Harry Chauvel was the first Australian to attain the rank of lieutenant general and later general, and the first to lead a corps.
83 Facts About Harry Chauvel
2.
The son of a grazier, Harry Chauvel was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Upper Clarence Light Horse, a unit organised by his father, in 1886.
3.
Harry Chauvel 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.
4.
In May 1915, it was sent dismounted to Gallipoli, where Harry Chauvel assumed responsibility for some of the most dangerous parts of the line.
5.
In March 1916, Harry 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.
6.
Harry Chauvel followed up this victory with one of the fastest pursuits in military history.
7.
In 1919, Harry Chauvel was appointed Inspector General, the Army's most senior post.
8.
Harry Chauvel was forced to maintain an increasingly hollow structure by politicians intent on cutting expenditure.
9.
Harry Chauvel was concurrently Chief of the General Staff from 1923 until his retirement in 1930.
10.
Henry George Harry Chauvel was born in Tabulam, New South Wales, on 16 April 1865, the second child of a grazier, Charles Henry Edward Harry Chauvel, and his wife Fanny Ada Mary, nee James.
11.
From an early age Henry George Chauvel was known as "Harry".
12.
Harry Chauvel 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.
13.
On 14 March 1886, he was commissioned as a captain in the Upper Clarence Light Horse, with his sons Arthur and Harry Chauvel becoming second lieutenants, while his two younger sons became troopers.
14.
In 1889, Harry Chauvel embarked on a solo tour of Europe, visiting Venice, Rome, Florence, Paris and London.
15.
Harry Chauvel 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.
16.
Harry Chauvel's unit was called up in March 1891 during the shearers' strike that had begun earlier that year.
17.
Near Oakwood, Harry Chauvel's troops were confronted by a crowd of around two hundred mounted sheep shearers.
18.
Harry Chauvel was appointed a temporary sub-inspector in Clermont, and later the district around Longreach.
19.
On 9 September 1896, Harry Chauvel transferred to the Queensland Permanent Military Forces with the rank of captain in the Moreton Regiment.
20.
Harry Chauvel was sent to the United Kingdom with the Queensland contingent for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
21.
The Boer War broke out in October 1899, and Harry Chauvel was given command of one of two companies of Queensland Mounted Infantry that departed Brisbane on 1 November 1899.
22.
Harry Chauvel distinguished himself fighting alongside a group of New Zealanders and capturing a Maxim gun.
23.
Harry Chauvel was given a mixed force of British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand mounted troops that became known as "Harry Chauvel's Mounted Infantry", with Victor Sellheim as his chief of staff.
24.
In 1902, Harry 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.
25.
Harry Chauvel remained in South Africa for a few weeks in order to tour the battlefields.
26.
Harry Chauvel was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel in December 1902.
27.
Harry Chauvel 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.
28.
Harry Chauvel 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.
29.
Harry Chauvel knew Keith Jopp of Newmarket, Queensland even before the Boer War, and while stationed in Brisbane, Harry Chauvel and Major Brudenell White played tennis at the Jopps' place with their daughters Dora and Sibyl.
30.
Harry Chauvel became engaged to Sibyl in January 1906, and they were married on 16 June 1906 at All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane.
31.
That year Harry Chauvel sold the property at Canning Downs South.
32.
Harry Chauvel was particularly involved with the training of the light horse.
33.
On reporting for duty at the War Office in mid-August 1914, Harry Chauvel was given a cable directing him to assume command of the 1st Light Horse Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force when it arrived in the United Kingdom.
34.
Harry Chauvel became concerned with slow progress on construction of the AIF's proposed quarters on the Salisbury Plain.
35.
Harry Chauvel made frequent visits to the site and had a Royal Australian Engineers officer, Major Cecil Henry Foott, appointed to the local staff to safeguard Australian interests.
36.
Harry Chauvel was noted for insisting on high standards of dress and bearing from his troops.
37.
Harry Chauvel arrived on 12 May 1915 and took over the critical sector, which included Pope's Hill and Quinn's, Courtney's and Steele's Posts, from Colonel John Monash.
38.
Harry Chauvel reorganised the defence, appointing permanent commanders for the posts.
39.
Harry Chauvel formed special sniper groups who eventually managed to suppress the Turkish snipers, making it safe even for mule trains to move up Monash Valley.
40.
On 9 July 1915, Harry Chauvel was promoted to brigadier general, back-dated to when he assumed command of the 1st Light Horse Brigade on 10 December 1914.
41.
Harry Chauvel commanded this division through the final phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, the evacuation, and the reorganisation in Egypt in February and March 1916.
42.
Harry Chauvel assumed command of the newly formed Anzac Mounted Division on 16 March 1916, the day after it relieved the 1st Division on the Suez Canal defences.
43.
Harry Chauvel was again mentioned in despatches for his part in the defence of the Canal.
44.
Harry Chauvel's division was committed to No 3 Section of the Suez Canal Defences, the northern part of the Canal, under Major General H A Lawrence.
45.
Harry Chauvel always retained, even in heated moments of battle, when leaders are often careless of life, a very rare concern for the lives of his men and his horses.
46.
Under great pressure, Harry Chauvel maintained his position until Brigadier-General Edward Chaytor's New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade arrived after being released by Lawrence.
47.
The counter-attack that Harry Chauvel had been calling for all day did not materialise until dusk.
48.
At Katia and again at Bir el Abd, Harry Chauvel attempted to sweep around the Turkish flank but wound up making frontal attacks on the Turkish rearguard and was beaten off by determined counter-attacks and artillery fire against the 3rd Light Horse Brigade.
