162-625: Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby , GCB , GCMG , GCVO , KStJ (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in World War I , in which he led the British Empire 's Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign against
324-406: A field appointment , he was conscientious, intelligent and rarely allowed his devious and opinionated nature to distort his work on the official history. Edmonds determined the presentation of information, which imposed constraints on the authors. All but implied criticism was to be avoided and the author was to resist the temptation to be "wise after the event". Disclosure of facts about opponents
486-560: A Bavarian officer said "Ve haf beat de Franzmen, you vill be next" ( sic ). This determined Edmonds's father to teach both his sons German and to put them into the army. Edmonds's teachers encouraged him to study maths at Cambridge but when one of his friends passed third in the entrance exam to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich (RMA Woolwich), Edmonds applied. In July 1879 Edmonds took the RMA Woolwich entrance exam, passed first
648-602: A barrel chest and his very bad temper made "The Bull" a figure who inspired much consternation among those who had to work under him. During the First World War , Allenby initially served on the Western Front . At the outbreak of war in August 1914, a British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to France, under the command of Field Marshal Sir John French . It consisted of four infantry divisions (the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th, with
810-494: A break. Wavell recalled: "He went on with his work and asked no sympathy. Only those who stood close to him knew how heavy the blow had been, how nearly it had broken him, and what courage it had taken to withstand it". Allenby assessed the Turkish Army's fighting force that he was facing to be 46,000 rifles and 2,800 sabres, and estimated that he could take Jerusalem with 7 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions. He did not feel that there
972-600: A commercial publisher could not have the same access to the senior participants and would forfeit the chance to inform the public and educate military officers, when six volumes of Military Operations France and Belgium remained to be written. The government was placated and writing continued but Daniel retired in July 1939 and Edmonds took on his duties as Secretary of the Historical Section. The last Western Front volume, Military Operations France and Belgium 1917 ** (Third Ypres)
1134-412: A common assumption that the work is vapid at best and at worst fraudulent, a partial, misleading and exculpatory account of the military establishment. In 1934, Liddell Hart questioned the integrity of the writers, calling 1918 Part I "patriotic" and "parochial". Norman Brook, one of the official historians, claimed in 1945, that Edmonds could not be trusted to revise 1916 Part I, because he had succumbed to
1296-657: A diversion of German strength to facilitate the concurrent British offensive at Loos . They executed a minor attack in the Hooge Sector in the Ypres Salient under Allenby's direction, which once again incurred substantial losses to its units involved in the affair. In October 1915, Allenby was promoted to the temporary rank of general to lead the Third Army of the BEF, being made lieutenant-general (substantive rank) on 1 January 1916. In
1458-650: A fantasy. The growing Anglo-German antagonism had led to a fashion for alarmist literature about German spies and invasion scares, several written by William Le Queux , one of Edmonds's friends. There were some German agents in Britain watching ports and dockyards but no centrally organised system of espionage; Germany was far more interested in France and Russia. Gustav Steinhauer of German naval intelligence ( Nachrichten-Abteilung N ) ran "poorly paid and clumsy agents". Le Queux wrote The Invasion of 1910 in 1906, serialised in
1620-548: A feat that the French had achieved in three years. It took 21 years (excluding 1939–1945) to produce 14 Western Front volumes and 15 more on other theatres. Edmonds had great influence on the literary and academic integrity of the work. In the first volume, published in 1922, Edmonds wrote in the preface, that "no deviation from the truth nor misrepresentation will be found in the official histories on which my name appeared". Edmonds' claim has been challenged ever since, leading to
1782-516: A fresh advance against the Turkish positions... of Jerusalem proceeded rapidly" – Allenby The Ottomans were beaten at Junction Station (10–14 November), and retreated out of Jerusalem , which was on 9 December 1917. During the Palestine campaign, Allenby entered a bacteriological laboratory near Ludd , where he saw some charts on the wall. When he asked about their meanings, he was told that they were of
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#17330857986321944-564: A gold-tipped baton which they may carry on formal occasions. The vast majority of officers to hold the rank of field marshal were professional soldiers in the British Army, though eleven served as officers in the British Indian Army . At least fifty-seven field marshals were wounded in battle earlier in their careers, of whom 24 were wounded more than once, and eight had been prisoners of war. Fifteen future field marshals were present at
2106-444: A habit of asking questions on the most abstruse subjects, and an unpleasant knack of catching out anyone who gives an evasive answer for the sake of politeness. Many of Allenby's officers believed that he was incapable of any emotion except rage, but he was in fact a loving father and husband who was intensely concerned about his only child, Michael, who was serving at the front. Before Allenby went to bed every night, Allenby would enter
2268-536: A lecture on tactical intelligence which compared the tasks of a field officer in a small war to that of their continental equivalents. In a European war, the British Army would need ...far greater vigilance, far closer watching of the enemy, far greater secrecy than war [against] the foes we have been accustomed to meet. field officers would find it far harder to get topographical data in Germany during hostilities and would have to rely on information gained during peace. In
2430-554: A list of experts in code-breaking and trained junior officers in cypher methods to create a reserve for times of war. Edmonds attempted to establish intelligence gathering by the British as an equivalent of the efforts being made by the French and Germans, who had been spying and counter-spying on each other since before the Franco-Prussian War. Edmonds took the view that in a modern war, old methods would be inadequate and in 1908 gave
2592-606: A new department had been established in 1901 for naval intelligence gathering about Britain, the Nachrichten Abteilung N but this was assumed to be part of military intelligence, Sektion IIIb. Several German friends told Edmonds that they had been approached by the German Imperial Admiralty ( Kaiserliche Admiralität ) to report on the movements of warships, observe dockyards, arsenals, aircraft and munitions factories. In 1909 Le Queux published "Spies of
2754-476: A price increase to 15s. In March 1933, Edmonds showed copies of French, German and Austrian histories to demonstrate their "elaborate and voluminous" nature. Several volumes were financed by interested departments but Edmonds retained supervision and maintained the same editorial control as for the other volumes. Parsimony affected the organisation of the Historical Section and the speed at which it could publish. The premises were cramped, visits to battlefields and
2916-636: A secret service bureau be established and in August 1909 the new agency was set up within MO5. Edmonds appointed Kell to run the agency. The government also created controls to monitor and limit the freedom of movement of aliens and increased powers under the Official Secrets Act to give more powers to the police against spies. After studying continental powers, the Metropolitan Police gained more powers of arrest and search. A conviction could be obtained on
3078-647: A sign of his modesty. He subsequently stated in his official report: ...I entered the city officially at noon, 11 December, with a few of my staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attaches of France, Italy, and America... The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France and Italy. The population received me well..." "[The citizens of Jerusalem were] at first welcoming because they were glad
3240-736: A speech that he gave to the Farmers' Dinner, which had in fact been written for him by Edmonds and another. He was promoted to major on 19 May 1897 and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Brigade , then serving in Ireland, as the brigade major in March 1898. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, Allenby returned to his regiment, and the Inniskillings embarked at Queenstown and landed at Cape Town , South Africa, later that year. He took part in
