Wounded Generals

[PhilB]

I derive no pleasure from seeing such photos, gents, but if we saw more it would help to knock the "chateau generals" myth on the head. The public only see photos of generals in crisp uniforms and shiny boots. I could easily produce scores of those.

[squirrel]

Crisp uniforms and shiny boots....................waering wound stripes?

[centurion]

Can't do you a British one but Henri Gouraud who commanded French troops at Gallipoli lost an arm there. He went on to command troops at Verdun and post war in the Lebanon. Unfortunately the general usually wore a pretty good artificial arm and so appears in most photos as two armed but in later life sometimes left it off

Ps the man who appears to be chewing a wasp is the Canadian Prime Minister

[centurion]

Thinking about the General Gouraud situation (see above post). most if not all at that rank could afford the best prosthetics so their injuries might not be immediately obvious in photos.

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Gordon Strachey Shephard DSO, MC, RFC died. Does this count?

He was one of the British Army generals who died in the war, but was he wounded as a general?

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Not all wounds would be readily apparent, which limits the photos that are going to be available. For example Brigadier General Alfred Burt (see Alfred Medals in the Gazette below) suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. That may not show up in photos of him.

Gazette Issue 31000 published on the 8 November 1918. Page 13206

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31000/pages/13206

[DaveC]

I would like to add to your list Brigadier General Richard Edgar Sugden,CMG, DSO & Bar, TD, 6 MIDs, 1/4th Bn West Riding Regiment. although only a major when wounded I think this extraordinary soldier needs a mention

Battalion War Diary

12/12/1915 FARGATE (COM TRENCH)

Impassable owing to mud & no part of Battln front can be visited by day generally speaking, men in all trenches are standing in water & thick mud. Condition of all trenches very bad – repairs cannot keep up with dilapidations – Major R. E. SUGDEN, wounded & one other rank – wiring continued during night – Patrols report Germans working hard in front. Some shelling during day.

On December 12^th Major R. E. Sugden was severely wounded in the arm by a bullet. The bridges over the Canal were always dangerous spots. Not only were they well marked by the enemy artillery, but machine guns, posted further to the north, could fire straight down the canal in enfilade. It was while he was crossing one of these bridges that Major Sugden was hit. He had served continuously with the Battalion since it had been mobilised and his loss was greatly felt.

(Extract from the history of the 1/4^th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s (W.R.) Regiment 1914-1919. by Capt. P. G. Bales, M.C., p. 52)

Kindest Regards DaveC

[SiegeGunner]

(see Alfred Medals in the Gazette below)

Piece of cake ...

[SteveMarsdin]

Good evening All,

Thank you Centurion for remembering General Gouraud. A real hero, worshipped by his men. Commander of the Colonial Corps (I think in the Argonnes, not Verdun) before and after Gallipoli. He was guest of honour of the Belgians at the opening of The Colonial Corps memorial at Rossignol in the 1920s, I'm sure in the photos I have (somewhere) his sleeve is just pinned, confirming your point that he left the prosthetic arm off in later life.

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Major General George TM Bridges' leg was shattered on 20th September 1917; in ‘Bloody Red Tabs’ he is depicted standing, aided with a walking stick. Surgery had moved on since Sickles’ day.

[Philip Wilson]

Quote - 'I suppose there must have been about 400 generals wounded in WW1 if the usual wounded/killed ratio applies'

Phil - 'Bloody Red Tabs' by Frank Davies and Graham Maddocks lists 78 British Generals who were killed or died as a result of active service between 1914-18 and a further 146 who were wounded. The book was published in 1995 with the authors acknowledging they may not have picked up every General Officer casualty.

Here is a Major-General T.S. Baldock, C.B., RA, who commanded the 49th Division who had the misfortune to be severely wounded in the head by a shell fragment whilst at the advance Headquarters of the 49th Division at Trois Tours, (NW of Ypres near Brielen) on 16th July, 1915.

The Germans shelled both the Inf Bde and Art Bde HQs on the morning of the 16th July and at 4.15pm they suddenly fired 5 or 6 salvos of shrapnel and H.E. into Trois Chatueax grounds. The General was outside at the time and was severely wounded in the head by a shell fragment. His wound was dressed in a dugout and he was then taken by car to No 10 Clearing Hospital at Poperinghe. He was born in 1854 and retired from the Army in 1916. He was later Colonel Commandant R.A. 1924-31. He died in 1937.

More info on Baldock can be found on page 111 of 'Bloody Red Tabs' including National Archive sources - see WO95/2769 and WO95/2765.

As for the General's medals his 14-15 trio turned up at Spinks on 27 April 1999 - see lot 571. The where abouts of his four clasp QSA medal is not known. His CB was for South Africa when he commanded the R.A. Mounted Rifles.

Philip