ISBN: 184884362-3
The importance of this key text in the historiography of Haig's role in the Great War cannot be overstated. It was first published in 1953, and is written by the then senior surviving member of DH's inner circle at GHQ, Major General Sir John 'Tavish' Davidson. Tavish Davidson was, successively, DH's Operations Officer and Director of Operations between 1915 - 1919. Davidson's first hand insight is supported by an Introduction by another with intimate knowledge of events at the highest levels during the Great War, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Viscount Trenchard. In his Introduction Trenchard writes, inter alia, that: "I hope the views I express here may help the historians of the future to write accurately about Field Marshal Earl Haig's influence on the world in those difficult days."
Now, for today's historians and interested laymen, Pen and Sword have republished this important text, to which is added a Preface by Douglas Scott, Haig's grandson and a respected military historian. Douglas corresponded with me regarding the writing of his Preface and was tremendously enthused that Davidson's book was once more going to be in print. Sadly, as members of this page are aware, Douglas died at the start of July and so did not live to see Tavish Davidson's classic work republished.
Pen & Sword are to be commended for producing this republication, though it is to be regretted that they also replicated the original edition's major deficiency - the lack of an index. This is all the more exasperating an omission in the case of such a uniquely insightful work. Better by far that the illustration section, which was not part of the original edition, had been left out in favour of the index which would have made this book so much more user friendly as a reference tool. Make no mistake, however, 'Haig: Master of the Field' remains an absolutely essential title for the library of anyone wishing to fully grasp the British C-in-C and the British Armies in France's role in the dramatic final two years of the Great War.
Tavish Davidson wrote 'Haig: Master of the Field' to counter what he and many of his generation saw as what, by 1953, had developed into unjustified and uninformed criticism of the British Commander-in-Chief and the purpose and achievement of his armies' role in the Great War. Much of the more extreme examples of course, had been inspired and co-ordinated by Basil Liddell Hart for his own purposes. In his interesting Foreword, Tavish Davidson notes, inter alia, something of the nature of the encouragement which the genesis of his book had from senior officers of the Great War who knew whereof they spoke:
"Since the issue of the Official History, I have received a number of letters requesting that I should publish such records or notes that I may have on the subject of the war in 1917 and 1918. I quote a typical letter from one who commanded a Corps in Flanders during the period under review. He wrote a letter to me dated 18th February 1949:- 'My reason for writing to you is that you are perhaps one of the few remaining Officers who were on Haig's Staff who knows the whole truth about that period of the fighting. Would it not be wise therefore to let the facts be known rather more widely than by your letter to The Times (14th February 1949) or Edmonds' [the Official Historian] Preface. I think for Haig's reputation something should be done.'
"Feeling that Lord Haig would have been generally satisfied with the Official History, I concluded at first that no comments from me were either necessary or desireable. On seconds thoughts I felt that I was free and in a position to throw some light on certain aspects of the campaigns, and, in doing so, I would have had the approval not only of the Commander-in-Chief but also of the Commanders of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Armies, all of whom, after a speech which I made in the House of Commons on 6th August 1919 and in which I reviewed the events of 1917 and 1918, expressed to me their concurrence with what I had said. Lord Haig wrote to me on the 12th:- 'I was very pleased to see from Hansard how well you spoke out in the House regarding the critical period we went through in 1917. For this I thank you and congratulate you.' This speech was summarised in the notes to pages 127 and 128 in 'Sir Douglas Haig's Despatches.'
"General The Honble. Sir Herbert Lawrence, who had served in the 17th Lancers and in the South African War with Lord Haig, and who was his Chief-of-Staff throughout 1918, had consistently advised and urged me to place on record such information as I possessed. He regarded it of importance and, on his death, he left me his papers connected with that period. General Sir Douglas Baird, who was for a long period on Lord Haig's Staff both in India and France and who subsequently commanded an Army in India, as well as Lt-General Sir Bertie Fisher, who was in the 17th Lancers with Lord Haig and was subsequently Colonel of the Regiment - both close friends of his - expressed their views to me that some record as I now propose should be published."
Douglas Scott's Preface to the 2010 edition reads as follows:
"Major-General Sir John Davidson DSO, KCMG, CB, the author of this important book, was Director of Military Operations for my grandfather, Field Marshal Earl Haig, from 1915 until the end of the First World War. He was thus in a key position to understand and write authoritatively about the battles of the Somme (the first time France was saved by the British), Third Ypres, often known as Passchendaele (the second time France was rescued from almost certain defeat), the crushing of the German attacks in 1918, known as the Kaiserschlacht, and the British victories from 8 August 1918 until Armistice.
