The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1917. A GREAT COMMANDER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 49, 21 November 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1917. A GREAT COMMANDER

The sudden death of Sir Stanlfa' Maude in Mesopotamia robs the Empiro of one of the most brilliant fighting commanders whom this war has brought to tho front. Though few great reputations arc bettor fitted to stand tho test of time than that of Sir Stanley Maude, fow have boon made as speedily. Ho assumed the , Mcsopotamian command as recently as the middle- of last year, and for months afterwards was out of the public gaze. From first to last the events which mado his name a household word took shape in less than a year. Before ho went to Mesopotamia Sir Stanley Maude had a record to bo proud of, but not one which singled him out from a numerous company of ablo and gallant subordinate commanders. Born of fighting stock, fifty-three years ago, he entered upon his military career in 1884, and later sorved with distinction in the Sudan and in South Africa. Ho was a colonel when the European war broke out, and j his known ability gained him speedy promotion to the rank of brigadiergeneral. In 1915 he t was promoted major-general and' appointed to command a division. He served for a time in Oallipoli, but in a subordinate command which gave no great scope for an exhibition of his remarkable- powers. So far, his career was one- to which it would be easy to find many parallels, but his appointment last year to the chief command in Mesopotamia gave him the opportunity he needed to show what manner of soldier ho was. His name will live in history as that of a great find gifted commander who took over the direction of an important campaign at its darkest hour, promptly rectified and made good the mistakes and shortcomings of bis predecessors, and followed up this achievement in organisation by launching an offensivo which developod with

brilliant success. The conquest of Bagdad and a wide tract of country beyond tho ancient City of the Caliphs and tho dccisivo blows which broke- every attempt at recovory on tlio part of tlie enemy demonstrated with finality that tho British Government made no mistake in selecting Sir Stanley Maude to command the Imperial armies in Mesopotamia. It is to bo said, in common fairness, that tho British record in Mesopotamia when Sin Stanley Maude assumed the direction of affairs in that theatre was far from being one of unrelieved failure. But from every point of view the task ho undertook was exacting, and ho had much leeway to makeup boforo ho could enter upon the aggressive campaign which his talents and attainments so well fitted him to drive through to a triumphant issue. In its opening stages tho Mesopotamian campaign prospered well, but tho collapso of tho first advance on Bagdad, culminating in the surrender of Genehal Townshend and his division at Kut-cl-Amara after a heroic defence cf nearly fivo months, convicted tho civil and military authorities responsible of 6orious lack of judgment and forcsight_ in attempting to force tho campaign far beyond the point which then availablo resources, transport facilities, and organisation generally warranted. How far matters had gone to tho bad was shown ultimately in the appalling revelations made by tho Mesopotamian Commission- By tho time Sir Stanley Maude took chargo considerable headway had been made in the construction of roads and railways and other details of transport and organisation which have since been so greatly improved, but his first and most pressing task was to thoroughly overhaul the whole system of transport and supply. Months of arduous and unremitting labour under this head had borne fruit when he opened his smashing attack upon tho Turkish positions below Kut-el-Amara in tho closing days of last year. During the summer and autumn of 1916 roads were built, two railways were laid, the Tigris bed was deepened, i the river transport was transformed, and the base at Basra developed beyond all recognition. The construction of embankments and wharves facilitated the- unloading of ocean steamships. One result of theso preparations was,_ * correspondent stated some time ngo, that in January, 1917, tho traffio up the Tigris—and transport defects' were tho root cause of the hospital breakdown—was almost ten times as great as it was during the previous July. It was in this radical reorganisation of tlie whole system of supply and transport that Sir Stanley Maude laid the foundation of tho brilliant successes won by his armies from December, 1916, onwards. Theso achiovemenbs aro fresh in memory. After a long-sus-tained and stubborn resistance in the region of Kut-el-Amara, tho Turks were disastrously defeated. Giving them no respite, Sir Stanley Maude rapidly forced his way up-river to Bagdad, and his troops entered that city on March 11, a week or two after their commander's temporary rank of lieutenant-gen-eral had been made permanent. Before tho spring campaign ended, the main British forces were established at Samarra (seventy miles north of Bagdad), and other columns well to tho westward, along tho Euphrates, and north-eastward toward the Persian border. Though the position was complicated by tho Russian collapse, these gains stand undiminished at tho present hour, and in his last weeks of life and command Sir Stanley Maude inflicted further damaging defeats upon tho Turks in areas where they were making preparations for a counteroffensive. It is a record of which any military commander in any ago might be proud—tho record of ' a great organiser, as well as a great strategist, who laid in painstaking labour the foundations of the victorious achievemente which took shapo ultimately with an appearance of inspiration and happy fortune. As his famous proclamation to the people of Bagdad bears witness, Sir Stanley Maude had in addition to his military gifts somo of the best qualities of the statesman. Had ho lived he would have been marked out for signal honours at the lipids of his grateful countrymen. Dying in harness, -at an age when he might have anticipated many years of vigorous life, ind in the full tide of a victorious 3ampaign, ho will find his best monument in his unforgettable achievements- The standard and example he set should have living force and inspiration for his countrymen, not least in that war of liberation against Turkey in which be was cast for an illustrious part.