Joint Planning Staff of General Headquarters (GHQ) Middle East Command in Cairo where he also took on the role of secretary to the Commanders-in-Chief Committee. De Guingand was involved in the planning of Operation Lustre, the despatch of a British and Allied expeditionary force to Greece in March 1941 in response to the failed Italian invasion of Greece and the looming threat of German intervention. He flew over the Aliakmon position where the British forces planned to make a stand, but this did nothing to dispel his doubts about whether the position could be held. He noted the extent of the front that would have to be held, and the ease with which a German turning movement could be executed. On his own initiative de Guingand commenced joint planning with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF) for the evacuation of the expeditionary force from Greece at an early date. The Commander-in-Chief Middle East, General Sir Archibald Wavell, and his chief of the general staff, Major-General Arthur Smith, were initially unaware of this activity. When Smith found out about it, he reported it to Wavell, who ordered de Guingand to cease forthwith, as he feared that it would affect the morale of the expeditionary force in Greece and become self-fulfilling. With the support of the naval and air Commanders-in-Chief de Guingand was allowed to continue with his planning, but Wavell directed that Army component was not to be informed. When the full weight of the German invasion of Greece fell on the Allied positions, it soon became evident that the Aliakmon Line could not be held for long. The plan eventually had to be put into action, and the force was evacuated from Greece. De Guingand was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1942 New Year Honours. Military intelligence In February 1942, Dorman-Smith, by this time Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS) at GHQ, recommended de Guingand for the vacant post of Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East, with the rank of brigadier. The appointment of de Guingand, an officer with no experience in intelligence, said much about the state of intelligence in the British Army at the time, where it was assumed that staff college training and a good brain were all that was required. Nonetheless, de Guingand ultimately proved to be very successful in this role. He selected two promising