from a talk by James Maberly
General Sir Harry Chauvel, GCMG, KCB (1865–1945)
from a talk by James Maberly given to the Framlingham Society on 17th October 2018 at Framlingham College, Framlingham, Suffolk , UK
Chauvel was a fascinating character who achieved a huge amount over his lifetime with an extraordinary humility. He shunned publicity and accolade and remained a quiet but effective operator right till the day he died. In Australia, along with General Sir John Monash who fought on the Western Front, he is revered for his leadership and successes during the First World War.
Chauvel Family History
The Chauvel family came originally from France. For centuries, the Chauvels lived in the Chateau de la Pigeonnaire (below, left), not far from Blois on the River Loire.
In 1685, Simon and Margaret Chauvel, who were Huguenots, left for England after Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which deprived Protestants of the freedom of worship and the right to hold any position in the Government of France. Had they stayed, they may not have survived. Family legend says that all but one of the Chauvel ancestors went to the guillotine and the survivor was a boy whose only identification was a watch which was inscribed ‘Chauvel de la Martinere’.
The story goes that Simon and Margaret crossed the channel in an open boat, Margaret and their little boy wrapped in a silk bedspread which she had embroidered and which still exists, sharing the space with a grandfather clock! The Chauvel’s flourished in England for a while as army officers, businessmen and property owners until in June 1838, Charles Chauvel, Harry’s father sailed for New South Wales in Australia. He took up a farm which he called Narrangrass, and made a success if it as a grazier and in 1848, he sold it and bought Tabulam, the most gorgeous property situated on the Eastern side of the River Clarence. It consisted of 96,000 acres (39,000 ha), on which he raised 12,000 head of cattle and 320 horses.
Harry was born on 16 April 1865 at Tabulam, their second son. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and Toowoomba Grammar before taking his place on his father’s cattle-station. He learned to manage a property, and became a most accomplished horseman, particularly as a jockey.
His ambition was to follow family tradition and join the British Army, there being little scope in the diminutive colonial forces,(at that time a volunteer force) but his father’s losses from drought made Sandhurst and the cavalry impossible. In 1885, when the volunteer movement was reviving, Charles Chauvel raised the Upper Clarence Light Horse in which Harry was commissioned next year. In 1888 the family moved to the Darling Downs in Queensland where Harry was commissioned into the Queensland Mounted Infantry. He had been managing Canning Downs South for three years when in 1896 he obtained an appointment in the Queensland Permanent Military Forces as a captain and adjutant of the Moreton Regiment. He went to England with the Queensland Jubilee Contingent in 1897, staying on for a year for courses and attachments to regular infantry.
Boer War and Beyond
Chauvel served with distinction in the South African War as a major in the 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, taking part in the relief of Kimberley, the advance to Pretoria and the battle of Diamond Hill. At the crossing of the Vet River he personally captured a troublesome machine-gun. For a time he led a mixed force, known as Chauvel’s Mounted Infantry, a blend of Canadians and Aussies in operations in eastern Transvaal – they were a kind of ‘special forces mounted group’, tasked to deal with troublesome small enclaves of Boers in a more unconventional guerrilla style, just as the Boers were so good at using themselves. Returning to Australia in 1901 he took command of the 7th Australian Commonwealth Horse as lieutenant-colonel, with intentions of returning to South Africa, but the war ended before he reached Durban. For his services in South Africa, Chauvel was appointed C.M.G. and mentioned in dispatches; he was also given the brevet of lieutenant-colonel.
In the next 10 years he established a reputation as an excellent trainer of officers and in 1911 was appointed Adjutant-General and the second member of the Military Board. When the First World War broke out, he was in London as the Australian representative on the Imperial General Staff. He left London in December and joined the Australian Light Horse Division in Egypt.
Gallipoli
Chauvel landed at Gallipoli on 12 May, taking command of the vital sector around Pope’s, Quinn’s and Courtney’s posts. He held these positions against all Turkish attacks until he was sent to a quiet sector in September. During that time, he became known for his coolness and courage especially in the critical fight of 29 May. He spent much of his time walking his trenches and closely observing the state of his troops and their positions.
