George Montague Harper

Sir George Montague Harper

Sir George Montague Harper KCB , DSO (born January 11, 1865 , † December 15, 1922 at Sherborne in Dorset ) was a British brigade, division and corps commander in the First World War .

Harper was a capable and brave officer of the 'old school' who had already distinguished himself many times in the Boer War and who also achieved significant success as a troop commander in the French theater of war. He rose - unusual for a pioneer officer - because of his extraordinary abilities to the rank of lieutenant general and commander of an army corps in war operations and was called "Uncle" Harper by his men, who held him in great esteem .

Since he initially misunderstood the possible uses of the still young tank weapon, he had it advance as commander of the 51st (Highland) Division , which was at the center of the line of attack at the Battle of Cambrai , near the village of Flesquières without infantry cover because he feared the tanks could direct enemy artillery fire at his men. The tanks were knocked out one by one before the infantry could catch up. This misjudgment of Harper was one of the reasons for the failure of the Cambrai offensive.

Life

George Montague Harper was born on January 11, 1865 to Charles Harper. He received his patent as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on July 5, 1884 and initially served at the School of Military Engineering in Chatham , Kent. In 1890 he went to Bengal, India, and was promoted to captain on October 1, 1892 . On his return to England he was stationed in Yorkshire . On October 10, 1892, he became adjutant of the 2nd West Yorkshire Royal Engineer Volunteers in Leeds for the next six years, and in February 1898 he went to Curragh , Ireland .

Boer War

In 1899, Captain Harper went to the 37th Field Company, Royal Engineers in South Africa and took part in several military endeavors (Ladysmith, Spion Kop , Val Kranz, Tugela Heights, Pieter's Hill, Natal and others), in which he excelled. He received the South African medal with four clasps and was mentioned several times in battle reports ( Mentioned in Despatches ), including by Sir Redvers Buller and Lord Roberts . On April 1, 1901, Harper was promoted to major and received on October 29, 1901 "in recognition of his services in South Africa" ​​from the hands of King Edward VII the Distinguished Service Order .

Pre-war period

Harper found his next employment in the War Department in London , where he dealt with issues of mobilization . In 1906 he took the general staff course at Staff College in Camberley and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel after successful completion . He then switched to the permanent staff of the staff school as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General (General Staff Officer, 2nd grade) . He was the college's first staff member from the Royal Engineers Corps for 23 years after it had been decided in January 1906 that a pioneer officer should always be part of the college's staff .

On January 1, 1911, Harper was placed on half pay , but returned to active duty on June 23 as Director of Military Operations on the staff of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff . On July 19 he was promoted to colonel and therefore, as was customary, removed from the list of the Corps of Royal Engineers . In 1912 he was also appointed representative of the Military Operations Department at the Army Medical Advisory Board .

First World War

After the outbreak of World War I, Harper was assigned to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force BEF, Sir John French (August 5, 1914) and on November 7, 1914 appointed Temporary Brigadier General ( brevet rank ) . On February 11, 1915, Harper took command of the 17th Infantry Brigade, received the Order of the Bath in the same year and was appointed Temporary Major General and Commander of the 51st (Highland) Division on September 25 . On January 1, 1916, he received his appointment as regular major general.

With the 51st Division, which was first assigned to the XVII., Then the XVIII. Corps was subordinate to Harper took part in various skirmishes in the French theater of war: Battle of the Somme (July 1916), Battle of Ancre (November 1916), Scarpe ( Arras ) (April 1917), Langemarck (July / August 1917), Menin (September 1917) and Cambrai (November / December 1917).

In 1918 Harper was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor and Knight Commander of the Order of Bath (KCB). On March 11th he took over command of the IV Corps in Byng's 3rd Army as Temporary Lieutenant General until the end of the war . With this corps, consisting of the 5th, 37th, 42nd, 63rd and the New Zealand Division, Harper was significantly involved in the last British offensive of the war. On September 27, 1918, Harper's Corps opened the attack on the front section from Miraumont to Moyenneville , a few kilometers north of the Ancre, during the final offensive in Picardy . Despite the bad weather (thick fog and mud), the armored attack was a complete success, which could also be secured against bitter German resistance. Since August 21, 1918, IV Corps had lost approximately 30,000 men, captured 22,500 and captured 350 guns.

After the great war

After the armistice, Harper was made a regular lieutenant general (January 1, 1919). He returned to England and was in July 1919 commander of the Southern Military District in Salisbury to the counties of Warwickshire , Worcestershire , Gloucestershire , Oxfordshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire (partial), Cornwall , Devonshire , Somersetshire , Dorset , Wiltshire and parts of Hampshire were .

death

Lieutenant General Sir George Montague Harper was killed in a car accident near Sherborne, Dorset on December 15, 1922 when his car went off the road and overturned. His wife Lady Ella Constance Harper, a daughter of William Jackson, 1st Baron Allerton , survived injured. He was buried on December 19, 1922 with full military honors in London Road Cemetery , Salisbury.

Web links

Commons : George Montague Harper  - Collection of images, videos and audio files