Britain
Henry Rawlinson
1864–1925 Commander, British Fourth Army: the Somme, 1916, and Amiens, 1918
The son of the Middle East scholar Sir Henry Rawlinson, Henry Rawlinson entered the army in 1884 and served in Burma, the Sudan and the Boer War. In 1914 he led IV Corps at Antwerp and Ypres. Given the new Fourth Army in early 1916, he saw it bear the brunt of the Somme offensive, whose first day, 1 July, cost the British about 57,000 casualties. He favored limited "bite and hold" advances, but the commander-in-chief, Douglas Haig, ordered deeper objectives and Rawlinson complied; he has been criticized for his direction of the battle. In 1918 his army attacked at Amiens on 8 August and helped break the Hindenburg Line. Created a baron in 1919, he was Commander-in-Chief, India, from 1920 until he died in Delhi on 28 March 1925.
In the chronicle
Sources
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rawlinson,_1st_Baron_Rawlinson
- www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/rawlinson-henry-seymour-rawlinson-1st-baron
- www.holmesacourt.org/hac/2/2686.htm
- www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-somme
- www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battles-of-the-somme-1916/british-tactical-planning-for-the-start-of-the-somme-offensive-1916
- www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/battles-of-the-western-front-in-france-and-flanders/the-battle-of-amiens