Chauvel’s reputation as a cool and calm leader became quite apparent at Gallipoli where I am sure most of you will know the positions of the allies in relation to the Turks was quite abysmal, and thousands of soldiers died in what would now be considered quite ridiculous offensives which had no hope of success. The Turks were above them and thus in a very commanding position.
In two particular actions, his behaviour stands out. The first was on May 19th 1915. The Turks were trying to capture Quinn’s Post, as it would hold massive tactical advantages for them, overlooking the Anzac positions. I quote from the Battalion commander’s report.
“I was particularly struck with the coolness of (General Chauvel’s) behaviour. In order that (I) might refer to him without any loss of time, and in order that he might know the exact situation, he left his headquarters in the Gully and came up to us and his calm and collected manner was an example to us all. For a considerable time, the situation was what one might call ‘hot’. The noise was terrific, the casualties numerous and to add to the horror of the scene, many men lost their feet as the bombs rolled down the hill towards us in the darkness and exploded at the men’s feet. Amidst all this confusion and excitement, there was no soldier whose demeanour was cooler than Chauvel’s. He stayed with us for hours until the situation adjusted to his satisfaction”.
They succeeded in dislodging the Turkish attack and took a number of Turkish prisoners.
On 7th August, a mammoth offensive planned by Lt General Birdwood to try and dislodge the Turks from the Peninsular began. Almost everyone thought it a crazy proposal, but it went ahead anyway. Everything went wrong. The New Zealanders had not been successful in capturing Chunuk Bair, the 1st division had failed to capture and hold the German officers trench, the 8th and 10th Light horse (from a different brigade) were massacred at the Nek after the artillery stopped firing too early, and to start with, Chauvel’s regiments took similar punishment. After the first wave of men went over the top at Quinn’s Post and were massacred within seconds, Chauvel approved an order for the second wave to stay in the trenches and no further actions were launched.
It is interesting to consider that, whilst this was an extremely sane and sensible decision, he had actually disobeyed a direct order from Birdwood. Everyone else had gone over the top, but realising it was futile for all the given reasons above, Chauvel countered the decision. Nothing was ever said or done about this, so clearly the wisdom of the moment was apparent to his superiors – and indeed, they still had fighting men available, where other leaders had lost many.
Egypt, Sinai and Palestine
After the evacuation from Gallipoli on the 18th and 19th December, the Australians and New Zealanders were sent to Egypt to assist in the war in the Middle East. In December he was promoted to Major General and in January 1916 was gazetted C.B. Although Birdwood offered him command of one of the infantry divisions soon to go to France, Chauvel elected to remain with the light horse as commander of the new Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division. He also took command of all Australian forces in Egypt, including the 1st Squadron, Australian Flying Corps.
The new division was still settling down when on 23 April 1916, the Turks raided the British outposts covering the northern approach to the Suez Canal. Chauvel (centre below) immediately moved across the canal to restore the situation, beginning an advance which was to continue for two and a half years until the enemy was driven from Aleppo on the northern borders of Syria.
His division was the only desert-worthy force in Sinai so that when the second Turkish thrust for the canal was defeated at Romani on 4-5 August 1916, Anzac Mounted became the spearhead of Eastern Force in the advance across the desert into Palestine.
Romani
At Romani, with only two of his four brigades under command, Chauvel outfought the Turks in blazing heat. He pursued them, but his division was too light a force to complete their destruction. He realised his men were exhausted, having borne the full brunt of the attack (and bear in mind the Turks had an estimated 6000 rifles to his 3000), so he took the wiser decision to allow his men some rest and recuperation before moving ahead.
Romani was a very interesting battle as in many ways it was the turning point in the war against the Turks and yet it is all but forgotten. Up until Romani, the Turks had been on the offensive – and aggressively so. From that time, they were effectively on the run. For the Battle of Romani, Chauvel chose his ground carefully, reconnoitring it from the ground and the air, and selecting both forward and fall back positions. His luck held; the German commander — Friedrich Kreß von Kressenstein — selected the same position as the forming up area for his attack in August 1916.
