• No results found

Quality of COs who Took their Battalions to War

Raising the New Armies and Expanding the Territorial Force – Battalion Command 1914-

2.5 Quality of COs who Took their Battalions to War

Excluding the COs of pioneer battalions, the careers of 347 COs who first took Service Battalions overseas can be followed. These men spent on average exactly eight months in command on active service (range six days to three years eight months).94

Fifty-six (16 per cent) were killed in action or died of wounds.95 Lieutenant-Colonel E.H. Chapman, 6th Yorkshire, had the unhappy honour to be the first CO to die in the first offensive action of a New Army battalion on 7 August 1915 on Gallipoli.96 In 1915, 13 were killed on Gallipoli and 12 at Loos, Lieutenant-Colonel M.V. Hilton, 7th East Lancashire, having the ill-luck to be killed at Loos (20 October 1915) on the day he was appointed Brigadier-General.97 Twenty-one were killed on the Somme (nine on the first day), and one in Mesopotamia. Nine were simple, if tragic, ‘trench wastage’ in France and Flanders, typical of these deaths being that of Lieutenant-Colonel F.H. Gaskell, 16th Welsh, who had already been wounded in November 1914 serving with the 2nd Welsh, shot by a sniper at night on 17 May 1916.98

In an attempt to review the overall viability as COs of those who took their Service battalions to war, a cut-off of six months will be again be taken as likely to reveal the effects of age, health and ability. Removing those who could not have furthered their careers through death (56) or serious wounds (12), there remains a group of 277 men

94

Lieutenant-Colonel John David Beveridge Erskine, 8th Shropshire Light Infantry, a retired Regular Captain, was in command from 8 March 1915 to 1 November 1918, but much of this time was spent in Salonika, where CO turnover was comparatively low.

95

This is higher than the overall average of 10 per cent (see Chapter Three, section 3.3.5), Gallipoli and the Somme taking their toll.

96

Edward Henry Chapman was a Depot Major with the Yorkshire Regiment.

97

Muray Venables Hilton, a brevet Colonel retired from the Worcestershire Regiment, commanded 7th East Lancashire from 1 October 1914 to 20 October 1915.

98

Frank Hill Gaskell, a Special Reserve Captain of the 3rd Welsh, commanded 16th Welsh between 25 November 1914 and 17 May 1916.

84

whose careers can be followed. Eleven are known to have been invalided and 57 were replaced, not known to have been wounded or invalided, i.e. 25 per cent of the cohort. Seventy-five per cent achieved over six months’ active service or were promoted, and hence were viable commanders, a level bearing good comparison with the ‘endurance or promotability’ rate of 64 per cent of the regular COs of August 1914.99

Forty-eight were promoted Brigadier-General (17 per cent of those who could possibly have been promoted). Twenty-nine were active professionals in August 1914. One was a Regular Lieutenant-Colonel, twenty-one were Regular Majors100 and four were Regular Captains;101 and one was a Colonel and two were Lieutenant-Colonels of the Indian Army. The remainder were retired at the outbreak of war (12 Regulars,102 four Indian Army, and two from the Special Reserve/Militia). Only the two retired from the Special Reserve/Militia had no previous professional service,103 so 96 per cent of those promoted from this group to Brigadier-General had a professional background.

The careers of 97 COs who first took second-line Territorial Battalions overseas can also be followed. These men spent on average 7.9 months in command on active service (range

99

See Chapter One section 1.4.1

100

44 per cent of the group of Regular Majors who took Service Battalions on active service.

101

22 per cent of the group of Regular Captains who took Service Battalions on active service.

102

Notable amongst these was Lieutenant-Colonel James Dayrolles Crosbie, 11th Lancashire Fusiliers. He had retired from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, where he had served as Adjutant, on 20 January 1893. On 4 June 1916 he was promoted Brigadier-General commanding 12th Brigade, 4th Division, which he was commanding on the first day of the Somme offensive. He served until 17 January 1917, then serving until November 1918 as CO of a home service unit, 16th Queen’s.

103

Lieutenant-Colonel Noble Fleming Jenkins, 7th East Yorkshire, had retired from the Special Reserve of the Border Regiment on 29 August 1910, and was promoted Brigadier-General 75 Brigade on 8 February 1916, although he was removed on 9 July 1916 to become Deputy Commandant of the Machine Gun Corps training centre. Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Lloyd, 15th Lancashire Fusiliers, had retired from the Militia of the Royal Lancaster Regiment on 18 December 1907, and was promoted Brigadier-General 90 Brigade, 18 October 1916 to 18 November 1917, later serving as Assistant Controller of Salvage.

