Review of 'From the Dardanelles to Victory' by Clive Harris (January 2020)

The question is often asked ‘What became of the Dardanelles men when they reached the Western Front?’ Clive’s talk was an attempt an answer by looking at the post-1915 careers of a chosen set of soldiers, and one sailor, and their contribution to the victory of the Allies in 1918.

The first man was Lt-General Aylmer Hunter-Weston DSO. Was he ‘the Slashing Man of Action’ or a mere butcher? As most questions which demand a ‘black or white’ answer, this answer is more nebulous. Hunter-Weston’s early career in the army took him to the NW Frontier in India, Kitchener’s staff on the Nile expedition, staff college, and the Boer War where he was awarded the DSO. By 1914 he was a brigadier-general. His brigade (11th) went to France as part of 4th Division and saw action at Le Cateau and the Aisne. In fact, his was the only brigade which made the first successful crossing of the Aisne before stalemate caused the first line of trenches (he was unusual in his use of a motorbike during this campaign).

Commanding 29th Division during the landings at Cape Helles and the Krithia battles, he appears to have learned from his initial high casualty rate (butcher of men and bloodier of pups) that higher concentration of artillery, before infantry attacks, in a modified ‘bite and hold’ form, reduced casualties. Promoted to command VIII Corps, he was invalided out with sunstroke and exhaustion. Returning to duty in early 1916, Hunter-Weston was involved in the preparations for Operation Hush, a Flanders Offensive involving a seaborne landing planned for later in 1916 (and resurrected in 1917) but abandoned for the Somme Offensive. 

On July 1st Hunter-Weston’s divisions suffered the highest casualty rate of the first day of the battle. VIII Corps was moved to the Ypres sector but not involved in the initial battles of 1917. In 1918, his corps took part in the final 100 days advance (on the Sambre and at le Quesnoy) but not in any spectacular way. From 1917 – 1935 he was active in politics, speaking out about the manpower crisis of 1918 in the House of Commons. To his contemporaries, Hunter-Weston was an eccentric, to his superiors he was a ‘safe pair of hands’ but to many of his junior officers he paid too much attention to minor matters (despite regularly inspecting trenches) and threw men into poorly planned operations.

Lt-General Bernard Freyburg, VC, DSO & three bars, was in North America when war was declared in 1914. He had previously fought with the forces of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. Determined to enlist in the UK, he earned money for his passage by winning a swimming competition in Los Angeles and a prize fight in New York. He volunteered for the Royal Naval Division (Hood Battalion) and was in Belgium by September.

After the RN Division was withdrawn from Antwerp, Freyburg was commissioned as an officer and was involved in the Dardanelles campaign. During the night of 25 April 1915, he volunteered to swim ashore and ignite flares to distract the Turkish forces from the true landings. Coming under heavy fire, he survived and returned safely. For this action he was awarded his first DSO. After the evacuation from the Gallipoli peninsula and his return to the UK, he transferred to the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment with the rank of captain. He was awarded his VC for his action at Beaucourt in November 1916. 

As temporary Lt-Colonel commanding his battalion, he rallied his men by personal example and led them into the attack through the German lines. Despite being wounded, he led his men in an assault on the battalion’s second objective. After a night’s rest and reinforced with fresh troops, he led the assault and capture of a heavily fortified village. He was a temporary Brigadier-General during the Battle of Arras, April 1917, commanding the 173rd Brigade (part of 58th Division), by which time he was the youngest general (aged 28) on the Western Front.

Badly wounded by a shell-burst during the 3rd Battle of Ypres, he was invalided home. He commanded 88th Brigade (part of 29th Division) during the Spring Offensive of 1918 and was in the field during the last 100 days, awarded a bar to his DSO in September 1918. At 1055 on the 11th November, he led a cavalry charge (7th Dragoon Guards) on the German lines to take a strategic village, deliberately misreading his watch to take prisoners and a strategic position, an action for which he was awarded another bar to his DSO. 

After the war he was granted a commission into the Grenadier Guards, attended staff college and was a staff officer in the 44th Division. Promoted to Major-General at the age of 45, he was force to retire on health grounds (a severe heart problem) in 1937. He returned to the active list in 1939, commanded the 2nd New Zealand Division before being involved in the Battle of Greece (1941) and commanded the Allied forces in Crete. He commanded his division during the North African and Italian Campaigns as part of Eighth Army. His most controversial action was as a Corps commander at the 2nd and 3rd Battles of Monte Cassino during which he agreed to bomb the monastery (1944).

General Walter Braithwaite studied at Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Somerset Light Infantry. He served in the Boer War, seeing action at Spion Kop. After several staff appointments on his return to the UK, he served as an instructor at the staff college before being assigned to Haig’s staff at the War Office. He was commandant of the staff college at Quetta in India at the outbreak of WW1. In 1915 he was appointed Chief of Staff to General Hamilton (CO Mediterranean Force) and oversaw the Gallipoli campaign. After the evacuation, Braithwaite (who had been regarded as arrogant and incompetent by the officers of the Australian force) was assigned to command the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division, a second line Territorial Force division.

