Sturdee embarked for Australia on 16 November 1918,[REF] and his AIF appointment was terminated on 14 March 1919 [REF].
Like his predecessor as Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, Colonel John Lavarack, and many other officers, Sturdee had little faith in the government's "Singapore strategy", which aimed to deter Japanese aggression through the presence of a powerful British fleet based at Singapore [REF].