Tag: Sir Douglas Haig

Sir Douglas Haig (1861-1928)

Written by Lawrance, W on 21st June, 2011. Posted in Historical Figures.

Douglas Haig was born in Edinburgh on June 19th 1861, the youngest of the eleven children of John Haig, the head of the successful whisky distillery which still bears the family name. He was educated at Clifton College in Bristol and Brasenose College, Oxford, leaving university before completing his degree, so as to enroll at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Here he completed a one-year course and in 1885, was commissioned into the 7th Hussars.

Following success in India, Haig worked with Sir John French on a new Cavalry Drill Book, as a result of which, in 1896, the High Command decided that he should be permitted to join the Staff College, without sitting the entrance examination, which he had earlier failed. Haig justified this decision, proving to be an excellent student. After this, he left for the Sudan, having been promoted to the rank of Major. In 1898, he returned again to England, where he served under Sir John French at Aldershot. During this time, French borrowed £2,000.00 from Haig, in order to pay his debts, and this loan effectively saved French’s career, although there is some doubt as to whether it was ever repaid.

The two men served together again during the Boer War and by the time of his return to England in 1902, Haig had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1905 he met Dorothy Vivian, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra, and although he was renowned for his dour and uncommunicative personality, they were married within a month. In 1909, he was knighted and two years later, following another spell in India, Haig was appointed as Commanding Officer at Aldershot.

When the First World War began, Haig automatically became Commander in Chief of the First Corps and he used his position, as well as his social status, to criticise and undermine the abilities of the Commander in Chief of the British Forces, Sir John French. Haig’s criticisms were not without foundation or support and in December 1915, Haig replaced French as the C-in-C of the British Armies in France.

The Battle of the Somme, which began in July 1916, was the first real test of Haig’s leadership. Haig, however, had not wanted to fight on the Somme, preferring the area around Ypres, and also wanted to postpone the battle to allow the many new recruits a little more time to train and prepare themselves. However, he was overruled and the first day of the Battle of the Somme remains the bloodiest in British military history.

During and immediately after the war, Haig was greatly respected by both soldiers and the public, although not within political circles. After the war, while other generals were rewarded by large cash gifts and honorary titles, Haig’s anticipated peerage was delayed until 1919. When a cash sum was eventually offered to him, he refused to accept it until his soldiers had received their pensions. He used his influence to amalgamate several veteran’s associations into the British Legion, which held the first of its annual Poppy Days on 11th November 1921. When Haig died on 28th January 1928, his funeral was attended by tens of thousands of his former soldiers, who still respected him enough to make expensive journeys from all over the country.

David Lloyd George (1863-1945)

Written by Lawrance, W on 17th June, 2011. Posted in Historical Figures.

David Lloyd George was born in Manchester on January 17th 1863, the son of William, a schoolteacher, and his wife Elizabeth. The following year, William died, so Elizabeth returned to her native Wales, where the family lived with her brother, Richard.

Lloyd George began his career as a lawyer, but soon turned his attention to politics, taking a keen interest in the policies of the Liberal party. In January 1888, he was married to Margaret Owen and two years later, won the election for Caernarvon Boroughs, becoming the youngest Member of Parliament. He soon became renowned for his skilled oratory and achieved national fame when he spoke out against British involvement in the Boer War.

When H. H. Asquith became Prime Minister in 1908, Lloyd George was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and devised the ‘People’s Budget’ of 1909, which called for higher taxes on the rich. This budget was rejected by the House of Lords, resulting in the Parliament Act of 1911, under which the powers of the Upper House were severely reduced.

When the First World War began, Lloyd George served in Asquith’s coalition government, firstly as Minister for Munitions and then as Secretary for War. As the conflict progressed, Lloyd George and others became increasingly disaffected with Asquith’s leadership and in December 1916, Lloyd George used Conservative support to take over the position of Prime Minister and cause a permanent rift in the Liberal party.

He immediately formed a War Cabinet, which consisted of himself and one other Liberal (Lord Milner), two Conservatives (Andrew Bonar Law and Lord Curzon) and one representative of the Labour party (Arthur Henderson). Lloyd George came into frequent conflicts with Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig and conspired to reduce the power of many of the generals, enforcing several changes in leadership. After the war, Lloyd George immediately called a General Election, which his coalition with the Conservatives won by a landslide, although within the coalition itself, the Conservatives had the balance of power. After the Treaty of Versailles had been signed, he settled down to more domestic politics.

In June 1922, the Conservatives, keen to take power by themselves, showed that he had been selling peerages and knighthoods and in October of that year the coalition was abandoned and Lloyd George was forced to resign.

In the 1930s he published his memoirs, in which he was scathing towards the Generals, especially Douglas Haig, being dead by this time, had no right of reply. Margaret, his wife, died in 1941 and Lloyd George then married his long-term mistress, Frances Stevenson, much against the wishes of the five children whom he had had with Margaret.

David Lloyd George died of cancer in March 1945 and was buried beside the river Dwyfor in Llanystumdury, where he grew up.

The Western Front, 1915

Written by Lawrance, W on 12th March, 2011. Posted in Featured Posts, History.

As 1914 faded and 1915 began, the hope that ‘it will all be over by Christmas’ rang a little hollow. In fact, almost all of the Regular Army had been wiped out in the battles of the autumn and early winter of 1914. Despite this, optimism remained high for the early part of 1915; Kitchener’s volunteer armies began arriving in France and Belgium, their enthusiasm undaunted.

