William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood,
GCB,
GCSI,
GCMG,
GCVO,
GBE,
CIE,
DSO (
13 September,
1865 –
17 May,
1951) was a
First World War general who is best known as the commander of the
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) during the
Battle of Gallipoli in
1915.
Birdwood was born in
Kirkee,
India and was educated in
England at
Clifton College,
Bristol.
After attending the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he began his military career in the
infantry with the
Royal Scots Fusiliers but quickly transferred to a
cavalry regiment of the
British Indian Army. In India between
1885 and
1899 he served with a number of cavalry regiments, saw action on the
North-West Frontier and was
adjutant of the
Viceroy's Bodyguard.
From 1899 to
1902 during the
Boer War Birdwood served as military secretary on the staff of General
Lord Kitchener, beginning a close association that continued in India while Kitchener was
Commander-in-Chief, India.
After graduating from the
Royal Military College, Birdwood was transferred to the Indian Cavalry, where he served in the
12th Lancers and
Bengal Lancers. He was married in 1894 and promoted to Captain in 1896. He served on Lord Kitchner's Staff during the Boer War and was promoted to Major in 1900. During the war he was
Mentioned in Dispatches five times.
He held the post of Quartermaster-General in India and was promoted to the rank of
Major General in
1911. From
1912 until the outbreak of the First World War, Birdwood was the Secretary of the Indian Army Department and a member of the Governor-General's Legislative Council.
In November
1914, Birdwood was instructed by Kitchener to form an army
corps from the
Australian and
New Zealand troops that were training in
Egypt before moving to the
Western Front. This
Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was diverted to the campaign to capture the
Gallipoli peninsula and carried out the
landing at Anzac Cove on
April 25,
1915.
Under Birdwood's leadership, the soldiers of the corps showed great courage and endurance but were too ill-equipped and inexperienced to overcome the obstacles that confronted them, particularly as they had been landed on the wrong beach. Birdwood was wounded in the forehead on 14th May 1915 and remained on duty. The Anzac front at Gallipoli remained a stalemate for much of the campaign, except for a brief period during the
Battle of Sari Bair in August.
The one outstanding success of the campaign was the evacuation, starting in December; however, Birdwood was the only corps commander opposed to abandoning Gallipoli. In the campaign's final throes, following the dismissal of the commander-in-chief, General
Sir Ian Hamilton, Birdwood briefly took over command of the
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which was now responsible for the new front at
Salonika as well. (Birdwood had been considered for command of the MEF when it was originally formed but because the commander of the French contingent was his senior in rank, Hamilton was appointed instead.)
Birdwood was promoted to lieutenant general on
28 October 1915. On
19 November 1915, he took command of the
Dardanelles Army, which contained ANZAC plus the
British VIII Corps at Helles and
British IX Corps at Suvla. While Birdwood managed the Dardanelles Army, the command of ANZAC passed to General
Alexander Godley, commander of the
New Zealand and Australian Division and head of the
New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
In early
1916 the Australian and New Zealand contingents, back in Egypt, underwent reorganisation to incorporate the new units and reinforcements that had accumulated during 1915. ANZAC was disbanded to be replaced by two corps;
I Anzac Corps and
II Anzac Corps and Birdwood reverted to the command of II Anzac. Birdwood also assumed command of the AIF (that is, command of all Australian forces), a post originally held by General Sir
William Bridges who was killed at Gallipoli.
When I Anzac Corps became the first to depart for
France, Birdwood, as senior corps commander, took over command, swapping with General Godley who assumed command of II Anzac Corps. In France, where I Anzac joined the fighting in the
Battle of the Somme, Birdwood was bypassed by his senior army commander, General
Hubert Gough, who directly influenced how the Australian divisions were to be utilised.
Birdwood was promoted to full
general on
October 23,
1917 but remained a corps commander. Normally a general holds an army command. However, in November the five Australian divisions were combined in a single corps, the
Australian Corps, under Birdwood's command. This corps was the largest on the Western Front. Birdwood attained command of the
British Fifth Army on
May 31,
1918, with command of the Australian Corps passing to General
John Monash.
During service with the AIF Birdwood was presented with the dignity of
Grand Officier (of which order?) on 17 January 1916. On 22 February 1916 he was awarded the
Legion d'Honneur and
Croix de Guerre by French President
Raymond Poincaré, with the approval of King
George V.
Albert I, King of the Belgians, conferred the rank of
Grand Officier of the
Ordre de la Couronne (Crown Order) on 23 February 1917. On 11 March 1918 Birdwood was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre ('War Cross') and decorated with the
Order of the Nile (2nd Class) by the then Sultan
Fuad I of Egypt, on 16 April 1918. On 11 March 1919 Birdwood was awarded the French Croix de Guerre avec Palme.
Birdwood had been
knighted in 1916, and in 1919 he was raised to the peerage in recognition of his wartime service as
Baron Birdwood, of Anzac and of
Totnes in the
County of Devon (see
victory title). The next year, he toured Australia to great acclaim.
He commanded the Northern Army in India until 1925, when he was promoted to
Field Marshal and made Commander-in-Chief of the
British Indian Army, which he remained until
1930.
After retirement from the army in
1930, Birdwood made a bid to become
Governor General of Australia. He had the backing of the
King and the British government. However, the Australian
Prime Minister James Scullin insisted that his Australian nominee Sir
Isaac Isaacs be appointed. The King ultimately felt bound to accept the advice of the Prime Minister, but he did not disguise his reluctance and displeasure. The official proclamations of these appointments were usually phrased as "The King has been pleased to appoint ...", but on this occasion George V directed that it say merely "The King has appointed Sir Isaac Isaacs". This incident highlighted that Governors-General no longer primarily (if at all) represented the interests of the British government and confirmed the right of a Commonwealth Prime Minister to nominate the Governor-General of his choice.
Birdwood died on
May 17,
1951 and was buried with full military honours.
Blumberg in the
Adelaide Hills was renamed
Birdwood in
1917.
The
soldier settler village of
Birdwoodton (near
Mildura) was named after him when founded circa 1920.
*
Bean, C.E.W..
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918, Angus & Robertson
*William Riddell Birdwood's AIF service record, available in the
Australian National Archives as a digital image
*
General Officers of the 1st AIF: Field Marshal Lord Birdwood
