Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 13th, 1917. THE HERO OF BAGHDAD.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 13th, 1917. THE HERO OF BAGHDAD.

The cabled report published a couple of days ago giving a summary of General Maude’s , despatch if .the operations leading to the capture of 1 Baghdad, was in marked contrast to the report of the Mesopotamia Commission of the operations that led to downfall of Kut-el-Amara nnu tho capt tore of General Townsend and his j Army. In view of the success of the operations leading to satisfactory results of tho latest campaign in that I famous Old World battlefield, it is interesting t° read an outline of the leader of the latest expedition. A H friend of Lieutenant General Maude I gives the following description:—“His manner js suav e and gentle—l should not describe him ns unassuming, for that would give an incorrect impresj sion—but he is not one of the ‘pushful’ kind —until there is a chance of a fight. When ho sees the chance of a fight he jumps at it. He docs not go ( l bald-headed—lie possesses tho quality which makes tho difference between a man of tremendous audacity and a gambler—ho makes careful preparation beforehand, hut when the fighting chance conies ho takes it for all he is worth'. He is the kind of general who js ready to risk, not merely his life, k but his reputation for the good of his country. The difference iwuuhm Maude and many other generals is that Maude has a real liking for fighting Fighting is a soldier’s business hut of the generals you sop walking about- 1 should say, speaking with moderation, that one out- of every ten positively ’ likes fighting. The other nine may m be fond of drill, or regulations, or au- “ ministration or various other kinds of army routine, but when they find themselves faced with a fight or an unknown bit of country held by an unknown number of enemy troops, neither love of administration nor anything else will I replace the need for an inborn love m fighting. Th 0 man who has no--' j this inborn love of fighting will find the most admirable reasons for putting . off the engagement and when lie has put off the engagement Ids chance is gone. Maude is one of those rare . generals' who have, this love of fighting and that is the reason lie has como to the front, and has swept victoriously into Baghdad. He went out to France as a colonel hut hi s fighting qualities , soon made him a man marked for promotion •• Ho took part in tho lighting jn Flanders in General Pultiiey’s 3rd Army and fight for a long time in • the neighbourhood of TTill 60. In May 1915, three divisions were sent out t<> reinforce Sir Tan Hamilton at Gallipoli. Within a short while the ■ three generals commanding them dis-appeared—-General Shaw fell sick within about a fortnight and Maude . was sent out to take his place. When he left Gallipoli it was with the reputatioiti of being one of the ablest generals j who set foot on the peninsula. The ex--1 traordinarilv difficult nature of the - ’tank gave his fighting proclivities ' full play. Ho could not bear sitting still and when a lull ennie he would he tho first to exclaim ‘When nr,, we going to have a dash ?’ He looked forward eagerly to the arrival of enough troops to drive the Turks out ol the peninsula and to tho last minute he was anxious to have another go at the Turk rather than leave tho Turks, fjord Kitchener’s visit to France 1«L however, to the decision to make an attack /at Loos and the reinforcements which in the opinion of some who were at Gallipoli would probably have won the peninsula were n«t sent out and ultimately ‘rtn- General Sir Clinrles Munro’s advice, Gallipoli was evacuated. Maude was to the end against ! evacuation and to the last day hoped | that there would he another fight with j th e Turks. His success in Mesapofca- ‘ mia was expected by thoso who know the kind of man he is. Ho made ready and then he went full rip with •oul full of the love of tho fight. Sir i Stanley Maude inherits the plukdc i of his father the late General Sir F. Maude 0.0.8., V.C. He has spent nearly thirty years in the «>my, having entered in 1884. In 1915, a ] few months after going to France, he < was 071 the staff of the third army, ( after commanding the 14th. Infantry Brigade andt in 1915 he was made a j inajor-General. From Gallipoli he took s tho 13th division' to Egypt, and from i Egypt he. went t,o Mesopotamia where £ he succeeded to the command last sum- J c mer. Sir Stanley Maude’s homo is c at "Watford. Lady Maude is a dftugh- ’ f

t©r of -the late Colonel the Right Hon. Thomas Taylor of Ardillan Castle. County Dublin. The general and: his Wife have one son and two daughters.”