NOTES ON THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16992, 20 October 1915, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

ON LAND AND SEA.

When it was suggested in this column that the appointment of General Sarrail to tho command of the French forces in the Near East may have been duef-primarily, to causes not connected with diplomatic condition"! in the Balkans no positive information was available on the subject. But there had been more or less obscur"* hints in French journals that owing to a politician's hasty action a brilliant commander had been deprived of his command and it was at least possible that General Sarrail was the general indicated. Not a great deal of light is thrown on tho question by the recent mails, but "The Times" men : tions that the recall of General Sarrail, through a "mishap," was one of the causes of bitterness against the French War Minister during August, It also implies that the appointment of General Sarrail to the Dardanelles command was regarded as remedying a manifest blunder. The political squabbles of France during the- war period have very properly been given no wide advertisement, but it was impossible to conceal the fact that the War Minister's administration was not giving satisfaction. The appointment of various under-secretaries was sufficient evidence that the Minister was believed to, be overworked or over-weighted But while one may fairly discuss the larger and broader issues it is scarcely wise to magnify the trifles and for that reason it is to be hoped that the details of the Sarrail affair will be speedily forgotten. There must have been military, grounds for his recall, and that being the case one need pay no attention to the suggestion that he was sacrificed! for. political reasons.

v The retirement of Sir lan Hamilton from the Dardanelles command was inevitable as soon as the newspapers commenced to criticise the details of the campaign at all freely.' The position of a commander-in-chief of such an expedition is difficult enough when the policy of the expedition 'is under criticism, but at least he can comfort himself with the reflection that politics are no concern of his. At least that may stand as the common rule. But in' the case of the Dardanelles campaign Sir lan must have felt that his prospects were clouded from the outset by the persistent journalistic and political objections to the whole enterprise. The campaign appears to have been starved for men in tho early stages, and the attacks on the Government were not likely to encourage a more generous treatment.

But when the critics turned from the broad question of policy to the strategy and tactics of the campaign the commander-in-chief must have felt that public confidence in himi was being shaken, and that his chances of receiving the encouragement and support he ne:ded were correspondingly diminished. The consciousness that in spite of heavy losses virtually no progress was being made must have added to Sir 1 lan's anxieties. It is easy to read his keen disappointment at the failure of the Suvla Bay surprise, and Mr Ashmead Bartlett has thrown a flood of light on the same incident. It was almost a last throw, at any rate under the conditions of a peninsula campaign, and but for the -failure of a corps to carry out the work assigned to it the.adventure might well have resulted in a tremendous success.

Lieutenant-General C. C. Monro, C. 8., who has been appointed! to succeed Sir lan Hamilton, was in command of the First Army Corps under the new organisation. He obtained his v commission in the Royal West Surrey Regiment, 'then the 2nd Foot, in August, 1879, and was adjutant of the Ist Battalion from 1881 to 1886. He reached the rank of major in 1898, colonel in November, 1903, and majorgeneral in October, 1910. He waa Chief Instructor and Staff Officer at the School of Musketry, Hythe, .from February, 1901, to March, 1903, when be waa appointed Commandant, a post which ho held for four years. From May, 1907, to January, 1911, he commanded a brigade in Ireland, and in March t 1912, ho became General Officer Commanding the 2nd London Division. General Monro saw service with the Malakand Field Force on the NorthWest Frontier of India in 1897-98, taking part in the expedition into the Mohmand country, and also in the Tirah Expedition, receiving the medal with two. clasps; He served in the early part of the South African war, and was present at the operations at Paardeberg and the action at Dreifontein, being mentioned in despatches and receiving the Queen's medal with three clasps and the brevet of lieuten-ant-colonel. : --