85

six days to one year nine months),104 almost identical to their Service Battalion counterparts. Only five of this cohort were killed in action (five per cent, a figure three times lower than the first active Service battalion COs, probably because they were seeing service later in the war when there was more concern not to lose COs in action).

Removing those who could not have furthered their careers through death (five) or serious wounds (two), there remains a group of 90 men whose careers can be followed. Ten are known to have been invalided, and 29 were replaced, not known to have been wounded or invalided, i.e. 43 per cent of the cohort. Fifty-seven per cent had over six months active service or were promoted, and hence were viable commanders, somewhat less than the viability rate of 75 per cent of their Service battalion counterparts, and that of the 71 per cent for COs of first-line TF battalions who first took their units overseas.

Only two of this group were promoted to Brigadier-General, namely Lieutenant-Colonel H.E.P. Nash, 2/4th Duke of Wellington’s (a Regular Major of the Royal Scots in August 1914);105 and Lieutenant-Colonel W.J. Woodcock, 2/7th Manchester (a Special Reserve Major of the Lancashire Fusiliers in August 1914, but an ex-Regular).106

The previous war experience of these men makes good comparison with the Regular and TF COs of August 1914. Of the first active Service battalion COs only 18 per cent had

104

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Begby Houghton Thorne (an ex-Regular Lieutenant) commanded 2/6th North Staffordshire from 7 June 1916 to 21 March 1918, when he was killed in action.

105

Henry Edward Palmer Nash, aged 45 in 1914, was a Regular Major of the 1st Royal Scots in 1914, and commanded 13th Royal Scots from 6 September 1914 to 23 June 1915, and 2/4th West Riding from 13 July 1916 to 5 May 1918 from which point he commanded 49 Brigade until the Armistice.

106

Wilfred James Woodcock, aged 36 in August 1914, was an ex-Regular serving as a Major in the Special Reserve of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He commanded 7th Border from 13 September to 31 October 1916, and 2/7th Manchester from 11 February to 27 December 1917. He served as GOC 101 Brigade from 23 April 1918 to the Armistice. He had also served as CO to a battalion of the Machine Gun Corps from 27 December 1917 until his promotion.

86

seen no active service (compared with 12 per cent for the Regular COs of August 1914), the remainder serving on average in approximately two campaigns each.107 Fifty-five per cent of the first active second-line TF COs had no previous active service (compared with 50 per cent of the TF COs of August 1914), the remainder serving on average in one campaign.108 The picture was different, owing to the mixed nature of the groups, in relation to staff service. Fifty-two per cent of the first active Service Battalion COs had had staff experience (compared with 88 per cent of regular COs of August 1914),109 and 25 per cent of the first active second-line TF COs (compared with 8 per cent for the TF COs of August 1914).110

The examples of three officers convey the rich experience possessed by some of those who took their Service battalions on active service. Lieutenant-Colonel T.B. Sellar, 8th King’s Own Scottish Borderers, had retired as a Regular Major from that regiment in May 1913. He had no staff experience but had been with the Chitral Relief Force (1895), and had served on the North-West Frontier (1897-8), Tirah (1897-8), and in South Africa (1899- 1900) as a Captain (including the defence of Ladysmith). He had been with his battalion in the UK following the introduction of Combined Training, 1902, and with the exception of absence of experience of the four company system, was almost completely up-to-date. He served from the battalion’s formation to his wounding on 28 October 1916, and returned to command the merged 7/8th battalion on 20 January 1917 until his wounds got the better of him and he was invalided on 21 April 1917.

107

1.9, an average higher than the 1.7 campaigns of Regular COs of August 1914.

108

1.2, an average higher than the .3 campaigns of TF COs of August 1914.

109

See Chapter One section 1.1.5

110

87

Lieutenant-Colonel D.H.A. Dick, 14th Highland Light Infantry, who was a Major in the 3rd Royal Scots Fusiliers had served as Adjutant to this battalion before retiring as a Regular Major in July 1910. He had served on the North-West Frontier (1897-8 with the Tochi Field Force), in Tirah (1897-8), and in South Africa (1899-1900) as a Captain, including the Battle of Colenso and the relief of Ladysmith. Like Sellar, with the caveat of lack of experience of the four company system, he was thus almost completely up-to-date. The battalion’s second CO, having already commanded the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers for two extended periods in 1914-5, he served from 24 November 1915 to 19 May 1917.111

Lieutenant-Colonel F.E.P. Curzon, 6th Royal Irish Regiment, had retired as a Lieutenant- Colonel from that regiment in 1907. He had, without the benefit of Staff College attendance, served two spells as an Adjutant with the Scottish Rifles and Royal Irish Rifles, two spells as ADC (firstly to GOC Southern District, 1889-90, and secondly to the Governor and C-in-C Gibraltar, 1890-91), had been a Special Service Officer with the Rhodesian Field Force, and a DAAG during the Second Boer War. He had seen service on the Nile (1898, Battle of Khartoum), Sierra Leone (1898-9) and South Africa (1899-1902). The battalion’s first CO, he served until killed in action on 9 September 1916, at Ginchy.

