Generals
OF THE
British Army

PUBLISHED FROM THE OFFICES OF "COUNTRY LIFE," LTD.,
20, TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;

MCMXVII

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

THIS small portrait gallery of British generals represents, in fair epitome, the drama of British history. Each of the officers who figure here has behind him a varied story of fighting in strange places, under all sorts of conditions, as well as in the tense atmosphere of modern scientific war; each of them has first had to struggle against heavy odds before arriving at the conditions which at present obtain on the Western front. Infantrymen, cavalrymen, artillerists, they have come through a fiery trial to command large bodies of troops in the most terrible struggle of our history.

The part of their story that is concerned in this war is memorable, and may we not say it, memorably fine? For these are not the leaders of that vast host whose shadow has hung over Europe for so many years, whose numbers and efficiency have been the evil dream of the international situation; but of that small contingent that, for an ideal, took the field light-heartedly, against the vast German horde. Even the Belgian army was more numerous than the Expeditionary Force that struck its first blow before Mons; and these leaders have memories of the days when it was the equal in nothing, save undaunted courage and tactical ability, of the army in whose path it stood.

They have seen every type of fighting. The war of movements with its swift changes and long hazards was their first experience, an experience that none of those who took part in it will ever forget. For some terrible days the British army stood between the Allies and disaster; but the experience it bought was handed on to the enemy in a series of engagements, the lesson of which he softens by proclaiming the first seven divisions to have been unique. The admission is sufficiently revealing, for the handful of troops ought to have been crushed at Mons; or, escaping thence, should have been penned into Maubeuge; or, evading that trap, should have met annihilation at Le Cateau. But they fought coolly, were manœuvred skilfully, saving themselves by sheer fighting ability from the tide which threatened to overwhelm them.

Only consummate leaders could have taken an army to the Marne. The army ought to have been wiped out long before. The Germans had fully resolved upon it, they had the men and guns to encompass it, their long-perfected plans depended upon it. The British, wearied by the pressure of a hurried retreat, fought almost without cover against a great concentration of guns. But not only did they fight with superb spirit; they fought also with that instinctive appreciation of tactics which comes from perfectly assimilated experience. When the German blow had over reached itself, the British Generals were able to advance, threaten the left wing of Von Kluck's army when his right was dealing with General Manoury's outflanking movement on the Ourcq, outmanœuvre and outfight the enemy on the Aisne and secure tactical advantages of the first importance. In the victory of the Marne not the least wonderful of many arresting features was this effective recoil of the army which the Germans had announced to be "dispersed" ten days before.

After the battle of the Aisne, the army, moved en bloc from the heart of France, where the war of