3402-459: A split infinitive in a staff paper to discovering a corpse in the field without the tin helmet that Allenby ordered his men to wear sent Allenby off into a rage. The V Corps was victorious in defeating the German assault but incurred controversially heavy losses in the process through Allenby's tactical policy of continual counterattacks at the German attacking force. In September 1915, V Corps attempted
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#17330857986323564-587: A staff of three, kept watch on messages to South Africa and exports of ammunition. The section managed to intercept Dutch correspondence to South Africa but was prevented from accepting the offer by the captain of a rugby team to vandalise the London offices of a pro-Boer agent. In 1901 Ardagh and Edmonds went to South Africa, at the request of the Foreign Office, to advise Lord Kitchener on questions of international law. From 1902–1904 Edmonds worked for Lord Milner on
3726-471: A surprise from which the dash of London troops and Yeomanry, finely supported by their artillery, never gave them time to recover. The charge of the Australian Light Horse completed their defeat" – Allenby His force captured the water supply there, and was able to push onward through the desert. His force pushed northwards towards Jerusalem . "Favoured by a continuance of fine weather, preparation for
3888-548: A valueless work which he would one day come to regret. a complaint which was occasionally levelled at Edmonds by the War Office and by several of the participants in the war. Despite the constraints that Edmonds imposed on the form of the official histories, Andrew Green called his accounts accurate and comprehensive. Edmonds's correspondence with Basil Liddell Hart shows that Hart valued the official history and offered constructive criticism. Green wrote that when David French called
4050-588: A very big success yesterday. I won all along the line; killed a host of Boche and took over 7,500 prisoners...We have, at last, brought off what I been working on all winter. My staff has been splendid". There were weeks of heavy fighting during the Third Army's offensive at the Battle of Arras in the spring of the 1917, where an initial breakthrough had deteriorated into trench-fighting positional warfare—once more with heavy casualties to 3rd Army's units involved. Allenby lost
4212-402: A work based on dispatches would fail to engage the public. An educational work needed a foundation on which to base teaching and a work must be readable enough for the public to buy, be a credible educational work for the military student and rebut inaccurate commercial accounts by civilian authors. Edmonds submitted an annual report and meetings considered costs and the progress of publication,
4374-538: A year to its cramped offices in Cavendish Square , until it moved to the Audit Office in 1922. By 1924, Edmonds had five administrators and eight writers, when the French and German equivalents had about 130 each. The British staff were also underpaid, A. F. Becke being refused a salary increase from £500 per annum. Edmonds got the money instead, from £560 to £800 per annum and then £1,000 per annum in 1924, when he
4536-824: Is a quotation from " When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd " by American poet Walt Whitman . Field marshal (United Kingdom) Field marshal ( FM ) has been the highest rank in the British Army since 1736. A five-star rank with NATO code OF-10 , it is equivalent to an Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the Royal Air Force (RAF). A Field Marshal's insignia consists of two crossed batons surrounded by yellow leaves below
4698-605: The Daily Mail and then published in 17 languages, selling more than a million copies. In 1907 The Morning Post splashed a story purporting that 90,000 German reservists and spies, with arms caches, were at large in Britain. Invasion scares whipped up public anxiety when the Germans accelerated their dreadnought building plans. The British government set up a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) in 1907 to look into
4860-607: The 1919 Egyptian Revolution . However, as High Commissioner of Egypt, Allenby favored negotiations with Egypt. Soon after the 1919 uprising, the Milner Mission was initiated. In early 1921 there were more riots and demonstrations that were blamed on Zaghlul. This time Allenby ordered that Zaghlul and five other leaders be deported to the Seychelles. Sixteen rioters were executed. The following year Allenby travelled to London with proposals which he insisted be implemented. They included
5022-654: The Battle of Vitoria , where the Duke of Wellington earned the rank, and ten others served under Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo . However, only thirty-eight held independent commands in the field, and just twelve served as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces (the pre-1904 professional head of the army) or Chief of the Imperial General Staff during a major war. Four field marshals ( Sir Evelyn Wood , Sir George White , Earl Roberts , and Lord Gort ) had previously received
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby - Misplaced Pages Continue
5184-648: The Bechuanaland Expedition of 1884–85. After serving at the cavalry depot in Canterbury , he was promoted to captain on 10 January 1888 and then returned to South Africa. Allenby returned to Britain in 1890 and he sat – and failed – the entry exam for the Staff College at Camberley . Not deterred, he sat the exam again the next year and passed. Captain Douglas Haig of the 7th Hussars also entered
5346-589: The British Armed Forces . At the same time, Guthrie, who relinquished the post of CDS and retired from active service in 2001, was promoted to honorary field marshal. In June 2014, former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Walker of Aldringham was also promoted to honorary field marshal. Although the rank of field marshal is not used in the Royal Marines , the insignia is used on the uniform of
5508-566: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Edmonds was relieved not to be sent home because of his age and he stayed at GHQ for the rest of the war, in 1918 becoming deputy engineer-in-chief. He was consulted by Haig, became a mentor of the General Staff and all branches of the engineers, which gave him greater knowledge of transport problems than the supply staffs. At first Edmonds assisted Major Ernest Swinton who had been sent out by
5670-568: The Captain General , the ceremonial head of the corps (equivalent to colonel-in-chief ). The rank insignia of a field marshal in the British Army comprises two crossed batons in a wreath of laurel leaves, with a crown above. In some other countries, historically under the sphere of British influence, an adapted version of the insignia is used for field marshals, often with the crown being replaced with an alternative cultural or national emblem. On appointment, British field marshals are awarded
5832-519: The Chief of the Imperial General Staff (later renamed Chief of the General Staff ) to the rank on his last day in the post. Army officers occupying the post of Chief of the Defence Staff , the professional head of all the British Armed Forces , were usually promoted to the rank upon their appointment. In total, 141 men have held the rank of field marshal. The majority led careers in the British Army or
5994-584: The Desert Mounted Corps . He also approved the utilisation of Arabic irregular forces which were operating at that time to the Turkish Army's open left flank in the Arabian interior, under the direction of a young British Army intelligence officer named T. E. Lawrence . He sanctioned £200,000 a month for Lawrence to facilitate his work amongst the tribes involved. In early October 1917, Robertson asked Allenby to state his extra troop requirements to advance from
6156-551: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF). Jan Smuts refused the command (late May) unless promised resources for a decisive victory. Lloyd George appointed Allenby to the role, although it was not decided immediately whether he would be authorised to launch a major offensive. Allenby believed his new assignment to be a joke, because he still believed that the war would be decided on the Western Front. Although many of
6318-656: The Grenadier Guards , commanded a series of attacks while severely wounded during the First World War in 1918. Roberts received his VC for actions during the Indian Mutiny . Wellington, 44 at the time of his promotion, was the youngest non-royal officer to earn the rank of field marshal. Charles Moore, 1st Marquess of Drogheda was the oldest, promoted at the age of 91, while a further twenty-three officers were promoted to field marshal in their eighties. Wellington
6480-573: The Ministry of Defence in 1995 made a number of recommendations for financial savings in the armed forces' budget, one of which was the abolition of all five-star ranks. Part of the rationale was that these ranks were disproportionate to the size of the forces commanded by these officers, and that none of the United Kingdom's close allies, such as the United States (which reserves the rank of general of