There were therefore clearly many richly experienced and competent COs amongst the ‘dug-outs’ and others who were the first to take the Service and second-line TF battalions to war. Lieutenant-Colonel P.W. Machell, 11th Border, became his battalion’s factotum in the early days, and demonstrating the required power of organisation and initiative:

Every detail had to be taught by him, for the officers, with very few exceptions, knew no more than the men, and had to be taught themselves

111

88

before they could teach. The simplest orderly room work, such as making out ‘crimes’ ‘guard reports’, and ‘details’ etc. were done by him … All attestations were made out, and recruits personally approved by him … He organised the feeding of the men … He arranged for the hutting, the clothing, the water supply, the lighting and conservancy of the camp … These things alone would have occupied the activities of six ordinary men, but in addition to all this the CO was constantly on parade, training and smartening up both officers and men, drawing up the programmes of work and seeing that they were carried out.112

Machell had retired as a Regular Captain from the Essex Regiment on 30 September 1896, when he was 34. He had served in four campaigns in the Sudan and had been attached to the Egyptian Army. Following his retirement he served as Inspector General of the Egyptian Coastguard, and as Advisor to the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior until 1908, when he took up a post with the London County Council. It is therefore not surprising that his organisational capabilities proved high. Machell had corresponding high expectations of others, an NCO writing after his death: “To some of the men he may have appeared in the light of a martinet, as at time he was most severe in irony when dealing with defaulters”.113 Machell was killed on 1 July 1916 with 10 of his officers and 100 ORs, attempting to reach the Leipzig Salient, debouching from Authuille Wood.

A burden of training fell on these retired officers.114 C.E. Montague, a Sergeant in the 24th Royal Fusiliers, was sarcastic about that offered by Colonel A. de B.V. Paget, a brevet Colonel retired in 1903 from the Durham Light Infantry, whom he described as “the old, cold colonel, upright, dutiful, drawn away by a genuine patriotism from his roses and

112

P.G.W. Diggle, in V.M. (ed.) Record of the XIth (Service) Battalion Border Regiment (Lonsdale) from

September 1914 to July 1st 1916 (Whitehead: Appleby, ND), pp.7-8. (Captain Diggle was the battalion Adjutant during this period.)

113

From a letter in the Westmorland Gazette, http://border-regiment.kerchi.co.uk – accessed 24 February 2011.

114

Captain Basil Williams describes the training of the “Fourth and Fifth Armies” suffering in particular as “the training had to depend almost entirely on the idiosyncracies of the commanding officers” (Williams,

89

croquet”, lecturing with Infantry Training 1914 in his hand, “bringing his laboured jets of darkness to show the way though sunlight, elucidating plainness itself with the tangled clues of his own mind’s confusion”.115 In comparison, however, the energy of Lieutenant- Colonel W.D. Villiers-Stuart surpassed Machell. Being particularly interested in the use of machine guns, with Vickers guns being unavailable: “I wrote to Erith and asked them (Maxim’s people) if they could let me have one for instructional purposes – and they sent me one at once … I started classes on it for the young officers”.116 Similarly, after problems with bayonet training: “I started classes in the evenings for the officers and in a short time bayonet fighting was done well”. He continued: “I made sure that the battalion learned how to dig properly and how to ring and revet trenches”.117 Training his men hard to give them the best possible chances, Villiers-Stuart wrote ominously before going on active service: “I knew what was going to happen to all these boys who were so close to my heart”.118

As 1915 progressed, the personal burden on the CO of providing training altered. Major A.G. Wauchope of the Black Watch,119 wounded and in the UK as a bombing trainer, noted:

A syllabus of work was brought out by the War Office for a course of twelve weeks training, and for the average recruit this was found

115

C.E. Montague, Disenchantment (London: Chatto & Windus, 1924), p.22. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Sydney Collison, the ex-regular (second) CO of the 11th Royal Warwickshire, wrote: “That I had no alternative but to start elementary instruction from the very beginning is an instance of the entire want of method that obtained in the training of some units of the New Army. Officers without the faintest idea of how to train men, and often as ignorant of their work as the people they were supposed to teach, were occasionally put in command of these battalions and the results were deplorable”. TNA WO/95/2536, War Diary 112 Infantry Brigade. 116 Maxwell, Villiers-Stuart, p.20 117 Maxwell, Villiers-Stuart, p.22 118 Maxwell, Villiers-Stuart, p.39 119

Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, a Captain of 2nd Black Watch in August 1914, served as CO of the battalion from 6 September 1915 to 20 April 1917 before becoming a Brigade Commander in the Indian Army in Palestine.