Quote, mostly from the Light Horse Association website:
“While the enemy was still many miles away, Chauvel dispersed his Anzacs around Romani and kept them there until they became accustomed to the fearful heat and reduced water rations.
It was not until almost midnight on August 3rd that Australian listening posts heard the sounds of troop movement to their front. The Turks, initially surprised to find the Australians so close to them reorganised and wave after wave of Turkish forces attempted to break the Light Horse line.
The full fury of the assault now fell on the main body of the 1st Australian Brigade, 1st, 2nd & 3rd Regts, which had been waiting tensely on Romani’s lower slopes.
For three hours the Light Horse threw back one massed attack after another. Then, still under tremendous enemy pressure, they were ordered to withdraw slowly.
Although the withdrawal was carried out according to orders, it was impossible to conceal the manoeuvre from the enemy. As a result, the Turks, convinced they had the Australians at their mercy, drove in with increased fury and even crashed through some parts of the Anzac line. Many died and many fell, and it was at this point that one of the great legendary events of Australia’s Light Horse history occurred.
“Major M. Shanahan, DSO, seeing five of the men unhorsed and surrounded by Turks, galloped wildly through the enemy ranks, got one of the Australians up into the saddle with him and, with two others clinging to each stirrup, got clean away.
After dropping off the troopers, Shanahan took his mount back into the fray. The Major was shot in the thigh, but kept on fighting the Turks with Bill until dawn, when Shanahan collapsed. Bill then carried Major Shanahan back to Romani for medical treatment. Shanahan soon afterwards had the injured leg amputated.”
That horse was known as ‘Bill the Bastard’ and a book has recently been written about him. A 1.5 times life-size sculpture is currently being built and I have been asked to go across at its inauguration and take the salute on behalf of my grandfather.
“As daylight flooded through the haze of battle, Chauvel, watching the battle from a vantage point, could see his battered 1st Brigade still struggling against tremendous odds as it continued to retreat. Also, Turks were now sweeping in massed waves against the New Zealand brigade. But Chauvel made no move to reinforce his hard-pressed men, for the battle was going exactly as he had foreseen. The Turks were being drawn into a line of fire.
Hidden on the flanks waiting his command were his 2nd and 3rd Australian Brigades, while British cavalry and artillery units were already moving up into position.
Chauvel at last decided to spring his trap.
First, he directed the remnants of the 1st Brigade to stop their withdrawal and, after joining up with the New Zealanders, hold a firm line. Then he brought the 2nd and 3rd Brigades in from the flanks, thus implementing his plan to compress the enemy into a very sandy area covered by the British artillery. Finally, as the Anzacs dismounted and moved in a great mass towards the Turks, the British artillery opened up. Salvoes crashed right into the enemy ranks and great gaps appeared in the tight-packed force preparing to counter-attack the advancing Australians.
Helped by the never-ceasing artillery barrage, the Anzacs gradually clawed their way forward, throwing back desperate counter-attacks as they hurled the enemy from one position after another. Elsewhere, the Turks still flung themselves forward in massed attacks, probing for a weak spot in the main Anzac positions. But the thin line held firm as groups rushed from one trouble spot to another.
As darkness closed in, silence at last descended over the area. Men from both sides broke off the battle from sheer exhaustion and sank to the ground in their positions. It started all over again just before dawn when Chauvel, realising he must keep the initiative, got his gaunt and haggard Anzacs to their feet and ordered them to make a final onslaught against the Turks. The artillery, he said, would help by laying down another devastating bombardment.
After that, Chauvel applied pressure right along the line. It was too much for the Turks, particularly when the artillery opened up. They turned and fled, leaving 5000 dead on the battlefield.
In the pursuit that followed, the enemy was to lose many more men before finally falling back to their main position across the Sinai Desert. The battle of Romani was over. The Empire troops casualties numbered 1100.”