6642-669: The Ottoman Empire in the conquest of Palestine . The British succeeded in capturing Beersheba , Jaffa , and Jerusalem from October to December 1917. His forces occupied the Jordan Valley during the summer of 1918, then went on to capture northern Palestine and defeat the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group 's Eighth Army at the Battle of Megiddo , forcing the Fourth and Seventh Army to retreat towards Damascus. Subsequently,
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby - Misplaced Pages Continue
6804-552: The River Tay . In 1917 while serving in Egypt, Allenby formed a life-long friendship with Lieutenant Colonel Sir Herbert Lightfoot Eason , with Eason later describing Allenby as the greatest man he ever met in his long life of many distinguished contacts. He died suddenly from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm on 14 May 1936 at his house in Kensington , London, at the age of 75 years. His body
6966-661: The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) the Japanese had the benefit of agents placed in Russia before the war, which contributed to the Japanese victory. Edmonds advocated intelligence operations in Germany before a war but his efforts were hampered by the usual lack of money and War Office inexperience, whose early efforts were embarrassing failures. Edmonds had most success in changing the Security Service, despite his reasons coming from
7128-719: The Secretary of State for War (1905–1912), refused to credit the existence of a German spy network and few other members of the government took it seriously. Even Helmuth von Moltke the Younger , the Chief of the Great German General Staff (1906–1914) claimed that an invasion might be feasible but that supplying a landing force or re-embarking it would be impossible. During 1909 Edmonds was promoted to colonel and that year told Captain Vernon Kell , his deputy during his time in
7290-464: The Third Battle of Gaza (31 October – 7 November 1917) by surprising the defenders with an attack at Beersheba . The first step in capturing Beersheba was to send out false radio messages prompting the Turkish forces to think Britain was going to attack Gaza. After that, an intelligence officer, by the name of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen , rode right up to the Turkish line, barely evading capture. In
7452-625: The Victoria Cross (VC), the United Kingdom's highest and most prestigious award for gallantry 'in the face of the enemy'. Wood, a famously injury-prone officer, was awarded the VC for two actions in 1858, in which he first attacked a group of rebels in India, and later rescued an informant from another group of rebels. White, a cavalry officer , led two charges on enemy guns in Afghanistan in 1879, while Gort, of
7614-465: The 28-volume Military Operations section of the History of the Great War . Edmonds wrote eleven of the fourteen volumes titled Military Operations, France and Belgium , dealing with the Western Front . "Military Operations: Italy 1915–1919", the final volume of the series, was published in 1949, just after Edmonds retired. Edmonds spent his retirement at Brecon House, Long Street, Sherborne, Dorset, where he died on 2 August 1956. James Edward Edmonds
7776-412: The 38th Mining Company as Assistant Instructor. Apparently Edmonds's main duty was to play golf with the Chief Instructor in the afternoons. Edmonds was promoted to captain in 1890 and returned to the RMA Woolwich as an instructor in fortification. During his six years as an instructor Edmonds spent his long vacations abroad learning Russian and other languages. In 1895 Edmonds took the entrance exam for
7938-418: The 4th Division on 1 March 1911, despite being told that it was a bad career move to leave the War Office. Edmonds had gone on leave for three months before transferring during which he had translated French and Russian works on battlefield engineering. Snow, a somewhat irascible man, quickly gained confidence in Edmonds and told him, "I provide the ginger and you provide the brains". The division trained and in
8100-480: The 4th and 6th being held in Britain) and one cavalry division , the latter commanded by Allenby. The cavalry division first saw action in semi-chaotic circumstances covering the retreat after the Battle of Mons opposing the German Army 's invasion of France. One of Allenby's subordinates claimed at the time: "He cannot explain verbally, with any lucidity at all, what his plans are". When a headquarters officer asked why Brigadier General Hubert Gough 's cavalry brigade
8262-457: The Army, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge . Edmonds was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers on 22 July 1881. Edmonds spent four years based in Chatham and a year in Malta studying submarine mining, a matter which the Royal Navy could not be expected to undertake. Edmonds's intellect was recognised with the nickname Archimedes . After returning from Malta, Edmonds was posted to Hong Kong with two companies of engineers to garrison
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#17330857986328424-460: The BEF by delivering a patchwork of unit diaries. At the end of the year, Edmonds decided to rewrite the work; Fortescue was sacked and Edmonds even wanted him to be made to pay back his salary. Edmonds decided that an account must be enhanced by statements, private records of officers and by German material, to counter "garbled" accounts by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle and John Buchan . Soundings with publishers and authors convinced Edmonds that
8586-430: The EEF Pursuit by Desert Mounted Corps captured Damascus and advanced into northern Syria . During this pursuit, he commanded T. E. Lawrence ( "Lawrence of Arabia" ), whose campaign with Faisal's Arab Sherifial Forces assisted the EEF's capture of Ottoman Empire territory and fought the Battle of Aleppo , five days before the Armistice of Mudros ended the campaign on 30 October 1918. He continued to serve in
8748-497: The Fall of Jerusalem, Allenby wrote that he could complete the conquest of Palestine with his existing forces, but would need 16–18 divisions, on top of the 8–10 he already had, for a further advance of 250 miles to the Damascus – Beirut Line and then to Aleppo to cut Turkish communications to Mesopotamia (where by early 1918, 50,000 Turks were tying down a British Empire ration strength of over 400,000, of whom almost half were non-combatants, and 117,471 were British troops). Smuts
8910-522: The Far East, that the commander of a German landing in East Anglia would be better informed than a British general. Haldane was persuaded to set up another CID sub-committee to inquire about foreign espionage, at which Edmonds gave evidence. Viscount Esher said that Edmonds was ...a silly witness from the War Office [who saw] rats everywhere - behind every arras. but Haldane was more persuaded. The existing intelligence system could not quantify German spying or stop it. The sub-committee recommended that
9072-438: The First World War, while one, Sir William Robertson , held every rank in the British Army, from private soldier to field marshal. Footnotes Works cited James Edward Edmonds Brigadier-General Sir James Edward Edmonds CB CMG (25 December 1861 – 2 August 1956) was an officer of the Royal Engineers in the late-Victorian era British Army who worked in the Intelligence Division , took part in
9234-578: The Gaza– Beersheba line (30 miles wide) to the Jaffa – Jerusalem line (50 miles wide), urging him to take no chances in estimating the threat of a German-reinforced threat. Allenby's estimate was that he would need 13 extra divisions (an impossible demand even if Haig's forces went on the defensive on the Western Front) and that he might face 18 Turkish and 2 German divisions. Yet, in private letters, Allenby and Robertson agreed that sufficient British Empire troops were already in place to take and hold Jerusalem. Having reorganised his regular forces, Allenby won
9396-422: The German lines while avoiding German fire and finally new weapons like tanks and aircraft were to play prominent roles in the offensive. In March 1917, the Germans pulled back to the Hindenburg Line , which led Allenby to argue that the planned offensive in the Arras sector in April should be changed, a request Haig refused. Despite refusing Allenby's request for more time to change his plans, Haig informed him that
9558-404: The Great War" is an abbreviation of The History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Committee of Imperial Defence (sometimes called the British Official History). A formal decision to write an official history was taken in a Cabinet meeting on 26 August 1915, when Maurice Hankey (1 April 1877 – 26 January 1963) the Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence and of
9720-465: The Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Blessed and the People Dwelling in Its Vicinity: The defeat inflicted upon the Turks by the troops under my command has resulted in the occupation of your city by my forces. I, therefore, here now proclaim it to be under martial law, under which form of administration it will remain so long as military considerations make necessary. However, lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your experience at
