GENERAL ALLENBY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1754, 20 November 1917, Page 3

GENERAL ALLENBY.

THE HERO OF OUR PALESTINE SUCCESSES. General Sir E. H. 11. Allenby, the organiser of the recent striking successes in Palestine, culminating in the capture of Gaza, Beersheba, and other strong places, was born in 'April, 1861, at Felixtsowe. He was educated at Haileybury for the Indian Civil Service, but selecting a military career, he entered the Inniskilling Dragoons in May, 1882, and joined his regiment in South Africa, where he was engaged in operations against the Zulus and Boers. He returned to England in 1892, and passed through the Staff College. On the outbreak of the South African War he was appointed to the command of a squadron, and he took part in the early engagements in the Orange River Colony. These events quickly demonstrated his skill and capacity for leading cavalry, so he was promoted to command the sth Lancers, and succesfully led columns of all arms during the subsequent operations.

On coming home in 1902, he obtained the command of a brigade of cavalry, and later was appointed inspector of that arm and its chief at the annual manoeuvres. In this capacity he re-established the ancient superiority of the British cavalry, and trained a very remarkable body of officers and men, avlao later were destined to save their comrades on the retreat from the Belgian frontier to the Seine. On the despatch of the Expeditionary Force to France in August, 1914*, Gen. Allenby was appointed to lead the cavalry division of four brigades, in reality a corps of cavalry. The other tAvo commanders were Sir H. Smith-Dorrien and Sir Douglas Haig. After General Haig’s corps Avas compelled to retreat Avithout being able to join the Second Corps on the field of Le Gateau, on 26th August, 1914, the position of the other half of the British Army became extremely critical, for it was confronted by a great numerical superiority and an overlapping of hostile guns. But a stand had to be made, for retreat without fighting Avas impracticable. The story of that battle has never been adequately told, nor hoAv it opened, but it is knoAvn that only the marvellous skill Avith which the cavalry brigades Avere directed, first as reserves of mounted riflemen to the parts of our lino Avhcre danger threatened most, and subsequently to cover the retirement from the field, enabled the commander of the Second Corps to elude the encircling attack of the Germans, In the days of retreat—27th, 28th, 29th and 30th August—the cavalry, under General Allenby, successfully screened and protected the shattered columns of infantry, which were inextricably mixed up with artillery and transport. The heat Avas intense, and the German pursuit kept our soldiers on the move by day and night, until exhaustion almost completed their destruction, During these critical hours General Allenby wove a net of horsement from his division of 4,000 riders, which covered a front of twenty-five miles, and made possible the escape of the other commanderf?. - - The next important duly he had was the pursuit of the enemy, who in turn had to fall back from the Marne to the Aisne, and the outflanking operations, which extended the left of the Allies first as far wcstAvard as the Lys, and afterwards to the sea. These operations were extremely difficult and delicate. General Allenby was throughout opposed by a great superiority of numbers, machine guns, and cannon, and it is to his skill and audacity that the Allies owe the rescue of‘a large tract of Flanders from the claw of the Bochc in the autumn of 1914. In the crisis of the second battle of Ypres, General Allenby took over command of the Fifth British Corps in the salient, and once again saved the situation. He was shortly afterwards promoted to the command of an army Avhich guarded a broad sector of the front throughout 1916, without taking part in the offensive operations on the Somme between Ist July and November, 1916. In the spring offensive of this year, however, it Avas to General Allcnby’s army that the Commander-in-Chief assigned the crucial task of the first great attack. He launched his troops against the German lines which liarred the Arras-Douai road, at dawn on 9th April, and Avon a victory Avhich far surpassed any previous success of our arms. His artillery having carefully prepared the assault in a violent but comparatively brief bombardment, the infantry swarmed forward, covered by a barrage, close behind which our soldiers charged. All the objectives Avere in our hands within a few minutes of the schedule ed time —11,090 prisoners and 145 guns, besides other Avar material were taken in less than twelve hours,

After his splendid victory, eral Allenby sot himself to drill a broad hole in the German system of entrenchments, but the foe speedily recognised their most formidable opponent, and fetched reserve divisions from all parts of their fighting front and from the Eastern army to fill the gap and check his progress. Nevertheless, on St. George’s Day, 23rd April, lie made another forward hound, and struck, a severe blow, though a less effective one, than on 9th April, for the Germans were prepared and in great strength.

Sir Edmund Allenby is a man of almost giant strength and size, with g whose grim determiMtion,

emphasised by the square,jaw, is lit up by kindly eyes and a humorous expression, which perpetually shows itself in the play of his features and the smile that comes so readily to the lips.