“THE MAD MAJOR.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3756, 18 February 1928, Page 3

“THE MAD MAJOR.”

EPICS OF THE GREAT WAR.

DARE-DEVIL OF THE SERVICES.

Was there a “mad major” during the war? If so, who was he? Most serving soldiers and many ex-sol-diers know the story (writes Maurice Fagerie in the “Daily Mail”). He was supposed to have had a roving commission to do what he liked and to have used every arm of war in turn. He belonged to no particular unit, and yet, at different times, he made use of scores of units. And everything he did bore the stamp of the generalship of a Napoleon, the resource of a Sherlock Holmes, the courage of a Nelson. To-day every soldier knows the story, and an amazing percentage believes in it. And the belief is still growing. I met at Southampton recently the last Army transport to arrive from India. The Scots Greys on board believed “the mad major” to have been originally a cavalryman. Artillerymen said he had belonged to the R.H.A. To infantrymen today, as when the war ended, he had been a “foot-slogger.” Tank mechanics and Air Force men all claim him. They,.like the men I met from India, tell remarkable stories of his exploits. Most people believe that he got special permission to be >a free lance of war to enable him to avenge the deaths of his sons—the number of them differs. Most believe that aeroplanes they saw flying a few feet over the German lines were piloted by him. One man saw him bring down Richtofen. Again, on the Noyon front, he trundled a 13pounder into No Man’s Land during a morning mist and blew up six German tanks. Often he has taken out a British tank and wrought frightful havoc. With rifle and bayonet he has gone out and collected handfuls of prisoners unaided.

One of the officers just returned from India told me that the stoiies had become very general out there. People who saw individual acts of great bravery are more and more crediting them to him. Men who did not serye in the war believe he did such extraordinary things as driving a car alosg the Anas load into the German lines. This officer thought “the mad major” was a composite of Colonel Freyberg, 'Colonel Lawrence, and Air Commodore Samson. It is worth considering. Fiction does not invest any man with-so many thrilling escapades. To all he and his exploits are different. No one seems to have seen him. Has he any basis in actuality? Or is he an even more remarkable figment of the imagination than the “Russian legions,” of August, 1914? . Many newspaper readers in England have written to say they know the “mad major,” who is supposed to have used gun, aeroplane, tank, balloon, and armoured-car in turn, and wrought a thousand times more damage in the war than any man who received a decoration. “There was ‘a mad. major,’ ” writes Mi’. H. 0. Smith, of Manchester. “I saw him. He was stout and fair. He refused to wear a tin hat or hat of any kind and had no use for a gas-mask. It was said of him that he made a practice of visiting canteens and distributing five-franc notes. . He had more wound stripes than any man I saw, and it was said he was entitled to as many more but would not wear them.

“Leeds Rifles,” of Middleton, Leeds, states: “There are more than a few remaining who saw him skimming along within ten yards of the German front line in the Laventie sector in 1915. We said he belonged to the artillery, but the artillery said he was infantry.. Whatever he did belong to, his dare-de-vil, will-o’-the-wisp appearances always aroused the greatest enthusiasm among the troops.” Mr. Frederic Jackson, of Portsmouth, writes: “The' Mad Major I knew was commanding a battery behind a wood .a mile to the rear of Dickebusch. He had scrounged a biplane and housed it in a tentlike arrangement not far from his guns. With this he used to do his own spotting.” “Ex-Orderly Room Sergeant,” of Southsea, writes:

“The hundreds of officers who in 1915-16 passed through the R.A.F. depot at Foi’t Grange, Gosport, will appreciate the remark that no one saw him. We saw him right enough. He was a regular handful for the Air Ministry and a most marvellous aifman.” Mi-. Joseph Marett, of Portsmouth, writes: —“I have been in sapheads when the periscope was shot through the middle. The Mad Major, just appearing at such moments, immediately jumped on the parapet and; fired his revolver, cursing loudly all the time. Not a shot was fifed in return.”

Mr- Michael Gilway, of Bray, who thinks now that the major was a legend, states: “I remember seeing him flying upside down at Sally Saillisel, and later in an air duel. I thought it was the Mad Major because everyone said so, except the higher officers, who just smiled wisely.”

And so on, the “Daily Mail” publishing many such letters all of which treat the “Mad Major” as a more or less authentic personality. The explanation appears to be that many heroic incidents occurred during the war, many of them by men unknown to spectators of the event. Human nature always de-

sires to pin down such a lmppeningio an individual, and not knowing his name, created the desired personality in the “Mad Major.” In this manner have legends grown since the beginning of time.