northwards was handed over to the Reserve Army, which now became known as the Fifth. There, for five months, Sir Hubert Gough was hotly engaged. It was under his command that Pozières and Mouquet Farm were taken by the Australians and Courcelette by the Canadians, and the Thiepval Ridge cleared at the end of October. His greatest success came in the Battle of the Ancre on November 13th, when, in two days, he took more than 5,000 German prisoners.

When the German retreat began in the spring of 1917, Sir Hubert Gough's Army operated in the Bapaume area and towards the country between Cambrai and St. Quentin. It was engaged on the right of the Third Army during the Battle of Arras.

Sir Hubert Gough belongs to one of the most famous of British fighting families. His brother, Brigadier-General John Gough, V.C., was Sir Douglas Haig's Chief-of-Staff during the first nine months of the war, and died by a chance rifle bullet at Estaires on February 20th, 1917. Sir Hubert, who is only 46, is by far the youngest of British soldiers in high command—the youngest Army Commander, indeed, among all the Allies. He first made his name as a dashing Cavalry leader, a man of infinite courage and resource in an open campaign. In the long months of trench fighting he has won a reputation second to no British General for skill in our modern scientific and mechanical form of warfare. His energy, his daring, and his boyish good-humour made him an ideal Cavalry leader, and they have endeared him to every man who has had the honour to serve under his command. He is not the least notable of the many great soldiers whom Ireland has given to the British Army.

V
GENERAL SIR EDMUND HENRY ALLENBY, K.C.B.

SIR EDMUND ALLENBY was born on April 23rd, 1861, and was educated at Haileybury. He entered the Inniskilling Dragoons, with whom he served in the Bechuanaland Expedition of 1884-5. He fought in Zululand in 1888, and in the South African War was a dashing and successful Column Commander. He was one of those who harried General Delarey in the difficult Magaliesberg region.

In 1910 he was promoted to the command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade, was subsequently Inspector of Cavalry, and, when the European War broke out, he was given the Cavalry Division. He fought through the Retreat from Mons and the Battle of the Marne, and after the Battle of the Aisne was promoted to the command of the Cavalry Corps. During the First Battle of Ypres he held the Messines ridge, filling the gap in the line between Sir Henry Rawlinson's 7th Division and General Smith-Dorrien's II Corps.

In May, 1915, he succeeded Sir Herbert Plumer in command of the V Infantry Corps. When General Monro went to India he followed him in command of the new Third Army on the Somme.

In the spring of 1916, when Sir Henry Rawlinson's Fourth Army was formed, the Third Army was moved further north to take over the ground around Arras vacated by the French Tenth Army under D'Urbal. Only a small part of the right wing of Sir Edmund Allenby's Army was engaged during the Battle of the Somme, and that only on the first day.

GENERAL SIR EDMUND ALLENBY

During the winter of 1916-17, apart from many brilliant trench raids, there was no action upon the Third Army front. Its chance came[25]
[26]
[27] on Easter Monday, 1917, when Sir Edmund Allenby commanded the right wing of the British forces in the great Battle of Arras—one of the most successful actions as yet fought by British troops. It was his men who carried the intricate network of trenches east of Arras, fighting their way along the valley of the Scarpe towards Douai.

In June Sir Edmund Allenby was transferred to the command of the British forces in Egypt.

In the European War some of the most brilliant infantry leaders have come from the Cavalry—Haig, Gough, Kavanagh, Allenby. Sir Edmund is a personification of the traditional qualities of an English soldier—patient, tenacious, resolute; and his record in many fields has shown that he possesses admirable military judgment and wide military knowledge.

VI
GENERAL SIR HENRY SINCLAIR HORNE, K.C.B.

SIR HENRY HORNE was born on February 19th, 1861; a son of the late Major James Horne, of Stirkoke, Caithness. He was educated at Harrow and Woolwich, and entered the Royal Artillery in 1880. He served in the South African War with distinction, and during the early stages of the European War was soon recognised as one of the most able of our gunner Generals.

He went to France with Sir Douglas Haig as Brigadier-General of Artillery of the I Corps, and took part in the Retreat from Mons, the Battle of the Aisne and the First Battle of Ypres. He commanded the 2nd Division during the attack at Givenchy in connection with the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March, 1915. This Division was also in action at the Battle of Loos in September, 1915, when it had much desperate fighting on both sides of the La Bassée Canal.

In November, 1915, General Horne accompanied Lord Kitchener to Gallipoli and was afterwards sent on to Egypt to report on the defences of the Suez Canal. In January, 1916, he was appointed to the command of the XV Corps in Egypt, which, in April, was transferred to the Somme area.

In the first part of the battle his Corps was in action as the second from the British right. It was his men who took Fricourt and Mametz, assisted in the capture of Contalmaison and Bazentin le Petit, and on September 15th triumphantly entered Flers.

GENERAL SIR HENRY HORNE

In the autumn of 1916 Sir Henry Horne took over the command of the First Army and during the winter held the section of the British line between General Plumer and General Allenby.

[29]
[30]
[31]

In the Battle of Arras he commanded the British left. His troops carried the Vimy ridge and fought their way to the southern and western suburbs of Lens. Sir Henry Horne's Army had now a similar general objective to that which his Division had had at the earlier Battle of Loos.

Sir Henry Horne is one of the most trusted of British soldiers. Like the Commander-in-Chief, he is a man of few words but of many deeds. Scotland has played a great part in the war and has contributed more than her share of brilliant Generals. The one Scottish Army Commander in the West has nobly sustained the traditions of his country.

VII
LIEUT-GEN. SIR WILLIAM RIDDELL BIRDWOOD, K.C.B., K.C.S.I, K.C.M.G., C.I.E., D.S.O.

SIR WILLIAM BIRDWOOD was born on September 13th, 1865, the son of a distinguished Indian civilian. He was educated at Clifton and at Sandhurst, and in 1883 entered the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Two years later he went to the Cavalry—the 12th Lancers—and a year later to the 11th Bengal