9882-450: The Kaiser" in which London and the east coast were full of German spies disguised as barbers, waiters and tourists. The denunciation of alleged spies increased and the cases were passed on to Edmonds who began to classify German visitors according to their proximity to important buildings and other structures, those who entertained parties of visiting Germans or tradesmen and photographers who lived near dockyards and ports. Richard Haldane ,
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#173308579863210044-430: The MO3 files contained matters pertaining to the Boer War, a few items about France and Russia but nothing about Germany, which was to become Edmonds's concern with the diplomatic settlements with France ( Entente Cordiale [1904]) and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Edmonds devised a code called double Playfair for communications with the Japanese and for British forces engaged in field operations. Edmonds drew up
10206-465: The Middle East campaign. Allenby also saw the importance of good medical treatment and insisted that proper medical facilities be created to treat all of the diseases common to the Middle East like ophthalmia and enteric fever. Allenby was eventually ordered to attack the Turks in southern Palestine, but the extent of his advance was not yet to be decided, advice which Robertson repeated in "secret and personal" notes (1 and 10 August). Allenby quickly won
10368-408: The Middle East. Lloyd George also wanted more effort on other fronts. Previously, leaders had been concerned that taking over Palestine would divide it and leave it for other countries to take, but repeated losses to the Turkish Army and the stalled Western Front changed their minds. Lloyd George wanted a commander "of the dashing type" to replace Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Murray in command of
10530-575: The Ottoman Empire capitulated on 30 October 1918 with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros . Allenby was made a field marshal on 31 July 1919, and created Viscount Allenby , of Megiddo and of Felixstowe in the County of Suffolk , on 7 October. His appointment in 1919 as Special High Commissioner of Egypt came as the country was being disrupted by demonstrations against British rule . It had been under Martial Law since 1914 and several Egyptian leaders, including Saad Zaghlul , had been exiled to Malta. These deportations had led to rioting across
10692-409: The Ottomans were gone and they wanted a good relationship with the British. [They were] also cautious as they did not want the British to stay." The British press printed cartoons of Richard Coeur de Lion – who had himself failed to capture Jerusalem – looking down on the city from the heavens with the caption reading, "The last Crusade. My dream comes true!" The crusade imagery was used to describe
10854-502: The Secretary of State for War wanted work begun on a single-volume popular history, to be published soon after the war. Kitchener hoped to maintain public interest in the main series and put the case of the government at the same time as accounts by participants and popular authors. The Treasury gave way and agreed to finance an official history series and popular single-volume works, written by civilian authors to ensure public appeal. Sir John Fortescue (28 December 1859 – 22 October 1933)
11016-446: The Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener (5 August 1914 – 5 June 1916) as a war correspondent, in the absence of news reporters, who had been barred from the front. Edmonds had a fairly quiet war, coming under a fire a few times and once being billeted in a house across from one that was hit by a bomb, killing the two occupants. In 1919 Edmonds retired from the army and was given the honorary rank of brigadier-general. "History of
11178-421: The Staff College, Camberley and passed first again; during the year he married Hilda Margaret Ion (died 1921), daughter of the Rev. Matthew Wood; they had one daughter. Twenty-four candidates were chosen by application and eight men with near misses in the examinations could enter by nomination, one of whom was Douglas Haig. Edmonds felt intellectually superior to his peers and wrote later that only George Macdonogh
11340-415: The Trentino. In those circumstances, the Central Powers were likely to be left in control of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and it had been sensible for Britain to grab some land in the Middle East to block Germany's route to India. Allenby's views mirrored those of the War Cabinet at the time. Allenby went to Patagonia for a last fishing trip, aged 74, to see if the salmon really were as big as those in
11502-440: The Tudor Crown . Like Marshals of the Royal Air Force and Admirals of the Fleet, Field Marshals traditionally remain officers for life, though on half-pay when not in an appointment or retired. The rank has been used sporadically throughout its history, and was vacant during parts of the 18th and 19th centuries (when all former holders of the rank were deceased). After the Second World War, it became standard practice to appoint
11664-518: The War Cabinet wanted more efforts on the Palestine Front, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), General Sir William Robertson , believed that Western Front commitments did not justify a serious attempt to capture Jerusalem ( Third Ypres was in progress from 31 July until November), and throughout 1917 he put pressure on Allenby to demand unrealistically large reinforcements to discourage
11826-546: The War Council, advocated a series of histories to provide ...a popular and authoritative guide for the general reader; for the purposes of professional reference and education [and to provide] an antidote to the usual unofficial histories which besides being generally inaccurate, habitually attribute all naval and military failures to the ineptitude of the Government. Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener (24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916)
11988-808: The Western Front (in the autumn of 1917) to transfer troops to Palestine. Allenby avoided that question, but commented that in 1917 and into the spring of 1918 it had been far from clear that the Allies were going to win the war. The Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers of December 1917 had effectively taken Russia out of the war, but the Americans, who had entered the war in April 1917 , were not yet present in strength. France and Italy were weakened and might have been persuaded to make peace, perhaps by Germany giving up Belgium or Alsace-Lorraine, or Austria-Hungary giving up
12150-690: The Western Front, although the Dominion Prime Ministers in the Imperial War Cabinet continued to demand a strong commitment to the Middle East in case Germany could not be beaten. New troops from the British Empire (specifically Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa) led to the resumption of operations in August 1918. Following an extended series of deceptive moves, the Ottoman line
12312-483: The actions at Colesberg on 11 January 1900, Klip Drift on 15 February 1900 and Dronfield Ridge on 16 February 1900, and was mentioned in dispatches by the commander-in-chief, Lord Roberts on 31 March 1900. Allenby, by now a major, was appointed to command the squadron of New South Wales Lancers , who were camped beside the Australian Light Horse outside Bloemfontein . Both men and horses suffered from
12474-460: The actual decoration of CB from King Edward VII during an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902. Allenby returned to Britain in 1902 and became commanding officer of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers in Colchester with the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel on 2 August 1902, and the brevet rank of colonel from 22 August 1902. He was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel and to
12636-407: The age of 53, Edmonds had to get by on about three hours sleep a night. Food was short and by the time that Edmonds had finished his duties each night, he found that most of the remainder of the food laid out for the officers had been eaten by a corpulent Veterinary Officer. Edmonds wrote that he could not believe that a man so tired and hungry could stay alive. Edmonds was able to keep going because of
12798-464: The army for officers who have commanded large armies in major wars), used such ranks. The recommendation was not taken up in full, but the practice of promoting service chiefs to five-star ranks was stopped, and the ranks are now reserved for special circumstances. Sir Peter Inge was, in 1994, the last active officer to be promoted to the rank. Inge relinquished the post of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) in 1997, and his successor, Sir Charles Guthrie ,
12960-425: The autumn, reinforced by 3 divisions from Mesopotamia . The speed of the advance was limited by the need to lay fresh rail track. This met with War Cabinet approval (6 March 1918). The German spring offensive on the Western Front meant that Allenby was without reinforcements after his forces failed to capture Amman in March and April 1918. He halted the offensive in the spring of 1918 and had to send 60,000 men to
