French one at Camp de Châlons, but at the he found a lavishly-equipped facility, with weapons and training methods he considered superior to those of the British Army. He was promoted major on 1 August 1938. Second World War On 15 July 1939, De Guingand became the military assistant to the Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, with the grade of GSO2. Hore-Belisha had civil service aides to assist him in his duties, but required an Army officer to advise him on military matters, to provide an Army point of view, and to assist in writing his speeches. As such, de Guingand accompanied Hore-Belisha on visits to military bases and establishments. Hore-Belisha was popular with the press and the people, but not so much with his Cabinet colleagues. Wide-ranging reforms that included the dismissal of many senior Army officers soon made him unpopular in the Army. De Guingand gradually warmed to Hore-Belisha and assumed the role of a confidant. In this role he had exposure to the most senior officers in the Army and developed his skills in diplomacy. Hore-Belisha clashed repeatedly with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), General Lord Gort, whom he had promoted to the position over the heads of sixty more senior officers and after the outbreak of war in September 1939. Hore-Belisha removed Gort by recommending him to command the British Expeditionary Force in France, but the difficulties between the two continued, with arguments over the state of fortifications in France. The friction with Gort led to Hore-Belisha being forced to resign in January 1940. Middle East De Guingand requested to be returned to his regiment, and on 21 January he reported to the West Yorkshire Regiment depot, but was immediately placed on leave. On 25 February he was posted to the new staff college at Haifa in Palestine as an instructor. The war had created an urgent requirement for more trained staff officers, and the new staff college had been created to fill this role. When he arrived the commandant was Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Galloway but in August Galloway was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Dorman-Smith who had been an instructor at Camberley when de Guingand was there as a student. De Guingand soon became chief instructor. After a short period as Commandant of the newly-formed School of Combined Operations with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was posted in December 1940 to the