William Throsby Bridges
Sir William Throsby Bridges KCB CMG (* 18th February 1861 in Greenock , Scotland ; † 18th May 1915 at sea on board the HMHS Gascon ) was an Australian artillery officer and division commander in the First World War .
Bridges did a great job building the Australian Army. He was the first in command of the newly established Australian Military Academy and in 1914 set up the Australian-New Zealand Expeditionary Corps, which became famous as ANZAC after the failed expedition to Gallipoli in 1915 - during the Bridges' death . He was the first Australian to achieve the rank of general and also the first Australian general to die in a war.
Life
William Bridges was born in Greenock, Scotland, to a British naval officer. He received his education and training at Ryde, Isle of Wight , the Royal Navy School in New Cross , London , and Trinity College School , Port Hope , Ontario , Canada . In 1877 he entered the Royal Military College in Kingston , but left the following year to join his family, who had settled in his mother's home in Australia . Here he joined the New South Wales Permanent Artillery in Middle Head in 1885 as a lieutenant .
After attending the Military Academy in Woolwich , England, and the Artillery School in Shoeburyness , on his return in 1893 he became Chief Instructor at the Artillery School in Middle Head. On September 4, 1895, he was promoted to major in the New South Wales Artillery .
In the Boer War (1899-1902) Major Bridges took part as a volunteer. From December 1899 to May 1900 he was an artillery officer in Major General John French's Cavalry Division . He took part in the cavalry operation to relieve Kimberley (February 13, 1900) and in the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Paardeberg (February 18, 1900). Suffering from typhus, he was evacuated to England in May and returned to Australia in August, where he resumed his service as Chief Instructor at Middle Head.
In the following years Bridges went through various staff assignments and was promoted rapidly: July 18, 1902 Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery , 1904 Deputy Quartermaster General, 1905 Chief of Military Intelligence, October 1, 1906 Promotion to Colonel, January 1, 1909 First Chief of the General Staff (CGS). In August 1909 he went to England as a representative of the Australian Army to the Imperial General Staff .
After his return in May 1910, he was appointed Brigadier General (May 30) as the first commandant of the Royal Military College Duntroon , whose site at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Canberra he himself had chosen and which he modeled on the US Military Academy at West Point . Bridges was of the opinion that their structure suited a state with democratic roots like Australia better than the European models like e.g. B. Sandhurst . The academy was officially opened on June 27, 1911. Bridges remained in command until May 31, 1914.
In June 1914 he was appointed Inspector General, the highest post in the Australian Army. After the outbreak of the First World War he was commissioned by the cabinet to set up an Australian expeditionary force with a staff of 20,000 men. This volunteer association consisting of an infantry division and a light cavalry brigade, which Bridges Australian Imperial Force baptized, formed the basis of the later ANZAC .
Bridges, who had been promoted to Major General on August 15, 1914 , and his command embarked for England on October 26, 1914 in Albany, Western Australia, on the HMAT Orvieto . During the crossing, the destination was changed, as the Australian soldiers were not exposed to the unfamiliar European winter, and the transport was diverted to Egypt , where it arrived on November 30th. Bridges was the first Australian ever to be promoted to Major General and commander of the 1st Division . He was the first Australian to ever command a division.
At dawn on April 25, 1915, the division landed at what is now known as Anzac Cove on the west coast of the Gallipoli peninsula. On May 15, Bridges - who was known for ignoring the dangers of the front and repeatedly exposing himself - was shot in the front lines by a Turkish sniper during his daily inspection. The bullet hit him in the right leg and injured the femoral artery . He was taken to the rear immediately and evacuated to the hospital ship Gascon three days later . Although his wound had become infected, an amputation was not possible because he had already lost too much blood.
King George V made Bridges Knight of the Order of Bath on May 17th. He was the first Australian to be honored with a knighthood. Bridges died at sea the following day and was buried with military honors in the British Military Cemetery in Chatby , Alexandria , Egypt on May 20th . On July 27, his body was exhumed and transferred to Melbourne , where he was reburied after a state ceremony in St Paul's Cathedral on September 3, 1915 on the grounds of the Royal Military College Duntroon in Canberra . The grave is still there today.
Bridge's last words are said to have been: “ Anyhow, I have commanded an Australian Division. ” (“ After all, I commanded an Australian division. ”)
Major General Bridges is one of only two Australian soldiers who died in World War I and who are also buried in Australia. The other is an unknown soldier who was exhumed in France in 1991 and buried in the Australian War Memorial . Likewise, his favorite horse Sandy is the only one of 169,000 Australian horses that left Australia during World War I and returned to his home country. It was brought back along with the remains of its former rider and went with the funeral procession. After his death, his head was dissected and exhibited first in the first Australian War Memorial Museum in Sydney and now in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra .
literature
- Christopher David Coulthard-Clark: A Heritage of Spirit: A Biography of Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges . - Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979; ISBN 0-522-84170-8
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bridges, William Throsby |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian artillery officer and division commander |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 18, 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Greenock , Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 18, 1915 |
| Place of death | at sea on board HMHS Gascon |