During most of the First World War, the majority of battles took place during spring, summer and autumn, so the first weeks of the new year were spent reinforcing old trenches and digging new ones. Troops arrived – not only from Britain, but from all across the Empire – to be greeted by stalemate, cold, water-logged trenches, a lack of supplies and an efficient enemy.

Although there were not so many major battles on the Western Front during the winter months, there were still casualties, as the men constructing and maintaining the trenches often fell victim to sniper fire. There was, however, some fighting in these early weeks, during the Allied Offensive in Artois and Champagne, culminating in the first real ‘battle’ of the year at Neuve-Chapelle, which began on March 10th.

The following month saw renewed hostilities at Ypres, as the German army, led by Eric von Falkenhayn, attempted to reclaim the Belgian town. This battle has become infamous as it marked the first successful use of chlorine gas by the Germans, on 22nd April. Allied troops abandoned their trenches and fled. Those who did not die were severely affected by this new weapon, the success of which surprised even the advancing Germans, who failed to really capitalise on their initial successes.

The British Second Army, led by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, launched counter-attacks, although these were largely unsuccessful. Smith-Dorrien suggested to the Commander-in-Chief of the B.E.F., Sir John French, that British troops should withdraw and found himself ordered back to England. He was replaced by General Herbert Plumer, who promptly made exactly the same suggestion, which this time, French accepted. The Germans continued to attack the town, although by May 24th, they decided to call an end to this offensive, due to a lack of supplies.

At the same time as Plumer’s Second Army were defending Ypres, Sir Douglas Haig’s First Army were attacking at nearby Festubert. This battle, which lasted less than two weeks, saw the Allies advance less than one kilometre, at the cost of 16,000 casualties.

As such, the first half of 1915 on the Western Front, really set the scene for much of what was to follow. The commanders struggled to understand this new type of warfare and the weapons to which it gave rise, arguing amongst themselves as to how they should act. It soon became clear that war was changing, but that the weapons and knowledge required to combat this had yet to be developed.

Although the summer of 1915 is not renowned for any major battles, that does not mean that nothing happened. There were attacks and skirmishes in the Argonne area and the French continued their attempts to regain Vimy Ridge, which had been captured by the Germans in September 1914. The French army made some headway, but the Ridge itself remained firmly in German hands, when the French called off their offensive in November. Their casualties amounted to approximately 150,000 men.

August also saw the beginning of an artillery duel along great stretches of the Western Front, which lasted several weeks, with no perceptible outcome.

The main British offensive of the second half of 1915 began on 25th September at Loos, following a four day artillery bombardment, which preceded the attack. The British assault was led by Sir Douglas Haig, who had expressed doubts over the timing of the attack, but who had been overruled. Haig was concerned that his artillery lacked sufficient shells; that the troops in question – many of whom were new volunteers – had not had enough training, and that the terrain was unsuitable. Against this, Sir John French, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in France, argued that the German troops were greatly out-numbered by the British and that they should take full advantage of the situation.

On the morning of 25th September, the British released over 5,000 cylinders of chlorine gas. Unfortunately, along some sections of the line, the wind blew the gas back into the British trenches, resulting in over 2,500 casualties. Despite this setback, the British troops made strong advances, capturing Loos itself, before moving on in the direction of Lens. Haig had earlier requested that reserves of troops should be made available for him to call upon on the first day, but this was again overruled by John French. Therefore, the advance had to be halted at the end of the first day, in order that fresh troops could be brought up and, therefore, the early momentum was lost.

On September 26th, the British had to virtually begin their attack again, except that this time, the Germans were much better prepared and there was no artillery protection or support. Advancing troops were cut down by machine gun fire and on 28th September, the British were forced to retreat. Further attacks were launched on 13th October, but again these met with failure and the offensive was abandoned, with the loss of 50,000 British and approximately 25,000 German casualties.

The main effect of this defeat was that Sir John French was deemed ill-suited to his position and was blamed for his failure to have reserve troops at the ready on the first day of the battle. On 10th December, he was replaced as Commander-in-Chief by Sir Douglas Haig.

1915 Literary Links:

Rupert Brooke
Having assisted with the evacuation of refugees in Antwerp during October 1914, Brooke sailed for Gallipoli on 28th February 1915. He never reached his destination, as he died en-route, as the result of an infected mosquito bite, on 23rd April – St George’s Day.

Julian Grenfell
Grenfell had served in the Regular army before the war and saw action on the Western Front almost from the very beginning of the conflict. An extremely courageous officer, Grenfell received a shrapnel wound to the head on 13th May 1915 and died on the afternoon of the 26th.

Charles Hamilton Sorley
Having embarked for France in May 1915, Sorley was promoted to the rank of Captain in August and took part in the Battle of Loos. On Wednesday 13th October, Sorley was shot in the head and killed instantly. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial to the Missing at Dud Corner Cemetery.

Sir John French (1852-1925)

Written by Lawrance, W on 14th May, 2009. Posted in Historical Figures.

Although his military career began in the Navy, French switched to the cavalry in 1870, after which he saw service in Ireland, India and Egypt before taking command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, stationed at Aldershot. Following the Boer War French’s rise through the ranks continued until he was made a Field Marshal. In 1914 he was involved in the Curragh Incident, following which, he felt that his position had become so untenable that he resigned. The rank of Field Marshal, however, is given for life, so when war seemed inevitable in the summer of 1914, the British Government recalled him as Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force. His performance in this position is generally considered to have been a failure and he was replaced by Sir Douglas Haig in December 1915, whereupon he was made Commander In Chief of Home Forces. French died at Deal in Kent in May 1925 and at his funeral at Westminster Abbey, one of the pallbearers was Sir Douglas Haig.