'Tavish' Davidson was born in July 1876 and was commissioned from Sandhurst into the 60th Rifles in 1896. He saw service in South Africa, before going to the Staff College in 1905. Thereafter he had a number of appointments as a staff officer, including two years at the War Office, during the vital period, 1908-10, when Haldane and Haig laid the foundations for the Territorial Army and planned the expeditionary force, which went to France in 1914. After the war he became the Member of Parliament for Fareham until retiring in 1931 to look after his business interests. He died in December 1954 only a year after the first publication of 'Haig: Master of the Field.'
"It is a great pleasure to have been asked to write the Preface for this new Edition of Tavish Davidson's book covering the dramatic events of 1917 and 1918. The first edition, published by Peter Nevill in 1953, seems to have had rather a limited influence on military historians. Too many writers, anxious to sell books about this crucial period of the First World War, have sought to denigrate the outstanding professionalism of Douglas Haig, his team of Army Commanders, and the staff officers who served them by use of selective quotations, twisting facts and straightforward invention.
"Did any German General in the First World War really refer to the British Army as 'Lions led by Donkeys'? No, the nearest we can get to this is that a Russian General may have said it in the Crimean War. Did senior staff officers really not know the condition of the ground in the early and final stages of Third Ypres? Of course they did and they also knew that conditions were even worse for the Germans, because the natural drainage of rain-water from the Passchendaele-Roulers Ridge was away from Ypres and through the German defensive lines. The C-in-C also knew that the French Armies were not in any condition to defend themselves because of the mutinies, that the Russians were about to leave the war and that the Italians were groggy in the extreme. He was also aware of the tremendous loss of merchant ships from German submarines and thus the strategically vital objective of capturing the Channel ports, where the U-boats were based. Were the British casualties really more than 400,000 in Third Ypres? No, the official figure is 238,000, bad enough certainly but the campaign kept the French in the war and laid the foundations for the defeat of the Kaiserschlacht in the first part of 1918 and 'the 100 Days' of victory in the second half.
'Historians' hoping to find support for their pet sensational theory will not find it in Tavish's book. The book is a straightforward, factual account of what happened and why, by a senior staff officer who was there and closely involved in the planning and execution of battles. The Third Ypres battles are dealt with at length, covering almost half the book with the Kaiserschlacht and 'the 100 Days' together forming most of the second half of the book. The final chapters deal with the effect of poor French morale. Attached to the book are two Appendixes. The first is an article from 'Blackwood's Magazine' dated January 1944 and written by someone with the initials A.M.G. It deals in detail with the French mutinies. The second article is an extract from the 'British Official History' covering the period June to November 1917. The extract quotes from an article in the 'News Chronicle' of 25 March 1935:
'Why has not Haig been recognised as one of England's greatest generals? Why, as a national figure, did he count for less than Lord Roberts, whose wars were picnics by comparison? The answer may be given in one word: Passchendaele.'
"Davidson makes an unanswerable case for the Third Ypres Campaign. He explains the strategic background of the failure of Britain's allies Russia and Italy, the need to capture ports from which the German submarines fleet operated and the crisis resulting from the French Army mutinies. He describes the battle of Broodseinde, including Menin Road and Polygon Wood. The German High Command considered the final phase of the battle as 'The Black Day of October 4th' yet, when Britain commemorated Passchedaele in 2007, there was very little if any mention of Broodseinde in the media. All we were told about was that the first phase of the campaign in August was dreadful and that very little ground was captured.
"General Davidson was well aware that his book would not be a popular book in the sense of high volume sales. In a letter, dated 4 September 1952, to my mother (Victoria, second daughter of Earl Haig) to whom he had sent a pre-production copy of the book, he wrote:
'.....I much appreciate all you say & am deeply grateful to you. I agree with you that the book will not have a wide public & as you rightly say it will be limited to students of history, to military establishments etc., but what I think is important is that it will be treated as a book of reference & help to correct some historical errors and false conceptions. I have tried to show up your father's wonderful qualities under the most abnormal conditions and in critical situations. He will grow in stature as the years go by....'
"Sadly the book did little 'to correct some historical errors and false conceptions'. Most of the 'historians' evidently preferred their errors and misconceptions. They usually list 'Haig: Master of the Field' in their bibliography, but there was little evidence that they actually read what General Davidson said about the unfolding drama of 1917 and 1918.
"Tavish's judgement that my grandfather 'will grow in stature as the years go by' has started to come true. Let us hope that this edition of his fine book will help the process.
Bemersyde
April 2010"
Review contributed by George A Webster
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