 In August 1945 , Strong became Deputy Director of the Political Warfare Executive , succeeding Sir Bruce Lockhart as its head a month later . With the elevation of Montgomery to Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1946 , the career prospects of officers who had served at SHAEF , like Morgan , Gale , Whiteley and Strong , became dim , and Strong retired from the Army with the rank of major general on 9 May 1947 to become a civil servant . 