13122-454: The battle and in his Memoirs wrote that the night of 26/27 August was the most miserable in his life. Edmonds rode at the head of the 4th Division column in another downpour, not being able to get down from his horse to check his map, because he would be unable to mount it again. At midnight the column stopped for four hours and then carried on the Great Retreat that lasted for ten days. At
13284-565: The boat. Edmonds found that rocky outcrops just below the surface in Hong Kong harbour had not been charted and were a danger to shipping, occasionally the cause of serious accidents. Edmonds organised their removal by trailing a rail between two rowing boats and lowering a diver to place an explosive charge on the top. The posting was uneventful; in 1888 Edmonds returned to Chatham after three months' sick leave in Japan and sojourns US and Canada, to join
13446-474: The book would be appealing to soldiers and to students of history alike. The book was full of statistical information, although the reviewer in the Times Literary Supplement thought that in this, the authors had gone a little too far. The book gave prominence to novel aspects of the war including the use of cavalry, battles of attrition and the turning of volunteers into disciplined soldiers. The book
13608-569: The campaign by the British press and later by the British Ministry of Information . There were reports that on entering the city Allenby had remarked "only now have the crusades ended." However, mindful of the Pan-Islamic propaganda of the Ottomans who had proclaimed a jihad against the Allies in 1914, Allenby himself discouraged the use of the crusader imagery, banned his press officers from using
13770-620: The city on foot through the Jaffa Gate , together with his officers, in deliberate contrast to the perceived arrogance of the Kaiser 's entry into Jerusalem on horseback in 1898, which had not been well received by the local citizens. He did this out of respect for the status of Jerusalem as the Holy City important to Judaism , Christianity , and Islam (see his proclamation of martial law above). The people of Jerusalem saw Allenby's entrance on foot as
13932-551: The college at the same time, thus beginning a rivalry between the two that ran until the First World War . Allenby was more popular with fellow officers, even being made Master of the Draghounds in preference to Haig who was the better rider; Allenby had already developed a passion for polo. Their contemporary James Edward Edmonds later claimed that the staff at the Staff College thought Allenby dull and stupid but were impressed by
14094-744: The colonial British Indian Army , rising through the ranks to eventually become a field marshal. Some members of the British Royal Family , most recently Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Charles III , were promoted to the rank after shorter periods of service. Three British monarchs ( George V , Edward VIII , and George VI ) assumed the rank on their accessions to the throne, while Edward VII and Charles III were already field marshals, and two British consorts, Albert, Prince Consort and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , were appointed by their respective queens. Other ceremonial appointments were made as diplomatic gestures. Twelve foreign monarchs have held
14256-403: The colony after a Russian invasion scare. The 33rd Engineer Company, in which Edmonds served, was one of those chosen. When the orders were received the company commander went sick and his deputy requested to be excused as his wife was pregnant. The two companies reached Hong Kong, one with eight men and the other about thirty; the absentees were either ill, invalid or on attachment and had missed
14418-502: The commander did not and could not know. Using knowledge after the event could show arrogance and a lack of critical judgement. In writing the first Gallipoli volume (1929), Cecil Aspinall-Oglander ignored the convention and on the draft copy, Edmonds called his account biased and lacking in the objective judgement necessary for an official historian. When Aspinall-Oglander refused to revise his text, Edmonds criticised him for ...lacking critical judgement, of arrogant sarcasm and of producing
14580-527: The confidence of the BEF's commander, Haig. He was promoted to full general on 3 June 1917, but he was replaced at the head of the Third Army by Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng on 9 June 1917 and returned to England. The British War Cabinet was divided in debate in May 1917 over the allocation of British resources between the Western Front and other fronts, with Allied victory over Germany far from certain. Curzon and Hankey recommended that Britain seize ground in
14742-484: The continuous rain and men with cases of enteric fever were taken away every day. Allenby soon established himself as a strict disciplinarian, according to A. B. Paterson even imposing a curfew on the officers' mess. Allenby participated in the actions at Zand River on 10 May 1900, Kalkheuval Pass on 3 June 1900, Barberton on 12 September 1900 and Tevreden on 16 October 1900 when the Boer General Jan Smuts
14904-459: The corps manoeuvres of 1912, the 3rd Division and the 4th Division defeated I Corps which was under the command of Douglas Haig. An important part of the divisional training was the retreat, despite this being banned by the War Office. On the eve of the war, Edmonds thought that his division was prepared but ill-equipped compared to the items he had seen in use in the German Army when he attended
15066-636: The country, with Cairo isolated. Allenby's first response was conciliatory. He persuaded the Colonial Office to allow Zaghlul and his delegation, from the Wafd , to travel to France. Their intention was to present the Egyptian case to the Paris Peace Conference but they received no official recognition and returned to Egypt in failure. As a General, Allenby played a prominent role in helping Britain counter
15228-406: The creation of the forerunner of MI5 and promoted several spy scares, which failed to impress Richard Haldane , the Secretary of State for War (1905–1912). Viscount Esher said that Edmonds was ...a silly witness from the War Office [who saw] rats everywhere - behind every arras. In 1911, Edmonds returned to soldiering as the chief of staff of the 4th Division , despite being advised that it
15390-514: The end of Martial Law, the drafting of an Egyptian Constitution and the return of Zaghlul. Progress was made: Egypt was granted limited self-government , and a draft constitution was published in October 1922 leading to the formation of a Zaghlul government in January 1924. The following November the commander of British forces in Egypt and Sudan, Sir Lee Stack , was assassinated in Cairo. Allenby's response
15552-552: The entire responsibility for the failure of the Arras offensive would rest with him. As the Zero Hour for the offensive at 5:30 am on 9 April 1917 approached, Allenby was thus unusually worried as he knew his entire career was in the balance. At first, the Arras offensive went well with the Third Army breaking through the German lines and advancing three-and-a-half miles in one day. In a letter to his wife on 10 April 1917, Allenby wrote: "I had
15714-401: The equipment provided to German divisions. The 4th Division fought at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August and then participated in the Great Retreat , an ordeal which Edmonds, 53 years old, found most trying, buoyed up only by his pre-war training and belief that it would end in a counter-offensive. Edmonds found that once there was time to rest, that he could not and was transferred to GHQ,
15876-443: The establishment of peace. After six years abroad, Edmonds, now a major, returned to England in 1906 and took over MO3, which in 1907 was renamed MO5 and until 1910 concentrated on counter-espionage, intelligence gathering and cryptography. Apart from Edmonds the staff consisted of another major, who spent his time cultivating a parliamentary constituency, where he was elected as a Conservative MP three years later. Edmonds found that
16038-441: The evidence of suspicious behaviour and the burden of proof was placed on the accused. By the time that Edmonds left MO5 in 1910 he had established a Secret Service section from a ramshackle, under-funded and poorly-organised group of temporary, part-time and amateur agents which resembled a modern intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence organisation. Despite being taken in by sensational tales of mass spying, Edmonds had laid
16200-639: The family settled there permanently after Hynman Allenby's death in 1878. Allenby had no great desire to be a soldier, and tried to enter the Indian Civil Service but failed the entry exam. He sat the exam for the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1880 and was commissioned as a subaltern , with the rank of lieutenant , in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons on 10 May 1882. He joined his regiment in South Africa later that year, taking part in