This British Empire victory, the first against the Ottoman Empire in the war, ensured the safety of the Suez Canal from ground attacks and ended the German plans to disrupt traffic through the canal by gaining control of the strategically important northern approaches to it.
There followed several other important victories by Chauvel and Under Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode, commanding the newly created Desert Column, he destroyed Turkish garrisons at Rafa (December 1916) and Magdhaba (January 1917), thus clearing the way for an assault on the main Turkish positions around Gaza and Beersheba. Both were conducted with the same determination and foresight as Romani. After Magdhaba he was appointed Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. (K.C.M.G.)
Gaza
General Sir Archibald Murray then made two fatal attacks on the town of Gaza sustaining over 10,000 casualties. In the First Battle of Gaza in March 1917, Chauvel’s mission was similar to Rafa and Magdhaba, but on a larger scale. He enveloped the Turkish position at Gaza while the British 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division and 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division attempted to capture it. When this failed, Chetwode ordered Chauvel to attempt to capture Gaza from the rear. Chauvel successfully improvised a late afternoon assault on Gaza that captured the town despite the barriers of high cactus hedges and fierce enemy opposition, entering it after dark, only to have an out-of-touch General Dobell order the mounted troops to withdraw, despite Chauvel’s protests.
This time his brigadiers at the front, Ryrie and Chaytor, although they believed that Gaza could be held, felt compelled to obey, as they were told they could not see the whole picture, as intelligence reports suggested a large Turkish re-enforcement was less than 5 miles away.
All guns, including captured ones were hauled away, as were all unwounded prisoners, the wounded and even the dead. Chauvel ensured that wounded Turkish prisoners that were unfit to make the march to Deir al-Balah were each left with a full water bottle. The withdrawal was, in effect, a terrible mistake: the allies could have held Gaza, as the re-enforcements stopped short and did not immediately enter the town. In fact, the Turks couldn’t believe their luck and in the ensuing weeks, re-enforced Gaza to the hilt, so that when the second battle of Gaza took place, the allies were trounced with over 6,444 casualties. Very few Australians were involved in the second battle and Chauvel was not involved at all.
Murray/Allenby
As a result of these errors, General Sir Archibald Murray was relieved of his command and Gen Sir Edmund Allenby assumed command and he handed Chauvel leadership of the Desert Mounted Corps, the first Australian to achieve this level of command.
The Desert Mounted Corps consisted of the Anzac Mounted Division, the Australian Mounted Division, the newly formed Yeomanry Mounted Division and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade.
Although some thought that Allenby should replace Chauvel with a British officer, Allenby retained him in command. Chauvel thus, on 2 August 1917, became the first Australian to permanently command a corps. A “brass-bound brigadier” was quoted as saying, “Fancy giving the command of the biggest mounted force in the world’s history to an Australian.” On being told of the appointments, in a letter dated 12th August 1917, Chetwode wrote to congratulate Chauvel, “I cannot say how much I envy you the command of the largest body of mounted men ever under one hand – it is my own trade – but Fate has willed it otherwise”. It was the biggest column of mounted men since Alexander the Great traversed the same deserts.
Beersheba
Allenby decided the best way to deal with the Gaza defences was to break through to the East and outflank and cut the town off from its supply lines and thus render it ineffective. And so it was decided to capture the wells at Beersheba as strategically the wells were a vital water supply.
With a little deception created by the dropping of false documents into enemy hands by the famed Intelligence officer Major Richard Meinertzhagen about a proposed third attack on Gaza, and the actual firing of British artillery at Gaza, the stage was set.
Beersheba was defended by lines of trenches supported by isolated redoubts on earthworks and hills, which covered all approaches to the town. In the morning of 31st October 1917, to the South West, 20 Corps, led by Sir Philip Chetwode attacked.
The Ottoman garrison was eventually encircled by 20 Corps as they and their supporting artillery launched their attacks. Over a sustained period of time, they were successful and achieved their objective of holding a line. The British 20 corps though suffered roughly 1200 casualties in their actions that day. (See Map #1 below).
