Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby

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Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby : biography

23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936

The German offensive on the Western Front meant that Allenby was without reinforcements and after his forces failed to capture Amman in March and April 1918 he halted the offensive. In the spring of 1918 he had to send 60,000 men to the Western Front, although the Dominion Prime Ministers in the Imperial War Cabinet continued to demand a strong commitment to the Middle East in case Germany could not be beaten.

New troops from the Empire (specifically Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa) led to the resumption of operations in August 1918. Following an extended series of deceptive moves the Ottoman line was broken at the Battle of Megiddo (19–21 September 1918) and the Allied cavalry passed through and blocked the Turkish retreat. The EEF then advanced at an impressive rate, (as high as 60 miles in 55 hours for cavalry, and infantry slogging 20 miles a day) encountering minimal resistance, Damascus fell on 1 October, Homs on 16 October and Aleppo on 25 October. Turkey capitulated on 30 October 1918.

Notes

Early years and active service

Born the son of Hynman Allenby and Catherine Anne Allenby (née Cane), Allenby was educated at Haileybury College.Heathcote, p. 19 He had no great desire to be a soldier, and tried to enter the Indian Civil Service, failing the entry exam. He sat the exam for the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1880, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons on 10 May 1882 and joined his regiment in South Africa later that year.Heathcote, p. 20 After serving at the cavalry depot in Canterbury, he was promoted to captain on 10 January 1888 and then returned to South Africa.

Allenby returned to Britain in 1890 and he sat – and failed – the entry exam for the Staff College in Camberley. Not deterred, he sat the exam again the next year and passed. Captain Douglas Haig of the 7th Hussars also entered the Staff College, at the same time, thus beginning a rivalry between the two that was to run until the First World War. Allenby was more popular with fellow officers, even being made Master of the Draghounds in preference to Haig who was the better rider; Allenby had already developed a passion for polo. James Edmonds, a contemporary, later claimed that the staff at Staff College thought Allenby dull and stupid but were impressed by a speech he gave to the Farmers’ Dinner, which had in fact been written for him by Edmonds and another.Reid 2006, p69

Promoted to major on 19 May 1897, Allenby was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, then serving in Ireland, as the Brigade-Major in March 1898.

Edwardian Period

Allenby returned to Britain in 1902 and became commanding officer of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers in Colchester. Promoted to the substantive rank of colonel and to the temporary rank of brigadier general on 19 October 1905, Allenby assumed command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in 1906.Heathcote, p. 21 Promoted again to the rank of major-general on 10 September 1909 – due to his extensive cavalry experience, was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry in 1910. His increasing tendency as his career progressed for sudden bellowing outbursts of explosive rage directed at his subordinates, combined with his powerful physical frame, led to the coining of his nickname as "The Bull".

Later years

Murray and Allenby were invited to give lectures at Aldershot in 1931 about the Palestine Campaign. Exchanging letters beforehand, Murray asked whether it had been worth risking the Western Front to transfer troops to Palestine. Allenby avoided that question, but commented that in 1917 and into the spring of 1918 it had been far from clear that the Allies were going to win the war. Russia had dropped out, but the Americans were not yet present in strength. France and Italy were weakened and might have been persuaded to make peace, perhaps by Germany giving up Belgium, Alsace-Lorraine and the Trentino. In those circumstances, with Germany likely to be left in control of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, it had been sensible for Britain to grab some land in the Middle East to block Germany’s route to India. Allenby’s views mirrored those of the War Cabinet at the time.Woodward, 1998, pp212