page_title: Henry Wells (general)
section_title: South West Pacific
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Wells (general) / Second World War / South West Pacific
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Australians Brigadier (later Lieutenant General Sir) Henry Wells, Brigader General Staff I Corps, and Brigadier John Raymond Broadbent, Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General I Corps, conferring at Trinity Beach, Queensland during a staff and command course.
context_page_description: Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wells, KBE, CB, DSO was a senior officer in the Australian Army. Serving as Chief of the General Staff from 1954 to 1958, Wells' career culminated with his appointment as the first Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, a position marking him as the professional head of the Australian Military. He served in this capacity from March 1958 until March 1959, when he retired from the army.
  Born in Victoria, Wells began his career in the Australian Army in 1916 when he entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon. Graduating as a lieutenant three years later, he served in a variety of staff and instructional positions before the outbreak of the Second World War. Initially posted to the 7th Division as a staff officer in 1940, Wells was promoted to lieutenant colonel and made senior liaison officer to I Corps. Serving in Greece and North Africa, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership at El Alamein. Transferred to the South West Pacific theatre in 1943 as a brigadier, he served in the New Guinea Campaign with the headquarters of II Corps and later in the Borneo campaign with I Corps.
context_section_description: Wells arrived back in Australia during February 1943. On 15 March, Morshead was appointed to command II Corps, and Wells was transferred along with him to the unit's headquarters as Brigadier, General Staff. He was promoted to temporary brigadier in April. During this time, the combat forces of the corps undertook training in both jungle and amphibious warfare in preparation for its planned deployment to New Guinea. Wells took an active hand in organising these exercises, before he moved with the corps headquarters to New Guinea during October.
  The movement of II Corps coincided with the vicious fighting around the Huon Peninsula and Finisterre Range. Wells assisted in the planning and coordination of operations over the subsequent months, which culminated in the seizure of Madang during April 1944. Wells was awarded his third Mention in Despatches during this time for his "exceptional services in the field".
  In April 1944, II Corps was redesignated as I Corps and returned to Australia, where it established itself on the Atherton Tableland in Queensland. The following month, Wells proceeded to Land Command Headquarters in Sydney, where he attended a conference on staff appointments. He returned to the corps eleven days later. During this period, Wells was once again active in organising the unit's training off the Queensland coast, before he was granted a period of leave during August; he returned to duty on 26 September. On 19 July 1945, Wells was upgraded to a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his "exceptional ability and outstanding devotion to duty" in conjunction with the "valuable assistance" given throughout the New Guinea campaign to the General Officer Commanding New Guinea Force.
  During March 1945, Wells acted as one of the eight pallbearers for Major General George Alan Vasey at the latter's funeral. Vasey had been killed in a plane crash just off the coast of Cairns, while en route to assume command of the 6th Division in New Guinea. That same month, it was decided that I Corps would lead an assault against the island of Borneo. As a consequence, headquarters of I Corps moved to Morotai, where it opened on 24 April. The initial Borneo landings took place on 1 May, with the Australian force in action at Tarakan. Over the proceeding engagements, Wells assisted in the organisation and implementation of the operations in Borneo. As the war drew to a close in September 1945, Wells returned to Australia and was posted to Army Headquarters in Melbourne.
caption: Brigadiers Henry Wells and John Broadbent conferring during a staff and command course, Queensland c. 1944.
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