Meanwhile, the Anzac Mounted Division cut the road to the northeast of Beersheba. Continuous fighting against the main redoubt and defences on Tel el Saba which dominated the eastern approaches to the town by the New Zealand Brigade under Chaytor resulted in its capture in the afternoon (see Map #2 below).
During this fighting, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade had been sent to reinforce the Anzac Mounted Division, while the 5th Mounted Brigade remained in corps reserve armed with swords. With all brigades of both mounted divisions already committed to the battle, the only brigade available was the 4th Light Horse Brigade, which had been until then held in reserve. Chauvel ordered them to capture Beersheba. The Brigade Commander, Brigadier General William Grant proposed that the troops should charge cavalry style, rather than dismounting some 3 or 400 yards from the objective and skirmishing forward as infantry as they would normally do. Firstly there was nothing for them to take cover behind as they skirmished forwards, secondly, time was of the issue as the light was fading, and thirdly it would take the Turks by surprise. Chauvel agreed and the attack commenced. (See Map #3 below).
At 16.30, these swordless mounted infantrymen, many with bayonets in hand, galloped towards the town and a redoubt supported by entrenchments on a mound of Tel es Saba south-east of Beersheba. The 4th Light Horse Regiment on the right jumped trenches before turning round to make a dismounted attack on the Ottoman infantry in the trenches, gun pits, and redoubts. Most of the 12th Light Horse Regiment on the left rode on across the face of the main redoubt to find a gap in the Ottoman defences, crossing the railway line into Beersheba. The town was captured, and crucially, before the Turks could blow up all the wells as they withdrew under pressure from the allies. For this decisive victory, and the subsequent capture of Jerusalem, Chauvel was mentioned in despatches twice more, and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1918.
Taking Gaza and heading north to Damascus
On 1st and 2nd of November 1917, Allenby succeeded in capturing Gaza. There then followed a period of rest and training before the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) headed north towards Jerusalem. There were a number of challenges along the way which meant it took a while to break through the Turkish defences, but in September of 2018, Allenby’s forces undertook a remarkable offensive that led to an advance of more than 500 kilometres in a little over a month. This astonishing victory, in which the regiments of the Australian Light Horse took part, destroyed three Ottoman armies and dramatically reshaped the Middle East.
This offensive, known as the Battle of Megiddo, was followed by the rapid advance into Syria that seized Damascus and culminated at Aleppo.
The battle of Megiddo was one of the most completely successful operations of the war; only the Turkish army beyond the Jordan escaped the catastrophe and it was harried across the desert by the Anzac Mounted Division and the Arabs. Giving the Turks no time to recover, Chauvel destroyed their forces around Haifa and Lake Tiberias and made plans for the pursuit to Damascus; then having forced the passage of the Jordan north of Lake Tiberias on 28 September, he drove the enemy across the Golan Heights and rode for Damascus with two divisions while his third entered Deraa and drove the Turks northwards with Arab help. He entered Damascus on 1st October; after a short pause he was ordered to march on Aleppo, 200 miles (322 km) to the north.
Lawrence of Arabia – T.E. Lawrence
Interestingly, TE Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, told a different story. Lawrence triumphantly drove into Damascus on October 1, 1918 and claimed that he had taken Damascus, and of course the film of his escapades enshrined it in ‘history’. In fact, an unassuming Australian dentist, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Olden, commander of the 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment, arrived in the city first. Olden dismounted at the town hall – at dawn on the same day as Lawrence – drew his revolver and entered. Governor Emir Said surrendered the city, declaring the light horsemen the “first of the British army” to arrive.
Lawrence, piqued, wrote in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom that close to Damascus the Australians were “too sure of themselves to be careful . . . thin-tempered, hollow, instinctive”. “The sporting Australians saw the campaign as a point-to-point with Damascus the post.” He makes no reference to the Australian entry before him and even suggests that Chauvel was in some way subordinate to him, with him (Lawrence) directing activities in Damascus. He even scoffs a little at the Australians in one comment towards the end of the book, after the capture of Damascus “… and a complaint from Chauvel that some of the Arab troops were slack about saluting Australian officers!”
