They had scarcely any cover; but when the bombardment was over the quiet orders were instantly obeyed and the men met the enemy as though on manoeuvres. Dispositions had been carefully made and the Germans met a deadly check. But this skill and courage was called upon more searchingly in the retreat which followed. The Germans seemed to be round both their wings. Indeed the first few days were fought in certainly what must have appeared to be partial envelopment. Le Cateau was a rearguard battle, such as perhaps has never been fought in history before. The men were too tired to do anything but put their fortunes to the final test; and, though overwhelmed by shrapnel, they won through.
Courage alone cannot explain such a feat. Experience and the coolness that is born of it only explains half; the skill of the commanders could alone have justified the decision to stand at such hazards and could alone have brought the men through them. Le Cateau was won by the better troops. The British were moved back; but the check they administered gave them breathing s.p.a.ce for the future.
The proportions of the force they had to meet were now clearer to the British commanders. By the Marne they had taken a surer measure. On the Aisne they put their judgment to the test and the successes of the First Corps in winning to the crest of the ridge, but lately cleared by the French, shewed that their reading of the situation was correct. Yet they were still to go through the final ordeal. They were taken north and set to tasks that were again incommensurate with their force. The army was still smaller than that of Belgium; and yet they were encouraged to look forward to Bruges, whence great German reinforcements were at that moment hastening south. Part of the army was falling back towards Ypres, and before this peaceful old Belgian town one of the decisive battles of history gradually emerged.
How the British Army survived Ypres is one of the mysteries upon which time can throw little light. But how it saved Ypres and survived at the same time can only be known from an investigation into the courage and surpa.s.sing skill of the splendid organism which had our honour in its keeping. The endurance under a ceaseless battering, the repeated readjustments that were necessitated by the mere weight of the onslaught, the mere mechanism of carrying on from day to day under such a strain can only be explained by a tribute to skilful handling that needs no emphasis. Officers acted with an insistent recognition of the issues at stake. The line, momentarily breached at Gheluvelt, was immediately restored before the orders of the supreme command could direct the operation. But this was only one great example of the skill that found expression everywhere and all the time.
Many of these generals, whose lives shine but vaguely through the facts which outline them, fought through these days of trial. All of them had other and stranger experience under other suns; but the experience they had garnered met its supreme test in the first phase of the war. When it had pa.s.sed the barque of the army had ridden the troubled waters and was safe in harbour with only its terrible wounds to bear witness to the ordeal it had survived. Some of the commanders were fighting in other climes and came to the decisive theatre of the war when the great crisis had pa.s.sed. They and all are part of the country"s patrimony, part of its insurance of victory. They form a striking _ensemble_. Guardsmen some of them, with the halo which surrounds that name since the war began; engineers others, with the cool and calculating craftsmanship of their kind; others, again, of the artillery with bitter memories of the numerical weakness of their arm in the hour of trial and yet remembering fierce and glorious hours at Le Cateau, where they stood to the service of their guns and did the work of ten times their number. And there is not wanting a representative of the newest arm--the air service, which have many things to teach soldiers yet.
They are one in that goodly fellowship of great soldiers who have come through the fire of the fiercest battles in the world"s history. We can glimpse their metal in their actions. We have recently seen how potent still is the skill which directs in the face of all scientific and mechanical development of the war. It is natural for us who read daily the record of our soldiers to be more conscious of their small failures, than of their great success. But trace the broad lines of the war, retread those trampled roads of northern France once more behind the armies these men led, remember their mastery in the darkest days and their record becomes luminous with the a.s.surance of final victory.
I
FIELD-MARSHAL VISCOUNT FRENCH OF YPRES, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G.
LORD FRENCH"S name will descend to posterity as the leader of the British Expeditionary Force. Were all his other great services to his country reckoned as naught, his name would live for ever by reason of the German Emperor"s vainglorious allusion to "French"s contemptible little army." For, as long as the British Empire shall endure, men will hold in honour "the old Contemptibles," who shattered for ever an Emperor"s dreams of world supremacy and made his boast recoil upon his head.
John Denton Pinkstone French comes of one of the most ancient Irish families, the Frenches of Galway and Roscommon, of whom Lord French of French Park, Roscommon, is the head. The Field-Marshal is fifth in descent from John French, M.P., who fought in the army of William III.
and commanded a troop of Enniskillen Dragoons at Aughrim in 1689. His grandfather left Ireland at the beginning of the XIXth century and settled in Kent at Ripple Vale, near Deal, where, on September 28th, 1852, Lord French of Ypres was born.
