Morshead returned to Australia in November 1919 and his AIF appointment was terminated in March 1920.

Morshead handed over command of New Guinea Force to Lieutenant General Stanley Savige on 6 May 1944 and returned to Australia, where he took Lieutenant General Iven Mackay's place as commander of the Second Army.

After the war Morshead returned to civilian life, becoming the Orient Steam Navigation Company's Australian general manager on 31 December 1947.

Morshead was born on 18 September 1889 in Ballarat, Victoria, the sixth of seven children of William Morshead, a gold miner who had emigrated from Cornwall, and his wife Mary Eliza Morshead, formerly Rennison, a native of South Australia.

Before his other two brigades could arrive from England and Australia, Wynter became seriously ill. Blamey decided to send him home and appointed Morshead to command the 9th Division on 29 January 1941.

Lieutenant General ( Australia ) | Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead with General of the Army Douglas MacArthur on Labuan Territory | Labuan in June 1945

The road Morshead Drive which runs past the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra, Australia is named after him.

Morshead went on to lead the Australian forces against the Empire of Japan during the New Guinea and Borneo campaigns.

While at Armidale, Morshead joined the Australian Army Cadets, and was commissioned as a lieutenant on 10 February 1913.

Morshead met with Blamey on 13 October to select officers for the new brigade.

Morshead formally enlisted in the Second AIF on 10 October 1939 and was given the AIF serial number NX8.

Morshead and his 18th Infantry Brigade embarked for the Middle East on 15 November, reaching Alexandria on 31 December.

Morshead was made a Commander of Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1941.

Axis propagandists described him as " Ali Baba Morshead and his 40, 000 thieves " and branded the defenders of the port as the " Rats of Tobruk ", a sobriquet that they seized on and wore as a badge of pride.

For his part, Morshead was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( KBE ) on 6 January 1942.

Morshead was one of only a few Allied divisional commanders with a distinct record of success at this stage of the war and had been acting commander of the British XXX Corps, a formation largely composed of Commonwealth troops, on two occasions.

Morshead arrived in Fremantle on 19 February 1943 where he was welcomed home by Lieutenant General Gordon Bennett, who had been his division commander between the wars.

In late September 1943, Morshead was summoned to New Guinea to relieve Herring by Lieutenant General Sir Iven Mackay, the commander of New Guinea Force, which he did on 7 October 1943.

On 7 November 1943, Morshead became acting commander of New Guinea Force and Second Army on Mackay's departure.

Despite the fact that Morshead had been in command in an active area, some critics of the government had already picked up on the November announcement that Morshead would command Second Army and charged that he had been " shelved ".

In July 1944, Morshead was appointed as commander of I Corps on the Atherton Tableland.

As Morshead pointed out on the publication of the second volume, the classification wasn't a properly constructed taxonomy, as it lacked a systemic rationale of construction.

In January 1941 Wynter became ill and was replaced as divisional commander by Leslie Morshead.

Morshead then flew to Melbourne where he was met by Lady Morshead, Sir Winston Dugan and Sir Thomas Blamey, who informed Morshead that he would take over command of a corps.

The 9th Division fought in the North African campaign under Major General Leslie Morshead and distinguished itself first at the Battle of Tobruk, where it became the first Allied unit to resist German Blitzkrieg tactics.

Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO, ED ( 18 September 188926 September 1959 ) was an Australian soldier, teacher, businessman, and farmer, with a distinguished military career that spanned both world wars.

He resigned both his teaching position and his commission in the Cadet Corps and travelled up to Sydney to enlist as a private in the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the First Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) because it was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Braund, whom Morshead knew well from his time in Armidale.

On 6 October 1939, Morshead was selected by Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey to command the 18th Infantry Brigade in the new 6th Division.

Morshead was given command of the Tobruk garrison which, as the retreat ( known to the Australians as the " Benghazi handicap ") continued, became surrounded, hundreds of miles behind enemy lines.

In October 1941, Morshead and most of the 9th Division was replaced by the British 6th Division.

In March that year, Morshead was given command of all Australian forces in the Mediterranean theatre and was promoted to lieutenant general.

But while Chauvel had been an Australian, he had been a regular officer while Morshead was not and the new commander of the British Eighth Army, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery felt that a reservist could not possess the " requisite training and experience " to command a corps and Morshead was passed over in favour of Oliver Leese, a British regular officer, who was junior to him and had never commanded a division in action.

" I am quite certain ," Leese informed Morshead, that this breakout was made possible by Homeric fighting over your divisional sector.

For his part in the famous victory, Morshead received yet another Mention in Despatches in June 1942 and in November 1942 he was also created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( KCB ).

Afterward, Morshead relieved Brigadier Bernard Evans of command of the 24th Infantry Brigade, replacing him with Brigadier Selwyn Porter, who had commanded a brigade in the Kokoda Track campaign.

Promoted to major, Morshead served with his 2nd Battalion in the Battle of Gallipoli, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Lone Pine.

Morshead demanded and got critical reinforcements, including Matilda tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion.

By this stage, Shout and Lieutenant Leslie Morshead of the 2nd Battalion were the only two surviving officers in their sector of the line.

* 1889 – Leslie Morshead, Australian soldier, businessman, and educator ( d. 1959 )

Morshead has been described as " arguably Australia's greatest soldier after Blamey.

Lieutenant General John Lavarack determined that Tobruk could be held and ordered Morshead to defend it.

General Archibald Wavell instructed Morshead to hold the fortress for eight weeks, while the remaining forces reorganised and mounted a relief mission.

By July 1941, Morshead had become convinced that his troops were becoming tired.