16362-493: The foundations of MI5 and MI6. After seven years in intelligence, Edmonds wanted a change and did not want to be subordinate to General Henry Wilson , the new DMO, towards whom, Edmonds harboured a certain enmity. Edmonds was offered the posts of commandant of the School of Military Engineering or General Staff Officer (Grade I) (GSO I, the divisional chief of staff) of the 4th Division (Major-General Thomas Snow ). Edmonds joined
16524-437: The fray, he dropped a bloodstained bag, smeared with horse blood, with fake military plans in it. The plans falsely described how the British force was on its way to capture Gaza. Additional radio messages threatening Meinertzhagen made up the Turkish Army's mind: the British Army was going to attack Gaza. Instead, they went through with the capture of Beersheba. "The Turks at Beersheba were undoubtedly taken completely by surprise,
16686-615: The hands of the enemy who has retired, I hereby inform you that it is my desire that every person pursue his lawful business without fear of interruption. Furthermore, since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of these three religions for many centuries, therefore, do I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of
16848-472: The headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force , where he feared being sent home. Edmonds spent the rest of the war at GHQ and in 1918 was made deputy engineer-in-chief. Edmonds retired from the army in 1919 with the honorary rank of Brigadier-General. Edmonds became the Director of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence on 1 April 1919 and was responsible for the post-war compilation of
17010-548: The honour, though three ( Wilhelm II , German Emperor; Franz Joseph I , Emperor of Austria-Hungary; and Hirohito , Emperor of Japan) were stripped of it when their countries became enemies of Britain and its allies in the two world wars. Also awarded the rank were one Frenchman ( Ferdinand Foch ) and one Australian ( Sir Thomas Blamey ), honoured for their contributions in World War I and World War II respectively, and one South African statesman ( Jan Smuts ). A report commissioned by
17172-481: The ideas that his staff officers had offered. Allenby rejected the normal week-long bombardment of the German trenches before making an assault, instead planning on a 48-hour bombardment before the assault went ahead. In addition, Allenby had made careful plans to control traffic in the rear to prevent traffic jams that would block his logistics, a second echelon behind the first echelon that would only be sent in to exploit successes, tunnels to bring up new divisions behind
17334-484: The ineptitude of French counter-intelligence. MO5 judged that German army reservists resident in France and the consular service had sent useful information to Germany. MO5 Got hold of a copy of the 1894 edition of " Felddienstordnung " the German Army Field Manual which required the use of spies by every command. In the 1890s, Edmonds had got to know several German intelligence officers, who had told him that
17496-545: The largest army the British state had raised and by 1924 it had generated more than 25 million documents, which Edmonds thought would take nine years to sort. Edmonds had found the papers in heaps in the floor and apparently summarily sacked the Chief Clerk for refusing to climb a ladder to retrieve a bundle. Edmonds complained that Atkinson, his predecessor, had let historians plunder the packets of documents and not return items and claimed that it took until June 1923 to catalogue
17658-629: The legend that 'the Bull' was merely a bad-tempered, obstinate hot-head, a 'thud-and-blunder' general". Allenby harboured doubts about the leadership of the commander of the BEF, General Sir Douglas Haig , who had replaced Field Marshal French as commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of the BEF in December 1915, (and with whom Allenby had clashed at the Staff College some twenty years earlier) but refused to allow any of his officers to say anything critical about Haig. However, despite Allenby's rages and obsession with applying
17820-480: The lines. Henry Stacke , the first author of Military Operations: East Africa, Volume I died and Charles Horden, his replacement, wrote that Stacke had been frustrated by being obliged to ...gloss over (to put it mildly) mistakes and shortcomings to so great an extent as in my opinion to nullify the value of the work as history. Like him I have sedulously tried to avoid wounding any susceptibilities. But I have not shrunk from criticisms where they seemed necessary for
17982-589: The magnanimous act of the Caliph Omar , who protected that church. Allenby received Christian, Jewish and Muslim community leaders in Jerusalem and worked with them to ensure that religious sites of all three faiths were respected. Allenby sent his Indian Muslim soldiers to guard Islamic religious sites, feeling that this was the best way of reaching out to the Muslim population of Jerusalem. Allenby dismounted and entered
18144-517: The manoeuvres of 1908. The Germans had machine-guns, flare pistols, trench mortars, ambulances, artillery telephones and field kitchens. The 4th Division was based at Great Yarmouth in August 1914, ready to repel a German invasion attempt. The 4th Division disembarked at Le Havre on 24 August and joined the Expeditionary Force in time for the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August. The division was ordered to hold high ground near Solesmes to assist
18306-554: The mid-summer of 1916, he was the army commander in support of the launch of the Battle of the Somme , with responsibility for the abortive assault by Third Army troops on the trench fortress of the Gommecourt salient, which failed with severe casualties to the units under his command in the operation. By this time in 1916, Archibald Wavell , who was one of Allenby's staff officers and supporters, wrote that Allenby's temper seemed to "confirm
18468-545: The number of historians and administrators were limited and in 1922, Edmonds threatened to resign if denied more help. Daniel and Edmonds had only three or four full-time officers, who had to write the volumes, prepare them for publication, maintain the library, study prisoner of war (POW) records and foreign official and non-official publications in their native language and provide help for the War Office, War Graves Commission, Staff College, educational establishments and government departments. The section had about 2,000 visitors
18630-452: The number of volumes, their scope and size. On rare occasions the committee made a ruling on content after complaints by a department; in 1928, the War Office strenuously objected to some of the content of the first Gallipoli volume by C. F. Aspinall-Oglander. Money determined the speed of publication, the size and number of volumes and the choice of author. Edmonds preferring to employ officers on half-pay or retired on £500 per year, about half
18792-412: The office of the officer who took the daily casualty returns, ask "Have you any news of my little boy today?" and after the officer replied "No news sir", Allenby would then go to bed a reassured man. In early 1917, Allenby was ordered by Haig, now a field marshal, to start preparations for a major offensive around the city of Arras . During his planning Allenby insisted upon putting into practice many of
18954-454: The politicians from authorising Middle East offensives. Allenby arrived on 27 June 1917. On 31 July 1917, he received a telegram from his wife saying that Michael Allenby had been killed in action, leading to Allenby's breaking down in tears in public while he recited a poem by Rupert Brooke . Afterwards, Allenby kept his grief to himself and his wife, and instead threw himself into his work with icy determination, working very long hours without
19116-434: The possibility of a German invasion, which met 16 times from November 1907 to July 1908 and debunked the invasion scares. The Director of Military Operations, Major-General Sir Spencer Ewart did have to admit that the counter-intelligence system was inadequate and began a review. In October 1908 a new Official Secrets Act was drafted to allow arrests and searches without warrant , the registration of aliens (foreigners),
19278-400: The pre-war training of the 4th Division in retreats and the anticipation that it would end by a counter-attack, the order for which came on 5 September. Once able to rest, Edmonds found sleep impossible, had an aching jaw, was unable to concentrate when trying to read a map and found that everything looked black or grey. The engineer-in-chief asked for him at General headquarters (GHQ) of
19440-467: The price of a civilian author; officers were usually willing to work longer hours and do unpaid work. The Treasury managed to obtain the removal of Lieutenant-General Launcelot Kiggell , Chief of the General Staff of the British Armies in France from late 1915 to early 1918 from writing 1918 Part I and Edmonds agreed, because his work was "lacking in colour and atmosphere". The price of the early volumes
19602-451: The purpose either of impartial record or military study.... I have striven to say only enough to enable an intelligent reader to form his own judgement. The avoidance of hindsight was consistent with the education Edmonds received at the Staff College on the teaching of Carl von Clausewitz (1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831), that the critic must only use the information available to a commander and his motives, rather than introduce matters that