Chauvel later wrote of the comments in the Seven Pillars: “The first of the Arab forces to enter Damascus were those who followed Lawrence in and, by that time, an Australian Brigade and at least one regiment of Indian Cavalry had passed right through.”
In a letter he later sent to my Grandmother, he wrote “You asked me about Lawrence. Well, to tell you the truth, I had very little use for him. He was decidedly a gallant fellow, and had a personal attraction, but he gave me too much trouble for me to have any regard for him”.
Lawrence’s book brought him great fame and credibility, and indeed he was highly successful in bringing the Emir Feisal and his troops into the war against the Turks. So from a tactical and political British perspective, he achieved both their and his own aims. Sadly, in his determination to encourage greater and wider understanding of and sympathy for the Arab cause, his manipulation of the facts in his book left him open to considerable criticism. See right.
Chauvel’s forces then advanced north towards Aleppo, Major General MacAndrew leading the 5th Cavalry Division with the Arabs under Nuri Bey on his right flank. They took Homs with ease and headed for Aleppo. The first attack by the now depleted Division was repulsed, but on 25 October, a charge by 1500 of Nuri Bey’s Bedouin broke through into Aleppo, forcing the withdrawal of the Turks. There had been little fighting during the advance from Damascus; this was fortunate, for Chauvel’s tired divisions, exhausted by the recent campaign were melting away, ravaged by malaria and typhus.
Six days later, the war in the Near East came to an end.
In the five weeks since the opening of the offensive, the divisions of the Desert Mounted Corps had advanced from 300 to 500 miles, taking over 78,000 prisoners and great quantities of booty. Their battle casualties were only about 650. Many reasons may be adduced for this overwhelming success but not the least was Chauvel’s planning of his successive thrusts, his coordination of his widely spread forces, and the special care that he gave to the logistical basis of all his operations.
In response to this feat, Lt General Philip Chetwode subsequently wrote to Chauvel, congratulating him for his “historic ride to Damascus” and “the performances of the Cavalry in this epoch-making victory.” He went on to write that Chauvel had “made history with a vengeance” and that his “performance [would] be talked about and quoted long after many more bloody battles in France will have been almost forgotten.”
Reverence for the logistical support team and the medical services
Chauvel was not only blessed with a brilliant logistics team, but also a highly effective, brave and admirable medical team. It is easy to forget, in the description of the success of battle that, as Napoleon said, ‘an army marches on its stomach’. In this case, it was not only the stomachs of the soldiers but also the horses, camels and mules. Not only was it food, it was also water in very harsh desert conditions. In the five weeks of the offensive, ending in the capture of Damascus and then Aleppo, with men and horses advancing up to 500 miles and taking 78,000 prisoners, all of whom had to be contained and fed, it is quite simply an outstanding reflection of both these services who had their work cut out for them and carried it out with extraordinary ability. Chauvel had chosen his logistics team well and his excellent leadership and regular praise kept them enthusiastic to the end.
In 1919 he was appointed G.C.M.G; he was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre, the Order of the Nile (twice) and was mentioned in dispatches ten times.
Back to Australia
Returning to Australia in September 1919, Chauvel was appointed Inspector General, the most senior position in the Australian army, which he held till 1930 and was made a member of the Council of Defence. He was chairman of the senior officer’s committee which, in February 1920, advised the government on the strength, organization and equipment of the post-war army. But disarmament and economy were in the air and the government, although at first willing to approve the sizeable force recommended, opted for a token force of 38,000 with six days of camp training a year. Further economies followed. He did what he could under extreme pressure from the Labour Government of the day, to create the core of a solid regular army with officers who had been trained to the standards expected in the British Army.
