‘A born leader of men, with natural gifts for the military art which fell little short of genius.’1
So wrote Colonel Hugh Stewart, the official historian of the 20,000-strong New Zealand Division that fought in France and Belgium in World War I. His subject: the division’s commander, Major-General Sir Andrew (Guy) Russell. Seventy-seven years later, prominent military historian Dr Chris Pugsley went much further, rating Russell as not only the outstanding divisional commander among the British armies that fought on the Western Front, but the one military commander of genius that New Zealand produced in the twentieth century.2
Under Russell’s leadership, Pugsley wrote, ‘New Zealand produced the finest fighting division of all the British and Dominion divisions among the British armies in France, and perhaps the consistently finest division of any of the armies—British, French, or German—that fought on the Western Front.’3
Bold claims indeed, given that the New Zealand Division was only one of 60 British and Dominion divisions fighting on the Western Front by 1918, and there were many more French and German divisions. Many of these were first-class formations commanded by men of great military ability, among them Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash, who rose to command the Australian Corps; and General Sir Clive Currie, who led the four Canadian divisions.
There is no doubt, however, that by 1918 Russell had established himself as one of the outstanding divisional commanders on the Western Front. Under his leadership the New Zealand Division developed a reputation as one of the finest in the British armies that fought in World War I. In the last year of the war, and in recognition of his outstanding abilities, Russell was offered command of a full British Army corps (three to four divisions). For health, and perhaps other reasons, he was unable to accept.
Given his accomplishments, the larger question is why Russell is the forgotten general of New Zealand’s military history. In part it is because of the dominance of World War II history in general, and of Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg in particular. In part it is because of the neglect of the historians themselves. This biography aims to restore Major-General Sir Andrew Russell to his rightful place as one of this country’s finest military commanders.
War service, however, occupied only a few years of Russell’s long life, whether as a divisional commander in World War I or as inspector-general of military forces and member of the War Council in World War II. His other careers as successful farmer, businessman, NZRSA president and prominent defence lobbyist spanned the Depression years of the 1920s and 30s, and finally the 1940s when war came much closer to home. By any measure, Russell’s achievements in these years, and the qualities of character and intellect that drove them, were extraordinary.
This project has been a challenging one. Apart from his diaries, Russell kept no personal records of his campaigns, wrote only one discoverable dissertation on military subjects, made few public speeches that have survived, and left no memoirs. By contrast, Sir John Monash, Russell’s much better known Australian equivalent from World War I, left a vast collection of personal papers, articles and lectures on military subjects, a collection of his war letters, a book on Australian victories in France, and at least two biographies. Russell, however, was a prolific letter writer. This book is based on these letters; material provided by the National Library and Archives New Zealand; research at the Imperial War Museum, the Army Museum, and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Studies in London; and on family memories. Dr Chris Pugsley’s work has been of great assistance, too, in examining Russell’s commands, both at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. In addition, ‘The Russell Family Saga’, an unpublished collection of letters and other family material compiled by Colonel Reg Gambrill in the 1970s, was an invaluable starting point.
The Russell story, however, is more than his alone. It is about the men he led for four unbroken years of war, starting with the raw and inexperienced brigade that arrived on Gallipoli in May 1915 and finishing with the élite division at the spearhead of the British counter-offensive that finally ended the war on the Western Front. In four years of war over 100,000 young men from a colonial nation of just 1.1 million—20 percent of its male population—fought overseas, and nearly 60 percent of them were killed or wounded.
Too many of them would have been the leaders of New Zealand’s first post-war generation—its outstanding politicians and civil servants; its doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals; its successful farmers, entrepreneurs and tradesmen; its nation-defining writers and thinkers. This is their story, as much as it is that of their commander, Major-General Sir Andrew (Guy) Russell. Proud of the men he led and dedicated to their welfare, he would have expected no less.