Harry Chauvel
Sir Henry George Chauvel, was a senior officer of the Australian Imperial Force who fought at Gallipoli and during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World War. He was the first Australian to attain the rank of lieutenant general and later general, and the first to lead a corps. As commander of the Desert Mounted Corps, he was responsible for one of the most decisive victories and fastest pursuits in military history.
The son of a grazier, Chauvel was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Upper Clarence Light Horse, a unit organised by his father, in 1886. After the family moved to Queensland he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Queensland Mounted Infantry in 1890, and saw service during the 1891 Australian shearers' strike. He became a regular officer in 1896, and went to the United Kingdom as part of the Queensland contingent for the 1897 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1899 he commanded one of two companies of Queensland Mounted Infantry that were Queensland's initial contribution to the Boer War. After the war, he was closely involved with the training of the Australian Light Horse.
Promoted to colonel in 1913, Chauvel became the Australian representative on the Imperial General Staff but the First World War broke out while he was still en route to the United Kingdom. Chauvel arranged for the Australian Imperial Force to be diverted to Egypt, where he joined his new command, the 1st Light Horse Brigade, in December. In May 1915, it was sent dismounted to Gallipoli, where Chauvel assumed responsibility for some of the most dangerous parts of the line. He took charge of the 1st Division that November. In March 1916, Chauvel became commander of the Anzac Mounted Division, gaining victories in the Battle of Romani in August and the Battle of Magdhaba in December, and nearly winning the First Battle of Gaza in March 1917. The following month, he took over the Desert Column, later known as the Desert Mounted Corps, thereby becoming the first Australian to command a corps, and the first to reach the rank of lieutenant general. At Beersheba in October 1917, his light horse captured the town and its vital water supply in one of history's last great cavalry charges. By September 1918, Chauvel was able to effect a secret redeployment of three of his mounted divisions and launch a surprise attack on the enemy that won the Battle of Megiddo. He followed up this victory with one of the fastest pursuits in military history.
In 1919, Chauvel was appointed Inspector General, the Army's most senior post. He was forced to maintain an increasingly hollow structure by politicians intent on cutting expenditure. He was concurrently Chief of the General Staff from 1923 until his retirement in 1930. In November 1929, he became the first Australian to be promoted to the rank of general. During the Second World War, he was recalled to duty as Inspector in Chief of the Volunteer Defence Corps.
Early life
Henry George Chauvel was born in Tabulam, New South Wales, on 16 April 1865, the second child of a grazier, Charles Henry Edward Chauvel, and his wife Fanny Ada Mary, née James; from an early age he was known as "Harry". By 1884, Charles Henry Chauvel's station at Tabulam consisted of, on which he raised 12,000 head of cattle and 320 horses.Harry was educated at Mr Belcher's School near Goulburn, before going to Sydney Grammar School from 1874 to 1880, and Toowoomba Grammar School from 1881 to 1882. While at Sydney Grammar, Harry served in the school cadet unit, rising to the rank of lance corporal. In 1886, Charles Henry was given permission to raise two troops of cavalry. On 14 March 1886, he was commissioned as a captain in the Upper Clarence Light Horse, with his sons Arthur and Harry becoming second lieutenants, while his two younger sons became troopers. The unit escorted Lord Carrington, Governor of New South Wales, when he formally opened the railway at Tenterfield in 1886.
Following a series of severe droughts in northern New South Wales, Charles Henry Chauvel sold his property at Tabulam in 1888 for £50,000. After paying his debts, he bought a much smaller property at Canning Downs on the Darling Downs in Queensland. In 1889, Harry Chauvel embarked on a solo tour of Europe, visiting Venice, Rome, Florence, Paris and London. While in the United Kingdom, he watched military manoeuvres near Aldershot in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. Harry resigned his commission in the New South Wales Military Forces when he moved to Queensland, but on 9 January 1890 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Queensland Mounted Infantry. After completing his examinations for the rank, he was confirmed as lieutenant in June 1890.
Chauvel's unit was called up in March 1891 during the shearers' strike that had begun earlier that year. Leading his troops and a small detachment of Queensland Police, Chauvel was given the task of escorting a party of strikebreakers to a station north of Charleville. Near Oakwood, Chauvel's troops were confronted by a crowd of around two hundred mounted sheep shearers. When the inspector in charge of the police detachment arrested four of the shearers who were wanted by the police, the crowd became agitated, but Chauvel managed to disperse the crowd peacefully, and bring his charges safely to their destination. During the 1894 Australian shearers' strike, the Queensland government enrolled special constables rather than calling up the militia. Chauvel was appointed a temporary sub-inspector in Clermont, and later the district around Longreach.
