kill any of the leadership during Operation Menu despite flattening the entire area, as Soviet trawlers were able to forewarn COSVN, whom used the data on speed, altitude and direction to move perpendicular and to move underground.

Hughes returned to Australia in October 1968. [8] He subsequently filled the position of Director Military Operations and Plans, Army Headquarters (1970–74). In 1974 he was posted as General Officer Commanding 1st Division, a position he held until 1975. [2] During his career he commanded a platoon, a company, a battalion, a brigade and a division. [1] Finally, he was posted as Chief of the Reserve, Army Headquarters, before retiring in 1977. [2]

1st Division (Australia) Australian Army operational command

The 1st Division is the main formation of the Australian Army and contains the majority of the Army's regular forces. Its headquarters is in Enoggera, a suburb of Brisbane. The division was first formed in 1914 for service during World War I as a part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). It was initially part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and served with that formation during the Gallipoli campaign, before later serving on the Western Front. After the war, the division became a part-time unit based in New South Wales, and during World War II it undertook defensive duties in Australia before being disbanded in 1945.

Platoon military unit size, usually composed of two of more squads or equivalent units

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads/sections/patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but typically, per the official tables of organization as published in U.S. military documents; a full-strength U.S. infantry rifle platoon consists of 39 Soldiers or 43 Marines. There are other types of infantry platoons, depending upon service and type of infantry company/battalion to which the platoon is assigned, and these platoons may range from as few as 18 to 69. Non-infantry platoons may range from as small as a nine-man communications platoon to a 102-man maintenance platoon. A platoon leader or commander is the officer in command of a platoon. This person is usually a junior officer—a second or first lieutenant or an equivalent rank. The officer is usually assisted by a platoon sergeant. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer.

Battalion military unit size

A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term "battalion" varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies. A battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries, the word "battalion" is associated with the infantry.

Later life

In his later life Hughes was actively involved in the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL), the United Services Institution and the Military History Society of Australia. [1] During his retirement he was a keen gardener and tennis player and he and Joan later travelled around Australia for six months in a caravan. [1] Hughes died in Canberra on 2 February 2003, aged eighty-two. [3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Shelton 2003 , p. 75.
  2. 1 2 3 O'Neill 1985 , p. 648.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Australian Army Journal 2003 , p. 138.
  4. 1 2 "Australian Army Amphibious Operations in the South-West Pacific: 1942–45: Contributors" (PDF). Australian Army History Unit. Archived from the original (pdf) on 23 May 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "A general who kept his feet on the ground – Maj-Gen Ronald Hughes". Army News: The Soldiers' Newspaper. Canberra: Australian Department of Defence. 13 March 2003.
  6. ↑ Horner 2008 , p. 440.
  7. ↑ Forbes 2010 , p. 446.
  8. 1 2 Palazzo 2006 , p. 45.
  9. ↑ Ham 2007 , p. 315.
  10. ↑ Dennis et al 2008 , p. 556.
  11. ↑ Palazzo 2006 , p. 117.

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References

Military offices
Preceded by
Major General Stuart Graham 		General Officer Commanding 1st Division
1974–1975		Succeeded by
Major General Bruce McDonald
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