19764-454: The records. The first draft of a volume was prepared by a "narrator", who sorted, read and analysed the documents. The result was revised by the "historian" who added comments and a conclusion. The draft was then sent to participants down to battalion commanders, other senior military officers, politicians and government departments. The draft for 1916 Part I (including the First Day on the Somme )
19926-458: The region as High Commissioner in Egypt from 1919 until 1925, a position that meant he effectively ruled Egypt during this period. Allenby was born on 23 April 1861, the son of Hynman Allenby and Catherine Anne Allenby (née Cane) and was educated at Haileybury College . His father owned 2,000 acres in Norfolk and Felixstowe House, at Felixstowe , then a fishing village. This was a summer home until
20088-462: The respect of his troops by making frequent visits to the EEF's front-line units, in a marked change from the leadership style of his predecessor Murray, who had commanded primarily from Cairo . Allenby moved the EEF's GHQ from the Egyptian capital city to Rafah , nearer to the front lines at Gaza , and re-organized the disparate forces of the EEF into a three primary corps order of battle: XX , XXI , and
20250-427: The retirement of II Corps (Lieutenant-General Horace Smith-Dorrien ) and then to move to the left flank of II Corps at Le Cateau. After a day of battle, the 4th Division reached Le Cateau in soaking rain, tired and hungry. Smith-Dorrien judged that a retreat on the morrow would be impossible; the corps would fight on 26 August and then slip away. At 6:00 a.m. Edmonds narrowly missed being hit by shrapnel -fire during
20412-459: The rules in a way that often seemed petty, Allenby's staff officers found an intellectually curious general who was interested in finding new ways of breaking the stalemate. J. F. C. Fuller called Allenby "a man I grew to like and respect", a man who always asked his staff if they had any new ideas about how to win the war. Allenby had wider interests than many other British generals, reading books on every conceivable subject from botany to poetry and
20574-521: The seasonal incidence of malignant malaria in the Plain of Sharon , then he replied: I think it is the reason why Richard Coeur de Lion never got to Jerusalem. His army was nearly destroyed by fever, and I find that he came down the coast in September when malignant malaria was at its height. Allenby's official proclamation of martial law following the fall of Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 read as follows: To
20736-519: The temporary rank of brigadier general on 19 October 1905. He assumed command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in 1906. He was promoted to the rank of major-general on 10 September 1909 and was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry in 1910 due to his extensive cavalry experience. He was nicknamed "The Bull" due to an increasing tendency for sudden bellowing outbursts of explosive rage directed at his subordinates, combined with his powerful physical frame. Allenby stood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) with
20898-469: The temptation to interpolate his views. In 1976, John Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) wrote ...the compilers of the British Official History of the First World War have achieved the remarkable feat of writing an exhaustive account of one of the world's greatest tragedies without any display of emotion at all. In 1985, David French wrote that Edmonds "...has a private purpose to conceal
21060-528: The terms crusade and crusader in their press releases and always went out of his way to insist that he was fighting merely the Ottoman Empire, not Islam. Allenby stated that "The importance of Jerusalem lay in its strategic importance, there was no religious impulse in this campaign". In May 1918, Allenby publicly met with Chaim Weizmann and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in Jerusalem. Asked again after
21222-503: The three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred. Guardians have been established at Bethlehem and on Rachel's Tomb . The tomb at Hebron has been placed under exclusive Moslem control. The hereditary custodians at the gates of the Holy Sepulchre have been requested to take up their accustomed duties in remembrance of
21384-406: The truth about the high command in France from the lay public...." and that Edmonds had become concerned to rebut claims by politicians that Haig wasted lives on futile offensives; Edmonds's subjects were heroes and beyond criticism. Tim Travers wrote that Edmonds eschewed direct criticism of senior officers, was obliged to Haig and protected his reputation, rigged facts and drew false conclusions in
21546-464: The use of paid agents in Britain to unmask foreign spies and copying the German system instituted in 1866, in which a police or private detective under an intelligence officer ran spies abroad. Without peacetime preparations, Britain would enter a war "fatally handicapped". Edmonds was suspicious of German intentions because of a widespread assumption that the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War had been helped by its military intelligence effort and
21708-500: The volumes on the Somme (1916 Part I), Passchendaele (1917 Part II) and 1918 Part I. In 1996, Paddy Griffith (4 February 1947 – 25 June 2010) called it an ...encyclopaedic work, transparently individualistic in tone, lucidly organised, wide in scope and by far the best book on the Western Front . Griffith called the quantity of writing on the Great War "prodigious" and that despite Edmonds being unstable, insecure and having never held
21870-414: The work "official but not history", he had used Hart's words out of context, Liddell Hart meaning that by leaving potentially controversial details to be read between the lines, Edmonds created the risk that later historians might use the phrase to describe the volumes. Edmonds was knighted in the 1928 Birthday Honours . In 1939 Daniel was 75, Edmonds was 79 and the government again considered terminating
22032-590: The writing of the official history, given that the combined age of the two most senior members was more than 150. Edward Bridges , the Secretary to the Cabinet, told Edmonds that he would be retained only until the completion of the volume he was working on and that Daniel should retire that summer. Daniel was asked to explain the value of the histories to the Treasury and repeated much of what he had written in 1919 and 1922, that
22194-471: Was a bad career move. In the manoeuvres of 1912, with the 3rd Division, the 4th Division took part in the defeat of I Corps , commanded by Douglas Haig and the only permanent corps headquarters in the army. The 4th Division training emphasised the retreat despite such tactics being barred by the War Office . When the First World War began, Edmonds thought that the division was well trained but lacking much of
22356-454: Was a blockhead, which Cyril Falls later called "an error typical of Edmonds's worst side". Edmonds overheard Colonel George Henderson predict that Haig would become commander in chief. While at the college, Edmonds co-wrote with his brother in law, W. Birkbeck Wood, "The History of the Civil War in the United States 1861–1865" (1905). The book was well received by reviewers who wrote that
22518-423: Was a sufficient military case to do so, and felt that he would need reinforcements to advance further. Allenby understood the problems posed by logistics in the desert and spent much time working to ensure his soldiers would be well supplied at all times, especially with water. The logistics of getting water to the soldiers and through the desert is thought to be the biggest challenge and accomplishment Allenby made in
22680-587: Was accepted for a place. At the end of the course Edmonds achieved the highest marks that instructors could remember, was awarded the Pollock Gold Medal for Efficiency and prizes for mathematics, mechanics, fortification, geometrical drawing, military history, drills and exercises and exemplary conduct. Edmonds won the Sword of Honour for the Best Gentleman Cadet and was mentioned by the commander-in-chief of
22842-445: Was also the only field marshal to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . No officer whose career was spent in the British Army has ever reached the rank of field marshal without having served in the cavalry , infantry , Royal Armoured Corps , Royal Artillery , or Royal Engineers . One non-British officer has been appointed field marshal in the British Army; Ferdinand Foch of France, in recognition of his contributions in
23004-532: Was an exception, a man who could also understand some of the more recondite subjects, like the decoding of cyphers. In his Memoirs, Edmonds wrote that he was often paired with Haig because he was good with detail and Haig a generalist. Edmonds passed out in 1899 at the top of his class, one of the most successful and popular students of the era, noted for his conversation which had become even more interesting and appreciated by, amongst others, Douglas Haig, Aylmer Haldane and Edmund Allenby . Edmonds wrote that Allenby