Posted to France in January 1917, his well-trained force experienced a series of difficulties before settling down to being a successful division. Their experiences with Gough’s Fifth Army at Bullecourt in April & May 1917 demonstrated the need for proper preparation when attacking. In November, 1917, the division were involved in the tank battle at Cambrai, first in the capture of Havrincourt, then on the attack on Bourlon Wood. During the retreat in the face of the German Spring Offensive, the division held their line at Bucquoy (March 1918) and supported the French attack on the battle of the Marne (July 1918) during the advance in the Tardenois. In September 1918, Braithwaite was appointed commander of IX Corps and was involved in breaking the Hindenburg Line (the spearhead being 46th Division which crossed the St Quentin canal at the Riqueval bridge). 

After the war Braithwaite was commissioned by Haig to produce a report evaluating the performance of staff officers during the war. Braithwaite’s report was generally favourable.

General William Peyton DSO was a ranker (7th  Dragoon Guards, 1885) who was commissioned as an officer, first in the 7th Dragoon Guards and then the 15th Hussars. He served in the Sudan, where he was awarded the DSO, and the Boer War. He passed staff college in 1901 and commanded the 15th Hussars. In India before WW! he was promoted to brigadier-general. On the outbreak of WW1, he was a staff officer with the Territorial Force. Promoted to major-general, he commanded the 2nd Mounted Territorial Force which was sent to Egypt for the Gallipoli campaign. Leaving their horses in Egypt, his division fought as dismounted yeomanry, landing at Suvla Bay and fighting on Scimitar Hill, August 21 1915.

After the evacuation from Gallipoli, Peyton served in Egypt, commanding the Western Frontier Force, part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. He saw action in the Senussi campaign (along the frontier between Libya & Egypt) where the armoured car brigade (commanded by the Duke of Westminster) rescued the crew of HMS Tara (which had been sunk by a U-boat) from Bir Hakeim, an Ottoman fort in the desert. Returning to Europe he served on Haig’s staff in a series of positions from Army Commander (Fifth Army) during its re-organisation after the German Spring Offensive, Corps commander (X Corps) and finally CO 40th Division, when he was back in the front line during operations in France & Flanders during the last 100 days.

Lt George Dallas Moore, VC MC & bar (Royal Hampshire Regiment), was eighteen years of age when he was awarded the VC. Only a 2nd Lieutenant, he was the only surviving officer in his battalion and was able to stem anunorganised retreat of men by shooting the ring leaders and leading the men back into the front line and recapturing their trench during the third battle of Krithia. He served on the staff of Henry Beauvoir de Lisle (GOC 29th Division) before returning to Europe suffering from dysentery. Returning to duty as a staff officer (as aide de camp to his divisional commander) he was promoted to lieutenant, he won his two MCs during the final 100 days for conspicuous gallantry, first for reconnaissance, the second for taking charge of an attack under heavy shelling and machine gunfire, while  reconnoitring the front. Lt Moore died of the Spanish ‘flu in November 1918.

Brigadier-General Archibald Leggett DSO & bar was commissioned into the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1897 and served in the Boer War where he was promoted to captain and awarded his DSO. He was an instructor at the Royal Military Academy before serving in the Japanese Imperial Army (when he became a Japanese interpreter). Returning to the UK he served as a brigade major. He commanded the 5th (Territorial) Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers (1915-7), taking them to Gallipoli where he saw action at Krithia. His division was transferred to Egypt after the evacuation and Leggett was promoted to Brigadier commanding the 156 Lowland brigade. Initially, his division was involved in the defence of the Suez Canal and in 1917 was involved in the battles of Gaza and Jaffa for which he was awarded a bar to his DSO. In 1918 the division proceeded to France, fighting at Arras and the Scarpe before the attack on the Hindenburg Line at the Canal du Nord. His division was in line along the Mons canal on 11th November.

Lt-Colonel William Ralph Peel DSO & two bars served in the 6th battalion West Yorkshire Regiment and landed at Suvla Bay in August 1915 (a captain and Adjutant to his battalion commander) and fought at Lala Baba Hill, where he was wounded. He was temporary battalion commander when the troops were evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt. Transferred to the western Front in 1916, he saw action during the battle of the Somme. In 1917, promoted to major, he was wounded again at Messines where he was awarded a DSO. Transferring to the 10th Manchester battalion, he was awarded two bars to his DSO for distinguished gallantry (the first in September, the second in November for action at the Foret de Mormal) 1918.

Finally Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss who, as a rear-admiral & battle squadron commander, supported both the Cape Helles and Suvla Bay landings in 1915. 

As a squadron commander, Wemyss was responsible for the evacuations from the Gallipoli peninsular. In 1916 he commander the Egypt Squadron and supported the military operations in Palestine. Appointed First Sea Lord, on the dismissal of Admiral Jellicoe, he encouraged Admiral Keyes in his aggressive approach to U-boats, culminating in the Zeebrugge raid in April 1918. In November, Wemyss was the senior British representative, along with Marshal Foch, during the armistice negotiations with the German delegation led by Mattias Erzberger. Wemyss was a co-signatory to the Armistice Agreement of November 11th.

Report by Peter Palmer

Below is a video of Clive Harris's presentation