 The political fallout from the disastrous Battle of Greece led to Blamey 's appointment as Deputy Commander in Chief Middle East Command in April 1941 . However , to ensure that command would not pass to Blamey in the event of something happening to Wavell , the British government promoted Sir Henry Maitland Wilson to General in June . Soon afterwards , Wavell was replaced by General Sir Claude Auchinleck . Blamey was subsequently promoted to the same rank on 24 September 1941 , becoming only the fourth Australian to reach this rank , after Monash , Chauvel and White . During the Syrian campaign against the Vichy French , Blamey took decisive action to resolve the command difficulties caused by Wilson 's attempt to direct the fighting from the King David Hotel in Jerusalem by interposing Lavarack 's I Corps headquarters . 