Lord French"s father was Captain John French, R.N., who retired from the service with the rank of Post Captain and died when the boy, his only son, was but two years old. Upon his mother, a Scottish lady, a Miss Eccles from the neighbourhood of Glasgow, devolved the upbringing of the infant son and his five sisters. After a brief sojourn at Harrow, the boy was sent to Eastman"s School at Portsmouth to prepare for the Navy.
In 1866, in his fourteenth year, he entered the "Britannia," and thence pa.s.sed out as a midshipman.
At the age of 18, young John French sought the advice of a family friend and decided to make the change which was destined to alter the whole course of his life. He entered the militia and spent two years in the Garrison Artillery at Ipswich (1871 to 1873). Then he pa.s.sed into the regular army, being gazetted, at the age of 21, to the 8th Hussars, with whom, however, he remained only a short time, transferring, after a few weeks, to the 19th Hussars, the regiment with which he pa.s.sed the first half of his life as a soldier.
In 1880 Captain French became Adjutant of the Northumberland Yeomanry, and was thus, to his great disappointment, prevented from accompanying his regiment, the 19th, to Egypt in 1882. However, his chance came two years later when he went out as second in command of the 19th to join Wolseley"s Nile Expedition. French was at Abu Klea and in the subsequent desperate fighting, and he was actually the first man of the column to learn, from the lips of Stuart Wortley, of the fall of Khartum and the death of Gordon. For his good work in Egypt French was mentioned in despatches and returned to England as Lieutenant-Colonel.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIELD-MARSHAL VISCOUNT FRENCH]
Five years of garrison duty followed. In 1891 Col. French took the 19th Hussars out to India, being stationed first at Secunderabad and afterwards at Bangalore. In 1893 he returned to England and retired on half-pay. In the following year he was entrusted with the compilation of the Cavalry Drill-book, and 1895 found him installed at the War Office as Deputy-Adjutant-General under Sir Redvers Buller.
From now on French rose rapidly in his profession. As commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade at Canterbury (1897), and the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot (1898), he had ample scope to elaborate his theories on cavalry training. None was more tenacious than French of maintaining the "cavalry spirit" in the British Cavalry, but he had recognized in Egypt the advantages of teaching the cavalry to fight dismounted as well. His theories were violently combated, but his justification was at hand. The time was approaching when he was to burst into prominence as England"s main hope in South Africa.
Lord French was given command of the cavalry in Natal, and landed in South Africa on October 12th, 1899, the day after the declaration of war. He returned to England in July, 1902, with an almost unbroken record of successes in the campaign to his name.
His next command was the 1st Army Corps at Aldershot. Here for five years he worked at high pressure with the watch-word of "Efficiency."
From Aldershot French was summoned by Lord Haldane, then Secretary of State for War, and given the appointment of Inspector-General of the Forces. In this post he laid the bases of the Expeditionary Force and of the Territorial Army which was to prove its valuable auxiliary in the years to come. In 1911 he was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff and held this appointment until 1914, when he resigned.
From his retirement he was summoned to take command of the Expeditionary Force. He left London on the afternoon of Friday, August 14th, and landed in France that evening. For sixteen months he remained at the head of the British Army in France, which he watched expand from the four Divisions of the Retreat from Mons into a vast army of a million men. In December, 1915, he was recalled to take up the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Home Forces. At the New Year, 1916, he was created a Viscount.
In the t.i.tle he a.s.sumed the Field-Marshal has commemorated the sternest battle he fought across the Channel. Ypres was the supreme test. When the full history of the war comes to be written, the Empire will realize how much it owes its security to the high patriotism and indomitable tenacity of the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force.
II
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM PULTENEY, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM PULTENEY, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O., was born on May 18th, 1861. He joined the Scots Guards from the Militia in 1881. In 1882 he served in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and was present at the action of Mahuta and the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, winning a medal with clasp and bronze star. He was promoted Captain, Scots Guards, in 1892. Employed under the Foreign Office in the Uganda Protectorate between 1895 and 1897, he saw service in the Unyoro Expedition of 1895, winning a medal, and in the Nandi Expedition of 1895-6. In the latter he was mentioned in despatches and gained the D.S.O.