General
In November 1929 Chauvel was promoted general, the first Australian to attain this rank. His retirement the next April was almost a national occasion; large public dinners were held in his honour in Melbourne and Sydney. But the only official recognition of his service was a ministerial direction for the provision of an army horse for his daily ride in the Melbourne Domain, a privilege he valued immensely.
Retirement
Retirement was for Chauvel a fruitful experience; directorships in three important companies gave him new interests and he now had time for ex-servicemen’s causes. He was for many years chairman of the trustees of the Australian and Victorian war memorials, a senior patron of Melbourne Legacy, and active in the work of the Australian Red Cross and the Young Men’s Christian Association. My mother told me that twice a week he would visit the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League (RSL) and sit with his and other old soldiers and try and find ways to assist with their re-adjustment into civilian life. Nowadays there is so much that is and can be done to assist people, but in those days, PTSD hadn’t been invented and no-one quite knew how to deal with it. My mother told me that he spent many hours on the phone trying to organise employment for many of these people.
On the eve of Anzac Day 1935, one newspaper wrote that Chauvel ‘has come by his quiet work in the interests of returned men to be regarded as their peace time leader’. Such work was but one manifestation of the religious faith on which his life had been built and which was recognized by his Church when he was made a lay canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, in 1930.
Coronation
In 1937 Chauvel led the Australian Services Contingent at the coronation of King George VI. In fact, he led the entire representation of the Dominion and Colonial Troops. Of course, he should have worn his Generals hat, but he put in a special request to the King that he be allowed to wear the hat of the Light Horse, which he was duly allowed to do. My grandmother wrote of this being a truly remarkable occasion and Chauvel spoke of the greatest honour bestowed upon the Australians being asked to take over the guard at Buckingham Palace. He wrote ’I heard that every sentry’s beat had to be picketed by policemen because the girls crowded all around them and they could not walk up and down their beat. I motored to Buckingham Palace and St James’s, and sure enough there were three policemen on each sentry’s beat’.
He represented the Returned Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia on the committee which drew up plans for reserve and garrison forces early in 1939. When the Volunteer Defence Corps was set up in June 1940, Chauvel became its inspector-in-chief. At 75 he was in uniform again and on the move around the country. When White, who had been recalled to be chief of the general staff, was killed in 1940, it was to Chauvel that the Prime Minister, (Sir) Robert Menzies, turned to for advice on a successor.
In 1944 his health began to fail and he died in Melbourne on 4 March 1945, survived by my grandmother, Lady Sybil Chauvel and his 4 children. He was cremated after a state funeral.
A Reflection on Chauvel
As a soldier, Chauvel’s courage and calmness were matched by his humanity which was extended to the enemy as well as his own men. He was always well forward in battle; in the field he lived simply, sleeping in his greatcoat on the sand when his force was on the move. Indeed, my mother told me that he would often walk around his troops with his ADC, stopping to drink tea or coffee and to chat with them and would sometimes ask if they would mind if he slept with them. He would wrap himself in his greatcoat next to them and sleep in the sand alongside, rather than in his generals’ quarters.
Loyalty was one of his chief characteristics: he stood by Birdwood when Allenby tried to interfere with the A.I.F. command, and by the New Zealanders when there was an attempt to make Anzac Mounted wholly Australian. He has been criticized for lack of resolution at Rafa and Magdhaba but I believe it was an unwillingness to accept more casualties for a prize he did not value; there was no question of his resolution at Quinn’s Post, or Romani or Beersheba. Besides, he knew that if Anzac Mounted were to suffer a disaster, the Desert Column would be crippled.
Chauvel seemed shy and reserved, in Birdwood’s phrase ‘very retiring’, so that some found him aloof. In reality he was a warm, uncomplicated man, with a keen sense of humour. He rarely sent written orders of the day but he made a point of visiting and addressing troops who had done well or had suffered heavy casualties. His successes in the field and his obvious integrity strengthened his position, but some senior British officers seem to have resented a mere ‘colonial’ having the best command in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.
His long period of office at the head of the Australian army showed Chauvel at his best. In an adverse political and economic environment he knew that, as he could neither train nor equip the army for war, he must ensure the survival and efficiency of the officer corps. Nor could governments pretend that they had not been warned.
