southafrica

A shame there weren't more Generals of his calibre during WWI. Ability to think and act independently about the evidence seemed to be in short supply.

The Luckiest Unlucky General of The Great War: www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/71-gen-... A brief extract is here: Born at sea in 1860, CCM was 54 when the Great War broke out, and was said to have become 'rather fat' for a soldier. But CCM's earlier career had followed the classic pattern for a British Empire Army officer of: Sandhurst (1879); a commission in the Queens Royal Surrey Regiment (1881); Gibraltar (1898); Guernsey (1889); India (1891) - where he served in the Malakand Field and Tirah Expeditionary Forces in the North West Frontier Province - and the Boer War (1899). Returning to the United Kingdom (1901) he was appointed first as Chief Instructor, and then Commandant, of the Army School of Musketry at Hythe in southern England. Here CCM developed the disciplines of 'Rapid aimed rifle fire' - i.e. 15 rounds per minute - and 'Fire and movement'. Of which the former skill was to prove so crucial against the German mass infantry attacks in the early days of the BEF in France and Belgium; the Germans believed they were facing machine-gun fire. In 1911 he became a Major General commanding the 2nd London Territorial Division.. In August 1914, CCM was given command of the British Second Division of I Corps of the BEF and took it to France.

He died in 1929, aged 69 years, whilst serving as Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's successor as a Trustee of the Imperial War Museum in London.

His Wikipedia page is here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Charles_Monro,_1st_Baronet

Willing to let his reputation suffer and his name be sullied with defeat at Gallipoli in order to save the men under his command from slaughter. That is courage.

Stories and other pictures, plus family tree connectcions available at search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&am...

Gen. BOTHA and SMUTS are always to be rememberd as South African Boer soldiers whom became great British Leaders in South Africa and in the United Kingdom.

Gen. SMUTS was even selected by Winston CHURCHILL in WWII to replace him as PM, in the event that he was killed...
Gen. SMUTS was also responsible for the Formation of the Royal Air Force, seperate to the Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service.

Excellent subjects to remember for WWI and WWII.

Good picture.

gossip.pk

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

At the time of the 1911 census he was a pupil at Kingswood School, aged 17. His place of birth was given as Pietermaritzburg, Natal.

His Medal Roll Index Card shows that he was Private 1562 in the Royal Highlanders before transferring to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/