In 1897 he became Major, and in the same year was made Vice-Consul to the Congo Free State, an office he held until 1899. He again saw active service in the South African War, 1899-1902. He was in the advance on Kimberley, and took part in the operations in the Orange Free State, Transvaal, Orange River Colony, and Cape Colony. In these operations he commanded the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards in 1900, and later took command of a Column. He was mentioned in despatches, gained the brevet of Colonel, together with the Queen"s Medal and six clasps and the King"s Medal with two clasps. He became Colonel of the Scots Guards in 1904 and was given the C.B. in 1905. Between 1908 and 1909 he commanded the 16th Brigade in the Irish Command, and in the latter year was promoted Major-General. In July, 1910, he became General Officer in command of the 6th Division, Irish Command, holding this position until 1914.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LIEUT.-GEN. SIR WILLIAM PULTENEY]
He was appointed to command the III Corps on its formation, August 4th, 1914. At the Marne this "Corps" consisted of the 4th Division and the 19th Brigade, and thus const.i.tuted it fought under General Pulteney throughout the battle of the Marne and the Aisne. In May, 1915, General Pulteney was promoted Lieutenant-General. He has received distinguished mention in despatches ("He showed himself to be a most capable commander in the field and has rendered valuable service") and has been decorated with the Legion of Honour (Second Cla.s.s), and the Order of the Crown (Second Cla.s.s); in addition to these war honours the K.C.M.G. and the K.C.B. have been bestowed upon him.
III
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR RICHARD CYRIL BYRNE HAKING, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR RICHARD CYRIL BYRNE HAKING, K.C.B., p.s.c., was born January 24th, 1862. He entered the Hampshire Regiment in 1881 and became Captain in 1889, having been Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion from June, 1885 to June, 1890. He took part in the Burmese Expedition of 1885-7, was mentioned in despatches and received a medal with clasp. He was Deputy a.s.sistant Adjutant General in the Cork district from early in 1898 to September, 1899, when he became Major and took up the same post (D.A.A.G.) on the Staff in the South African War; for his services in the war he was mentioned in despatches and won the Queen"s Medal and three clasps.
In 1901 he became a Professor at the Staff College, becoming D.A.A.G. of the College in 1904. He became Colonel in 1905, and the next year he was employed in the Southern Command, first as General Staff Officer. It was all the same, only the t.i.tle was changed 3rd Division. In 1908 he was made Brigadier-General, General Staff, Southern Command, and in 1911 took over the Command of the 5th Brigade, having, the year before, been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LIEUT.-GEN. SIR R. C. B. HAKING]
At the beginning of the present war he continued in command of the Brigade, and fought with it at Mons, on the Aisne, and at the first Battle of Ypres, and on December 28th, 1914, was promoted Major-General for Distinguished Service in the Field, became Lieutenant-General (temporary) in September, 1915. He has been mentioned in despatches in this war ("Special credit is due to Major-General Haking, commanding 1st Division, for the prompt manner in which he arranged this counter-attack and for the general plan of action, which was crowned with success"), and has been created Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St.
George.
IV
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR CHARLES FERGUSSON, BART., K.C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR CHARLES FERGUSSON, Bt., K.C.B., M.V.O., D.S.O., was born January, 1865. He entered the Grenadier Guards in 1883, and became Captain in 1895. In 1896 he was attached to the Egyptian Army, serving with the 10th Soudanese Battalion until 1898. With them he went through the Dongola Expedition of 1896, and the Nile Expeditions of 1897 and 1898, being severely wounded in the latter. For his work in these expeditions he was mentioned in despatches five times, won the Egyptian Medal and seven clasps, as well as the D.S.O., and received Brevet of Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Colonel.
In 1899 he commanded the 15th Soudanese on the Nile and won another clasp to the Egyptian medal, as well as the Second Cla.s.s of the Modjidie Order. After the fighting he commanded the garrison and district of Omdurman in 1900, and from 1901 to 1903 was Adjutant-General of the Egyptian Army. Returning to England he commanded the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards until 1907, the year in which the M.V.O.
was bestowed upon him. It was the year, too, in which he became Brigadier-General on the General Staff of the Irish Command, a position which he held until 1908. In September, 1908, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and with this rank he held the post of Inspector of Infantry between 1909 and 1912.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LIEUT.-GEN. SIR CHARLES FERGUSSON]
In 1913 he was appointed to the command of the 5th Division, with which he proceeded to France with the original Expeditionary Force. The 5th Division fought on the left of the line at Mons, and on the morning of the 24th had need of all the skill of its commander to extricate it from being outflanked by the Germans. In August, 1914, he was promoted Lieutenant-General, and from January, 1915, he commanded the II, which took a prominent part in the capture of Hill 60, and subsequently the XVII Army Corps. His war honours include mention in despatches and his creation as Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He has also received the Order of the Crown (Second Cla.s.s).