General Marshall at Gallipoli

[armourersergeant]

General Marshall started as commmander of the 87th brigade but also took over at various times of 29th,42nd and 53rd divisions whilst there. He later went onto command in Mesopotamia, but was he actually competant whilst at Gallipoli, or did he just get by. I assume he was not in the Stopford/ Hunter Weston camp?

Any comments?

regards

Arm.

[michaeldr]

I assume he was not in the Stopford/ Hunter Weston camp?

Arm,

He was not in the Hunter-Weston camp as far as casualties are concerned

There is a quote in ‘Defeat at Gallipoli’ where he expressed his doubts about a certain action under the enemy’s nose on an almost full moon and was later button-holed by Hunter-Weston

“There you are! You see the thing has been done with no casualties”

I [Marshall] gently murmured ‘Fifty’ to which he [H-W] retorted: “Well that’s nothing, it would have been worth it if you had five hundred.”

I must do more re-reading before commenting on Marshall’s other qualities

Regards

Michael D.R.

[armourersergeant]

thanks fro the reply Michael,

I see that Marshall was in command of the 1st Sherwood Foresters in 1914-15. coincidently i seem to have noticed an upserge in Sherwoods posts recently!!!

regards

Arm.

[michaeldr]

I must do more re-reading before commenting on Marshall’s other qualities

Arm,

There is not really much to go on in the literature which I have

The general opinion seems to be that he did a good job under poor superiors

At the landings he was hampered by having his command split between different beaches

He is perhaps best remembered for having come up with the idea used by the infantry during their advances to signal their position to the artillery. The men wore tin plates [triangular or square depending on unit] on their backs which would then shine in the sun to indicate their position to their own artillery. The plates were manufactured from biscuit tins and the like

Regards

Michael D.R.

[armourersergeant]

thanks for that Michael,

I can add that bit of info to my notes about the tin plates.

regards

Arm.