Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Henry Wells (general)

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The following discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Henry Wells (general)[edit]

Passed --Eurocopter (talk) 15:23, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Nominator(s): Abraham, B.S. (talk)
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I am nominating this article for A-Class review because I believe it meets the criteria. I moved this article on the first Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CCOSC)—the professional head of the Australian Military at that point—into the mainspace about three days ago after a week or so of work in my sandbox. During its construction, David Underdown kindly added additional information on Wells' Second World War honours from the original recommendations contained at the UK National Archives, and Nick-D was also kind enough to add information on Wells' appointment and servitude as CCOSC; I thank them both. Any and all comments welcome. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 09:38, 11 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  • References comments - (this version)
    • No disambig or external link problems.
    • References and sources look ok, but man are there a lot of government/AWM sources. Isn't there something more by someone else?
      • There is very little information available on Wells, and the majority of the Government and AWM sources are regarding units and official histories. Abraham, B.S. (talk) 07:47, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • Do we need the entire "Loftus, New South Wales, Australia"? Maybe "Loftus, New South Wales" would suffice? Or just Loftus with a wikilink?
      • I figure it is best to provide the full term for maximum information. Abraham, B.S. (talk) 07:47, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • There are some overlinking problems in the "References" section.
      • The majority of the overlinking in this case is for consistancy, but I will delink some things if necessary. Abraham, B.S. (talk) 07:47, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
        • Consistency is one thing, a sea of blue another. :) Also, should "Australia in the War of 1939–1945" be italicized (is it the name of an overall book of books? Not sure here.)? —Ed 17 (Talk / Contribs) 17:36, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
          • "Australia in the War of 1939–1945" is a series, not just a single book, so I don't think it should be in italics. Thanks, Ed. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 00:14, 17 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • Cheers, —Ed 17 (Talk / Contribs) 07:24, 15 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support This is a great article which meets the A-class criteria. Some suggestions for further development you may wish to consider are:
    • 'the Australian forces' weren't deployed to Greece: only the 6th Division and I corps HQ (and some other minor units) were sent
    • It seems to be understating I Corps HQ's achievement to say that it was merely 'was posted for service' in Lebanon and Syria: the HQ successfully took over the campaign and got it restarted
      • I didn't put much into here for a few reasons, namely that I know more in the area of military biographies than battles (I seriously need to read up more on battles), and I couldn't find any mention of Wells in the official histories during this time so I was a little slack in digging up information on the campaign (I was having hard enought a time trying to find info on Wells!), but I'll see what I can do in this area. Abraham, B.S. (talk) 09:35, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • It might be helpful to explain what GSO2s and GSO1s did and how these positions differed (I'm a war nerd, and I don't know!). The article says that Wells was an very capable staff officer, but doesn't describe what he did in these roles.
      • I have no idea either, really! I think they assist in the operations of the units and such, but I don't know anything substansive. I think Hawkeye would be the best person to ask on this, so I'll go ask him. Abraham, B.S. (talk) 09:35, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • The 9th Division did more than 'assisted in the assault' at El Alemain: it played a critical role for much of the battle by tieing down and destroying the German reserves.
    • The placement of "Described as 'somewhat reserved and taciturn"' in the sentence on his death is a bit out of place - it implies that he was 'reserved and taciturn' when he died!

Nick-D (talk) 07:32, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the review, mate. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 09:35, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support
  • Wells was appointed the first Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee
The article covers the subsequent development of this post very well, but fails to make it clear that it existed before Wells. Formerly, it was held by the senior service chief. Wells was the first to hold it as a separate post. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:29, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have added more information on this, which I hope is adequate. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 00:23, 17 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
In turn I added some stuff about staff ranks, and about the Syria-Lebanon campaign. Corrected a couple of typos. There was a bit where it appeared that Wells moved from II Corps to I Corps when actually the corps designation changed. I Corps HQ did not move to Hollandia as originally intended but stayed at Barrine. It later moved to Morotai instead. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:35, 17 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for all of that, Hawkeye! You've done a brilliant job. :) Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 03:53, 18 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Comments Great article, well written/cited/illustrated - a few style points first, then a more substantial one:
    • Intro: "appointment as the first Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee; a position marking him as the professional head of the Australian Military." Grammar thing, should either have a comma where the semi-colon is, or leave the semi-colon and make it "this position marked..."
    • Early career:
      • "where he participated as an active sportsman" might sound better as "where he was an active sportsman" or "where he was a keen sportsman".
      • "he was re-posted to the 9th Light Horse Regiment" - perhaps I'm ignorant but how do you get re-posted to something you've apparently never been posted to before?
        • What I ment here was that Wells' was moved to a new position again. Have now changed it to "allocated". Abraham, B.S. (talk) 08:06, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • Senior command: "The role of the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee was not strengthened until 1961 when Air Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger was appointed to the position" - this begs the question as to how the position was strengthened; can you add a sentence? (N.B. I assume Horner's saying something other than making Scherg a 4-star, as this didn't occur till he'd been in the role for 4 years or so).
      • I would have to ask Nick on this one. Nick was the one who possesses Horner's book and was kind enough to add that paragraph earlier. Abraham, B.S. (talk) 08:06, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
        • Done - Horner's wording is a bit vague, but it seems that the key date was 1965 when Scherger was promoted, though he also says that Scherger pushed for greater integration of the services throughout his time in the position. I've just corrected and clarified this. Nick-D (talk) 10:16, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
          • Tks mate, the promotion to ACM in 1965 was all I could think of as "strengthening the position" but I was interested in knowing if I'd missed something! That clears it up so all good now, well done all. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 10:29, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 07:00, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the review, Ian. Cheers, Abraham, B.S. (talk) 08:06, 22 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page, such as the current discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
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