On 9 September 1896, Chauvel transferred to the Queensland Permanent Military Forces with the rank of captain in the Moreton Regiment. He was sent to the United Kingdom with the Queensland contingent for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Sporting the emu feathers worn by Queensland units, he marched with the colonial troops through London behind Lord Roberts on 21 June 1897. Chauvel qualified at the School of Musketry at Hythe, Kent, and served on exchange with the 3rd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps and 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment at Aldershot. On returning to Australia, he became a staff officer at headquarters, Queensland Defence Force.
Boer War
In July 1899, the Premier of Queensland, James Dickson, offered a contingent of troops for service in South Africa in the event of war between the British Empire, and the Transvaal Republic and Orange Free State. For a time Chauvel served as an enrolment officer, signing up volunteers from the Darling Downs. The Boer War broke out in October 1899, and Chauvel was given command of one of two companies of Queensland Mounted Infantry that departed Brisbane on 1 November 1899. They disembarked at Cape Town on 14 December and joined the Imperial force under Lord Methuen at the Orange River. The Queensland Mounted Infantry's first fighting was in an action at Sunnyside on 1 January 1900 alongside the infantry of the Royal Canadian Regiment. In February, the Queensland Mounted Infantry became part of Major General John French's Cavalry Division. After a strenuous march, the Cavalry Division relieved the siege of Kimberley on 15 February.In the reorganisation that followed, the Queensland Mounted Infantry became part of Major General Edward Hutton's 1st Mounted Infantry Brigade, along with the Canadian and New Zealand mounted units. Chauvel distinguished himself fighting alongside a group of New Zealanders and capturing a Maxim gun. The Queensland Mounted Infantry participated in the capture of Pretoria and the Battle of Diamond Hill. Chauvel was given a mixed force of British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand mounted troops that became known as "Chauvel's Mounted Infantry", with Victor Sellheim as his chief of staff. Initially, Chauvel was given the mission of escorting 10,000 head of cattle to Belfast, Mpumalanga to supply the troops in the eastern Transvaal. However, his force was diverted by local commanders, who assigned it to burning homesteads sheltering Boer commandos and attacking Boer units. The Queensland Mounted Infantry embarked for Australia on 13 December 1900. They reached Brisbane on 17 January 1901 and the regiment was disbanded there on 23 January. For his part in the fighting, Chauvel was mentioned in despatches, and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.
On 1 January 1901, the colonies of Australia federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. When Chauvel returned to Australia on 17 January, he found that during his absence he had become an officer in the newly formed Australian Army. A force of 14,000 troops was assembled for the opening of the first Federal Parliament on 9 May 1901 in Melbourne; Chauvel was selected as brigade major of the mounted contingent, his first Federal posting. He became Staff Officer, Northern Military District, based at Townsville, Queensland, in July. In 1902, Chauvel was appointed to command of the 7th Commonwealth Light Horse, a unit newly raised for service in South Africa, with the local rank of lieutenant colonel. Departing from Brisbane on 17 May 1902, the 7th Commonwealth Light Horse arrived at Durban on 22 June, three weeks after the war ended. It therefore re-embarked for Brisbane, where it was disbanded. Chauvel remained in South Africa for a few weeks in order to tour the battlefields. On returning to Australia he became Staff Officer, Northern Military District once more. He was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel in December 1902.
In 1903, Hutton, now General Officer Commanding Australian Military Forces, sent Chauvel to South Australia to organise the light horse regiments there. On returning to Queensland in 1904, he became acting Chief Staff Officer Queensland, based in Brisbane. He was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel in December 1909, but his ambition to become the Australian representative on the Imperial General Staff in London was blocked by Hutton's successor Major General Charles Hoad. Based on his experiences in South Africa, Chauvel propounded ideas on the nature of mounted infantry. He recommended that Australian troops improve their discipline in the field, called for stronger leadership from officers, and emphasised the need for better organisation for supply and for timely and efficient medical evacuation.
Chauvel knew Keith Jopp of Newmarket, Queensland even before the Boer War, and while stationed in Brisbane, Chauvel and Major Brudenell White played tennis at the Jopps' place with their daughters Dora and Sibyl. Chauvel became engaged to Sibyl in January 1906, and they were married on 16 June 1906 at All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane. Their union ultimately produced two sons and two daughters. That year Chauvel also sold the property at Canning Downs South. In the shuffle of senior positions that followed Hoad's death in 1911, Chauvel was appointed to the Military Board in Melbourne as Adjutant General. As such, Chauvel was involved in the implementation of the Universal Training Scheme. Chauvel was particularly involved with the training of the light horse. "When the next war comes," White predicted, "it will only need an Ashby or a J.E.B. Stuart to make their name immortal."