THE PERFECT SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 112, 29 January 1918, Page 6

THE PERFECT SOLDIER

CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY'S FEATS

SCION. OF A FIGHTING BREED Britain's aristocracy has never produced a finer specimen of the soldier than Claude Raul Champion de Crespigny, who at the comparati7ely early* age of 39 has been appointed to the command of the brigade of Guards. At the beginning of the war Brigadier-General Champion de Crespigny was a staff captain. He went ■:<> France in the early days, but found the intricacies and details of staff work • distasteful to his fighting spirit. So ho rejoined his old regiment, the Grenadier Guards, and eventually rose to the command of the second battalion. Since than his life haß been a series' of hairbreadth escapes, with perhaps the most extraordinary luck which any soldier has enjoyed during the war. One of those commanding officers who believe in being in the thick of the fighting, he used to lead his men "over the top" with a loaded stick as a weapon. In one of the recent engagements in Flanders Lieutenant-Colonel Champion de he was then —charged a Hun machine-gunner who was scattering death right and left with i his stream of bullets. With one mightv swing of his stick LieutenantColonel Champion de Crespigny broke the neck of the Hun. and the regiment went on. The Hun's gas-mask and steel helmet are in England hanging oil the walls of Brigadier-Genera, de Crespigny's Essex home among innumerable trophies ■of the chase, relics of a man whos6 hobby is fighting. •' i A Race of Sofdiers. I The de Crespignys are a family with, an astonishing history in sport and war. An old Norman family who came to England after the 'Edictof Nantes, their ancestors acquired the name of Champion in the days when the King a Champion was an bfficc which meant nothing but continual fitting. The family traditions have been well maintained down to the present time, for there ' is no better known name in Great Britain than Sir Claude Champion do Crespigny, worthy father of a great son. . "Raul," as the brigadier is _ known to his parents and intimates, is, like his father and brothers, an extraordinary versatile sportsman. From his early days in the Guards, afc \\ indsoi, when he was Master of the Draehounds, down to his appearance 111 the Army Boxing Championships his sporting career has been little short of njaivellous. He was quite in the tirsb flight as a steeplechase rider, and even yet, among soldier riders, has few superiors. A good cricketer, well up to county form, one of the best shots in the country, and, like his father, a. lover of all aquatic sports, the new brigadier represents a type of soldier the army will love. , It would be difficult to find another soldior in tho British Army ' whose name stands for everything that s great in the history of Britain; His battalion adored him, for when there was fighting about their ® the thick of it. Probab y he has lost count of the Huns he has accounted for, and up to now he has been over the top" eight times. So far he has escaped without & scratch. On© of the New School. Brigadier-General. Champion 'de Cresninny's appointment —like that of Sir Henry Wilson—is part of the army s policy to appoint generals who want to see things for themselves. Certainly there could be no wiser move than the promotion of men to commanding rant than those officers who have lived in the trenches and can appreciate the difficulties which await tho infantryman in attack. He had a comprehensive experience of . staff work linder Lord Cavan in the earlv days of the war, so he should bo tolv ?ell ac quainted with the responsibilities of a brieado command. ■■ , Whatever mav be the destiny of the First Brigade of Guards in diate future, there can be but little doubt that their attacks will be «ej organised. Over in Fjance thev Mill talk of de Crespigny's command over his men through four mi cs of deadly "pill-boxes." Probably the Germans will very shortly experience the ideas of war of a man whose ancestors tor nearly a thousand years havo been striving fov victory, both in the held of sport and the field of war. Champion de Crespigny is a great name for a soldier, and the present holders, both' lather and son, have a great record. "Raul" may probably prove to be the greatest of them nil. for his opportunity has come at a time when Britain is greatly in need of fighting generals, v ' '