49.
Later, Harry Chauvel realised that Romani was the first decisive British victory of the war outside West Africa Campaign.
50.
Lawrence was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, but Harry Chauvel, having already been made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for South Africa and Companion of the Order of the Bath for Gallipoli, was recommended for a lesser award, which he refused.
51.
In view of this, Murray decided that Harry Chauvel should receive no award at all, and he was merely mentioned in despatches.
52.
However, he had only limited time to capture the position and its water supply, and when the issue was in doubt Harry Chauvel ordered a withdrawal.
53.
Harry Chauvel gained another important success in the Battle of Rafa in January 1917.
54.
However, Harry Chauvel continued to be concerned about the lack of recognition for Australian and New Zealand troops and on 28 September 1917 wrote:.
55.
Harry Chauvel appended 32 names of soldiers he recommended for awards that had been ignored.
56.
Two New Zealanders recommended for a Bar to their Distinguished Service Orders were not even mentioned in despatches and an outstanding Australian regimental commander recommended for the CMG was not even mentioned in despatches, while a brigade commander and a staff officer Harry Chauvel recommended for DSOs received mentions.
57.
Harry Chauvel enveloped the Turkish position at Gaza while the British 53rd Infantry Division and 54th Infantry Division attempted to capture it.
58.
Harry Chauvel successfully improvised a late afternoon assault on Gaza that captured the town despite the barriers of high cactus hedges and fierce enemy opposition, entering it after dark, only to have an out-of-touch Dobell order the mounted troops to withdraw, despite Harry Chauvel's protests.
59.
Harry Chauvel's place was taken by Chetwode, while Chauvel took over the Desert Column, thereby becoming the first Australian to reach the rank of lieutenant general.
60.
Two weeks before Allenby arrived, Harry Chauvel attended an awards ceremony:.
61.
When Harry Chauvel learned that the Desert Column was to be renamed the 2nd Cavalry Corps he requested Desert Mounted Corps.
62.
Harry Chauvel was still disappointed with the failure to destroy the Turkish army.
63.
Harry Chauvel was forced to withdraw to the West Bank of the Jordan.
64.
Subsequently, the 5th Yeomanry Mounted Brigade was disbanded and Harry Chauvel replaced it with the 5th Light Horse Brigade, formed from the Australian and New Zealand components of the now disbanded Imperial Camel Corps Brigade, and a composite French cavalry regiment of Spahis and Chasseurs d'Afrique.
65.
In September 1918, Harry Chauvel was able to effect a secret redeployment of two of his mounted divisions.
66.
Harry Chauvel was obliged to remain in the Middle East due to the situation in Syria and the Egyptian Rebellion, although he was able to have Lady Harry Chauvel join him there in January 1919.
67.
The whole Harry Chauvel family was able to sail for home on the transport HMAT Demosthenes on 26 July 1919.
68.
Harry Chauvel warned, for example, that if war came, soldiers would "be subject to the unfair handicap and the certainty of increased loss of life which inferiority in armament and shortage of ammunition must inevitability entail".
69.
In February 1920, Harry Chauvel was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant general, back-dated to 31 December 1919.
70.
On Lieutenant General Brudenell White's retirement as Chief of the General Staff in 1923, that post was divided into two, with Harry Chauvel becoming 1st Chief of the General Staff as well as Inspector General, while Brigadier General Thomas Blamey became 2nd Chief of the General Staff.
71.
Harry Chauvel served as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, being the senior of the three service chiefs.
72.
Harry Chauvel attempted to maintain the Army's structure in the face of short-sighted politicians intent on cutting expenditure.
73.
Harry Chauvel became a frequent visitor to their property "Towong Hill" near Corryong, Victoria.
74.
Harry Chauvel was staying at Towong Hill during the Black Friday Bushfires of 1939.
75.
In 1937, Harry Chauvel travelled to the United Kingdom as head of the Australian contingent for the coronation of King George VI, where he was welcomed by Chetwode and Howard-Vyse.
76.
Harry Chauvel had the contingent dressed as light horsemen, wearing emu plumes, bandoliers and spurs.
77.
Harry Chauvel frequently led Anzac Day parades through Melbourne but resigned from the leadership of the march in 1938 in protest against a decision by the Returned and Services League of Australia to change the form of service at the Shrine from a Christian to a secular one.
78.
Harry Chauvel remained with the VDC, based at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne but constantly travelling on inspections until his death on 4 March 1945.
79.
Harry Chauvel was given a state funeral service at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne officiated by the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Joseph John Booth, after which he was cremated at Springvale Crematorium with full military honours.
80.
Portraits of Harry Chauvel are held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the Naval and Military Club in Melbourne, and the Imperial War Museum in London.
81.
Harry Chauvel is commemorated in a bronze plaque in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.
82.
Harry Chauvel's sword is in Christ Church, South Yarra, his uniform in the Australian War Memorial, and his saddle is kept by the 1st Armoured Regiment in South Australia.
83.
Harry Chauvel was portrayed in film: by Bill Kerr in The Lighthorsemen, which covered the exploits of an Australian cavalry regiment during the Third Battle of Gaza; by Ray Edwards in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, which took place around the 1919 Paris peace conference; and by Colin Baker in the 1992 Young Indiana Jones TV movie Daredevils of the Desert, another retelling of the Third Battle of Gaza from the director of The Lighthorsemen.