23166-658: Was born in Baker Street, London, on 25 December 1861 to James Edmonds, a master Jeweller and his wife Frances Amelia Bowler, a family that could trace its ancestry to Fowey in Cornwall . Edmonds was educated as a day boy at King's College School , accommodated in a wing of Somerset House . Edmonds claimed that his father taught him languages at breakfast, to the extent that he was familiar with German, French, Italian and Russian. Edmonds did not learn Latin or Greek at school but studied science and geology. Edmonds visited France when he
23328-468: Was broken at the Battle of Megiddo (19–21 September 1918), and the Allied cavalry passed through and blocked the Turkish retreat. The EEF then advanced at an impressive rate, as high as 60 miles in 55 hours for cavalry, and infantry slogging 20 miles a day and encountering minimal resistance. Damascus fell on 1 October, Homs on 16 October, and Aleppo on 25 October. With the threat of Asia Minor being invaded,
23490-468: Was chosen as the author of the army volume. Work on the military histories in 1919 was hampered by paucity of resources and bad management, until Edmonds who had joined the Historical Section (Military Branch) in February 1919, was appointed Director on 1 April. Edmonds found documents in un-catalogued bundles on the floor, from which historians had abstracted items and not replaced them. The Fortescue volume
23652-692: Was cremated, and his ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey . In 1897, Allenby married Miss Adelaide Chapman (d. 1942), the daughter of a Wiltshire landowner. Their only child, Lieutenant Horace Michael Hynman Allenby, MC (1898–1917), was killed in action at Koksijde in Flanders whilst serving with the Royal Horse Artillery . The personal inscription on his gravestone reads: "HOW SHALL I DECK MY SONG FOR THE LARGE SWEET SOUL THAT HAS GONE AND WHAT SHALL MY PERFUME BE FOR THE GRAVE OF HIM I LOVE" . This
23814-551: Was defeated. He was promoted to local lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1901, and to local colonel on 29 April 1901. In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kitchener , Commander-in-Chief during the latter part of the war, described him as "a popular and capable Cavalry Brigadier". For his services during the war, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902, and he received
23976-613: Was draconian and included a humiliating £500,000 fine to be paid by the Egyptian Government. In May 1925, Allenby resigned and returned to England. Allenby was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Cinque Ports Fortress Royal Engineers on 12 September 1925 and made Captain of Deal Castle . Murray and Allenby were invited to give lectures at Aldershot in 1931 about the Palestine campaign. Exchanging letters beforehand, Murray asked whether it had been worth risking
24138-559: Was eight and saw Napoleon III , then returned two years later, soon after the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). In his unpublished Memoirs, Edmonds wrote that he was surprised to see that the Arc de Triomphe had not been demolished and that he became sceptical of the reports of war correspondents for the rest of his life. While Edmonds was in Amiens, still under German occupation,
24300-523: Was established soon after the outbreak of the war. Section H censored cable communications, spied on suspected agents, press correspondents and monitored martters of international law. Edmonds has a staff of one officer and a retired police detective with a budget of £200. The section later took on counter-intelligence and secret service work which entailed the dispatch of a small number of officers to South Africa to study topography, communications and Boer troop movements. The temporary Secret Section 13 (A), with
24462-542: Was in print for thirty years and by 1936 was in its fourth edition and was in use at West Point . Edmonds was offered a post in the Intelligence Division of the General Staff, commanded by Major-General John Ardagh in October 1899, ten days after the beginning of the Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902). Edmonds became head of the Special Duties Section of the War Office (Section H) which
24624-458: Was miles from where it was supposed to be, he received the reply: "He told me he was getting as far away from the Bull as possible. It was a most scandalous affair, and he was in an almost open rebellion against Allenby at the time". The division distinguished itself under Allenby's direction in the subsequent fighting, with minimal resources at its disposal, at the First Battle of Ypres . Allenby
24786-420: Was noted for his critical intellect. An officer who had dinner with Allenby at his headquarters in a French château recalled: His keen grey-blue eyes, under heavy brows, search the face while he probes the mind with sharp, almost staccato questions about everything under the sun except what is expected. He cannot suffer fools gladly and demands an unequivocal affirmative or negative to every query he makes. He has
24948-602: Was promoted to temporary lieutenant general on 10 October 1914. As the BEF was expanded in size to two armies , he was rewarded by being made commander of the Cavalry Corps . On 6 May 1915, Allenby voluntarily left the Cavalry Arm to take up command of V Corps which was engaged at that moment in severe fighting at the Second Battle of Ypres . Commanding a corps seemed to make Allenby's bad temper even worse where anything from
25110-410: Was said to be confused, containing nothing about the general situation and hardly referring to the Germans. Senior officers were ridiculed, the government blamed for not stopping the war and the French effort was "slurred over in less than one typewritten page". Edmonds blamed Fortescue for lack of interest, lethargy and ignoring the records made available, bungling the chance to write an exciting story of
25272-471: Was sent to 1,000 officers who had sent 1,470 replies by 1931. Comments on the first chapter created a pile 5 ft (1.5 m) high and Edmonds complained that his staff was insufficient, considering that he had briefed them that all names, initials, ranks and numbers had to be checked and then cross-checked with the French and German accounts; lack of staff slowed production. In 1922, Edmonds had calculated that it would take twenty years to write ten volumes,
25434-516: Was sent to Egypt to confer with Allenby and Marshall (C-in-C Mesopotamia), with Robertson's clash with the government now moving to its final stages, and the new Supreme War Council at Versailles drawing up plans for more efforts in the Middle East. Allenby told Smuts of Robertson's private instructions (sent by hand of Walter Kirke , appointed by Robertson as Smuts' adviser) that there was no merit in any further advance. Allenby worked with Smuts to draw up plans to reach Haifa by June and Damascus by
25596-452: Was set at 21 Shillings (21s) and another 21s for accompanying map cases but this was considered too costly for professional officers. In 1923, the price was cut to 12s 6d but this left no surplus for advertising and no incentive for booksellers to display them prominently; publishers also set a maximum number of pages per volume, a constraint that led the Committee for Control in 1924 to advise
25758-517: Was the first officer not to be promoted upon appointment as CDS, although he was promoted to the honorary rank of field marshal in June 2012. The most recent promotions to field marshal came in 2012, eighteen years after the moratorium on routine promotions to the rank, when Queen Elizabeth II promoted Prince Charles, her son and heir apparent, to the five-star ranks in all three services, in recognition of support provided for her in her capacity as Head of
25920-404: Was to be kept to small-type footnotes or in notes at the end of chapters, because introducing facts not known at the time was hindsight, which was unfair and un-scholarly. A conclusion could be written for reflection and comment but not for fault finding. For Edmonds, the constraints were necessary for some facts innocuously to be shown to the lay reader, yet be significant to experts reading between
26082-435: Was to have covered the war but he wrote so slowly that it was decided to end his volume at May 1915 and only cover France. Edmonds also came to doubt the quality of the work, judging Fortescue to be ignorant of the workings of a contemporary army, apparently being 200 years behind the times; Fortescue had excluded dates and times and used obsolete language; he agreed to revise his draft but then took no notice. His second draft
26244-422: Was writing most of the histories, managing the section and working a seven-day-week for three months, then taking ten days off (Edmonds worked like this for much of the 29 years of the project). A 1927 proposal for Cyril Falls (2 March 1888 – 23 April 1971) to visit Mesopotamia for £200 was vetoed by the Treasury but £50 was allowed for Aspinall-Oglander to visit Gallipoli. The British Expeditionary Forces were
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