and John Crocker. De Guingand's substantive rank was advanced to colonel on 1 December. Final campaigns When American and British relations were strained in January 1945 after the Battle of the Bulge by Montgomery's continued advocacy of the appointment of an Allied land forces commander, Eisenhower threatened to send a signal to the Combined Chiefs of Staff indicating that there was an unbridgeable gap between him and Montgomery. De Guingand feared that Montgomery was about to be sacked. He was able to persuade Eisenhower not to send the message and was then able to persuade Montgomery to send a heartfelt and apologetic one to Eisenhower. He then arranged to meet with the war correspondents committee, which was chaired by Alan Moorehead and expressed his reservations about the news coverage of the battle and its effect on inter-Allied relations. In March 1945, Montgomery summoned de Guingand to his caravan, where Brigadier Ernest Bulmer, the consulting physician to the 21st Army Group, was sitting beside him. Montgomery informed de Guingand that Bulmer had rendered a professional opinion that de Guingand was exhausted and needed a rest. When de Guingand protested, Bulmer listed the reasons behind his diagnosis. Montgomery and de Guingand then rounded on Bulmer, who offered to treat de Guingand with sedatives to help him sleep, on the proviso that de Guingand check in to a hospital in Brussels for 24 hours every two or three weeks. This deal was made subject to the war ending within three months. If it did not, then de Guingand would be relieved. That night, Montgomery brought de Guingand a cup of hot Ovaltine to help him sleep. Neither it nor the drugs had the desired effect. For his part in the campaign in Borth West Europe, de Guingand was mentioned in despatches twice more, on 9 August and 8 November 1945. His services were recognised by the Americans with the award of the Legion of Merit in the degree of commander in April 1945 and the US Army Distinguished Service Medal in January 1948, and by the Netherlands with the Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau with Swords on 17 October 1946. Post war Military career After the end of hostilities in Europe in May 1945, Churchill proposed that de Guingand be appointed Montgomery's deputy military governor of the British Zone in Allied-occupied Germany, but the War Office rejected the proposal,