NEW FIELD MARSHAL

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1932, Page 3

NEW FIELD MARSHAL

EARL OF CAVAN’S WAR SERVICES. General the Earl of Cavan, who has been appointed to succeed the late Lord Methuen as Field-Marshal of the British Army, was largely responsible for the Italian defeat of the Austrian troops iti the early part of 1918. Bom in October, 1865, he was educated at Eton. He entered the Army in 1885 when he got a commission in the Grenadier Guards. From 1891 to 1893 he was A.D.C. to the GovernorGeneral of Canada. He succeeded to the title in 1900 and in the following year went out to South Africa. After the war there was over he became commandant of the School of Instruction for Volunteer Officers at Chelsea Barracks. In 1913 he retired from the Army. Recalled when the Great War broke out, he went to France in September, 1914, to command the 4th (Guards) Brigade. He proved an excellent leader and was very popular both with his colleagues and his subordinates. In June, 1915, he was put in charge of the 50th Division. When in August the Guards Division was formed for use in the Battle of Loos, he was chosen to lead it. In January, 1916, he took over the 14th Army Corps, holding part of the front in the Ypres salient. After the Caporetto disaster, British and French troops were sent to Italy’s aid. In March, 1918, Lord Cavan, who had been promoted lieutenant-general, was sent out to succeed General Plumer as commander-in-chief of the British forces on the Italian front. Before the counter-offensive began General Diaz put him in charge of the 10th Italian Army, which consisted of two British and two Italian divisions. With these on October 27 he captured the island of Grave di Papadopoli in the River Piave. Although the Australians in the Monte Grappa region held up the French and Italian troops opposed to them, they completely collapsed on the Piave and the breach in their line on October 27 was followed by the victory of Vittorio Veneto, in which enormous booty and vast numbers 'of prisoners were taken. The result was that the Dual Monarchy signed an armistice on November 3. In 1920 Lord Cavan was appointed to the Aidershot command and made A.D.C. to the King. He was promoted full general in 1921 and when Sir Henry Wilson retired in 1922, he was made Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that is, practically head of the British Army. On February 9, 1926, he retired from the Army and was succeeded by General Sir G. F. Milne. Lord Cavan was made colonel of the Irish Guards in 1925. In 1921 he went to Washington as head of the War Office section of the British delegation to the Disarmament Conference.