90

sufficient. Specialist officers paid periodical visits of inspection, each specialist being convinced that his speciality only could win the war, be it bombing, bayonet fighting, musketry or physical drill. The Commanding Officer had to satisfy each and every specialist officer, to preserve his temper and maintain a well-balanced system of training.120

It is clear that both officers and other ranks recognised and appreciated organisational ability in these early COs where it existed. Second-Lieutenant F. Buckley, 3/7th Northumberland Fusiliers, wrote of his CO, Lieutenant-Colonel J.J. Gillespie, a Territorial Major, that he was “a man of great personality … a great organiser and a hard worker” who did “much to make the drafts efficient”.121 Private O. Burgess of the 14th York & Lancaster wrote of Lieutenant-Colonel W.B. Hulke who took his battalion overseas: “He was a regular Army man and he knew his job”.122 Lieutenant J.L. Middleton, 12th York & Lancaster, wrote in his diary of Colonel C.V. Mainwaring, ex-Indian Army, that he “looks a terror” but “the men worked harder than ever under Mainwaring’s leadership”, and that they had “the greatest respect for him”.123 Captain J.H. Beith stated of Lieutenant-Colonel A.F. Mackenzie how on the parade ground he liked “a clean finish to any piece of work”, yet he was also capable of overlooking shortcomings that needed no remark: “He was a good Colonel”. 124

120

A.G. Wauchope, A History of the Black Watch, Royal Highlanders, in the Great War 1914-1918: Vol. 1 (London, Medici Society, 1926), p.349

121

F. Buckley, Q.6.A. and Other Places (London: Spottiswoode Ballantyne, 1920), p.13. James John Gillespie was a 42 year-old Major of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers in August 1914.

122

Cooksey, Barnsley Pals, p.88. Walter Backhouse Hulke was a 43 year-old who had retired as a Regular Captain of the Lincolnshire Regiment in February 1911 and saw 21 months active service in two spells. He was still in command when the battalion was disbanded in February 1918. He was promoted GOC 115 Brigade between 16 April and 3 August 1918.

123

Gibson & Oldfield, Sheffield City Battalion, p.34

124

Hay, First Hundred Thousand, p.30. Mackenzie took his battalion to France and was badly wounded at Loos on 27 September 1915. Beith’s book ends with the Colonel’s wounding, as if a significant chapter was over.

91

A prime example of the enduring Service battalion CO is Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Rickman, 11th East Lancashire. He was the second CO, taking over from Colonel R. Sharples, on 1 March 1915.125 Thirty-nine years old in August 1914, he had retired as a Captain from the 2nd Northumberland Fusiliers, having served in South Africa 1899-1902, and was a Captain in the Special Reserve of that regiment on the outbreak of war. He was awarded the DSO for his efforts at Serre on 1 July 1916,126 on which day he was wounded by a shell and invalided, returning to command on 31 May 1917. He was wounded again on 11 November 1917, returning in time for the German offensives of 1918, winning a bar to his DSO leading his battalion on 12-13 April 1918.127 He took over temporary command of 92 Brigade before returning to his battalion.128

Inevitably, empire ‘characters’ are represented in this group. One such colourful individual was Lieutenant-Colonel D.P. Driscoll, of the (somewhat atypical) 25th Royal Fusiliers,129 who commanded his battalion throughout its career. Driscoll was probably born in Burma, and was 53 in August 1914. He had served in the Indian Merchant Navy and was involved in the Burma campaign of 1866-8. After leaving the navy he is thought to have served in the Upper Burma Rifles, becoming a crack shot. On the outbreak of the Boer War he travelled to South Africa and joined the Border Mounted Rifles, being asked in 1900 to

125

Richard Sharples, a 64 year-old retired TF Colonel, returned to retirement.

126

A January 1917 New Year honour, garnering no citation.

127

“This officer commanded his battalion, covering the retirement of the brigade to a new position after both flanks had been turned. He displayed great courage and judgement. The following day he held an extended front against three determined attacks, and when the troops on his right flank were driven in he rallied them under close fire, and formed a defensive flank with them”. London Gazette, 16 September 1918, page unknown.

128

After surviving the exigencies of the Western Front, Rickman died in an accident at home in 1925.

129

92

form ‘Driscoll’s Scouts’. In 1907 he joined the Legion of Frontiersmen, a group of adventurers comprising a patriotic paramilitary group, rising by 1914 to be its head.130

Perhaps the most extraordinary career was that of Lieutenant-Colonel I. Thord-Gray, who