Henry Gullett’s quote from the official history of the First War for me says it all:
“Always cool, and looking far enough ahead to see the importance of any particular fight in its proper relation to the war as a whole, he was brave enough to break off an engagement if it promised victory only at what he considered an excessive cost to his men and horses. He fought to win, but not at any price. He sought victory on his own terms. He always retained, even in heated moments of battle, when leaders are often careless of life, a very rare concern for the lives of his men and his horses.”
– Henry Gullett, official Australian historian
Last year, I attended the celebrations of the Battle of Beersheba at the Australian War Memorial and the launching of the General Sir Harry Chauvel Memorial Foundation.
The General Sir Harry Chauvel Memorial Foundation
Honouring the memory of Chauvel and his achievements together with his qualities of integrity, independence, resourcefulness, thoroughness and generosity of spirit. The Foundation seeks to inspire future generations of Australians.
After much discussion, the aims of the foundation were decided by the Board;
The Annual Sir Harry Chauvel Award
“This award recognises the humble, selfless heroes; the quiet achievers who work for the good of their communities and of the nation. The award seeks to perpetuate the outstanding qualities embodied by Chauvel and the Light Horsemen so they might inspire others to work in their communities and give something back to the society that nurtured them. The award is open to all Australians aged from 16-30 years old, based in rural and regional Australia.”
Then in April this year, for the Anzac Day celebrations, our daughter Joanna visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra over the Anzac celebrations and laid a wreath, in honour of her great-grandfather and all the men who fought and those who died in the Desert Campaign. It was a fitting moment, three generations later, for her to remember this extraordinary man.
Thank you.
James Maberly – November 2018
Footnote
It is important to note that whilst this talk is primarily about Chauvel and his troops, it must not be forgotten that Sir Archibald Murray, prior to his replacement, had made substantial progress, taken further with a new approach by Viscount Allenby. Sir Philip Chetwode and Chauvel remained friends for the rest of their lives, and it is a credit to all of the commanders under Chauvel’s command, whether Australians, New Zealanders, British, Indian or Arab, that they all performed with great courage and skill and deserve the same credit for all their efforts as Chauvel himself.
Bibliography and source material
The majority of Information was taken from the book ‘Chauvel of the Light Horse’ By Alec Hill, but I also use excerpts from my mother’s recollections, the Light Horse Association, Wikipedia, the AWM archive, The Australian Dictionary of Biography, ’The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by TE Lawrence and various articles written in various publications both in the UK and Australia.
I have also edited the maps – not because I think they are wrong, but to make it easier for those reading this document to follow what exactly they mean. Maps can be difficult to read and often confusing, so I have made an effort to make the whole campaign easier to understand by adding annotations and arrows, showing the lines and actions of Chauvel’s troops at Gallipoli, but also the Allied movement, and in particular the movements of the Desert Mounted Corps in the Desert Campaign.
Image Footnotes
Boer war – from Wikipedia- Unknown – (Original text: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland Image 33969) Original uploader was Hawkeye7 at en.wikipedia (29 January 2010 (original upload date))
Romani map – from Wikipedia – Original file (2,610 × 2,170 pixels, file size: 2.49 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg). Powles, C. Guy, Lieut.–Colonel CMG, DSO, ‘The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine Volume III Official History New Zealand’s Effort in the Great War,’ (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington: Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd, 1922)
Wikipedia – Department of Military Art and Engineering, at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point). – This map was created by the Department of Military Art and Engineering, at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point). The initial version was created under the supervision of General Vincent Esposito in 1959. It is now available on the West Point web site at: http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web03/atlases/great%20war/great%20war%20%20pages/great%20war%20map%2050.htm.The map image has been cropped to remove unneeded territory. Originally uploaded to en Wikipedia as en:Image:Palestine-WW1-3.jpg by en:User:Cglassey 25 April 2006. Map showing Allenby’s final attack at Megiddo, September 1918.
