THE HERO OF KUT

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 34, 3 November 1928, Page 9

THE HERO OF KUT

WHY TOWNSHEND WAS NOT PROMOTED STORY OF AN INDISCREET LETTER WISHED TRANSFER INTO AUSTRIAN SERVICE Mr. Errol Sherson, in his biography of General Sir Charles Townshend, suggests that the hero of Kut was not promoted because of an indiscreet letter which reached the War Office. .Uuited Press Association.— By Electric Tslegrapii.—Copyright.) London, November 1. Why General Sir Charles Townshend, the hero'of Kut, was never promoted above the rank of major-general, is explained in his biography written by Mr. Enroll Shersou and published by Heinemann. The author suggests that Townshend’s career ended because an.- indis- ( creet letter came into the. possession of the War Office. The story goes that / Colonel Fitzgerald, military secretary to Lord Kitchener, told a-journalist that General Townshend, in a letter, offered his services to Austria, fljie general interviewed Mr. Winstii Churchill, who said that he thought t o letter indiscreet, but that there was nothing in it to prevent his promotion. The selection board, however, had been unanimous in not promoting him. "I am looking for <a command for you now,” added Mr. Churchill, but nothing happened. The honours list for Kut duly appeared, but General Townshend’s name did not appehrIt appears that Townshend, learning of the assassination at Sarajevo, wrote to an Austrian friend who was military attache at Paris in 1906. when Townshend was British Attache. Sherson continues: “Besides the expression of his detestation of the murders, Townshend bewailed his own lot and spoke of the bad Government in England, which he ought not to have done. He did, indeed, sav that he wished he could get a transfer into the Austrian service, and so get to the front, whore he might be less unjustly treated. This was very different from applying for a commission in the'Austrian 'Army,'as he. was accused of doing! Mr. Churchill said . that any clear-headed man, reading the letter, would see ..that. Townshend was not a traitor, even if his whole career had not proved his loyalty.”