Staff work

When the First World War began, Macandrew was assigned to serve on the Western Front in France as a General Staff Officer Grade 1 to Major-General Michael Rimington, commander of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division. They arrived on 7 November and subsequently the Indian Cavalry Corps was formed on 18 December, with Rimington in command. He brought Macandrew with him as his Brigadier-General General Staff (BGGS).^[21] In April 1915 Macandrew visited Haig, who was now a general, at his headquarters; Macandrew criticised how his cavalry had been utilised during the recent Battle of Neuve Chapelle and disagreed with the view of other staff officers that the war would continue and be won through trench warfare.^[15] He believed that the ability to correctly utilise cavalry was a key facet to any successful general officer.^[22]

Macandrew's position as a brigadier-general was a temporary rank, and he was still a substantive lieutenant-colonel, until he was promoted to brevet colonel on 3 June.^[20][23] The historian Simon Robbins argues that Macandrew's staff work for the corps was sub-par, with his requirement that all orders to divisions be personally approved by him stifling initiative and creating backlogs.^[24] The historian George Morton-Jack says that his work improved, and he succeeded in creating an operational headquarters for the corps after an "uncertain start".^[25]

Command

Macandrew fell out with Rimington in September and left his staff on 7 October.^[26][25] He thus relinquished his temporary rank, reverting to his brevet colonelcy.^[13][26] Macandrew was still well thought of by Haig, and the latter quickly appointed to a new command.^[25] On 16 November, he was re-promoted to temporary brigadier-general and given the 9th (Sirhind) Brigade, replacing Major-General William Walker after his promotion.^[13][27][28] He stayed with the 9th only briefly, moving to the 53rd Brigade on 28 November.^[29] This brigade, part of 18th (Eastern) Division, did not participate in any battles during Macandrew's command.^[30]

Macandrew left the 53rd Brigade on 27 April 1916 and on 7 May was promoted to temporary major-general and given command of the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division at Haig's behest.^{[31][32][29][25]} The division contained the 3rd (Ambala) Cavalry Brigade, the 9th (Secunderabad) Cavalry Brigade and the Canadian Cavalry Brigade.^[33]

The Somme

Macandrew participated in the Battle of the Somme in July; his division was tasked by Fourth Army to advance through any gaps created by its advance beginning on 1 July. Little occurred for the cavalry in the next two weeks, before a push from Fourth Army on 14 July opened a route for the strategically important High Wood to be taken. In mid-morning, Macandrew took his division forward to capture High Wood, but the ground was too slippery and Macandrew fell twice during the advance.^[34] It was called off and infantry were brought in to make the attack instead.^[31] On 7 September the Cavalry Corps was re-established in France and all the cavalry divisions were put under its orders. As this occurred, Macandrew's division was renamed the 5th Cavalry Division.^[35]

Macandrew was promoted to substantive major-general on 1 January 1917.^[36] The Germans began to retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March, with the British following up behind them.^[37] The cavalry were very active in these operations, with Haig singling out an action of Macandrew's division where, on 27 March, it drove the Germans out of Villers-Faucon and several surrounding villages.^[38] With the retreat having come to a halt, by June Macandrew's division had returned to trench warfare, based around Le Verguier. The obstacles put up by it were complimented by Lieutenant-General Sir William Pulteney, commander of III Corps, as the best he had seen in the country.^[37] In October the division travelled into Belgium to take part in the Battle of Passchendaele but was not used.^[37]

Cambrai

Macandrew's division next saw action on 20 November, with the start of the Battle of Cambrai. The cavalry divisions were expected to break through gaps in the German line caused by attacking British infantry and tanks.^[39] The 5th Cavalry Division was allotted to cross the Dunkirk-Scheldt Canal at Masnieres and Marcoing to capture river crossings over the Sensée near Paillencourt.^[40] By the afternoon Macandrew's brigades had reached both Masnieres and Marcoing, and small parts of the division succeeded in crossing the canal.^[41] In many cases the infantry had not pushed back the German defenders as expected and the cavalry were too cumbersome to react to new weaknesses in the enemy lines. Unable to advance further, Macandrew's division stayed near the canal overnight and in the afternoon of 21 November again attempted to make crossings. These were, however, broken up by German counter-attacks and in the morning of 22 November the division was withdrawn to Fins.^[42]

The advance was called off on 27 November, although the cavalry saw further service defending against the subsequent German counter-attack.^[39] On 30 November, Macandrew's division returned to Villers-Faucon, near where the Germans had attacked and retaken Gauche Wood. Macandrew worked with the Guards Division and tank support to push the Germans back out of the heavily defended wood, succeeding on 1 December; it was intended to capture Villers-Guislain beyond the wood as well, but this was not done because of the heavy German defences around it, and the British instead fortified Gauche Wood.^[43][44]

Macandrew, who had observed the 1st Cavalry Division as it failed to break through during the earlier British advance, wrote a report to Haig criticising the communications between the different British units in the attack, and identified a lack of "vigour and determination" in the cavalry brigade and regimental commanders. Haig agreed with Macandrew's assessment.^[45] On 1 January 1918 Macandrew was created a Companion of the Order of the Bath.^[46][47]

Jordan Valley

Macandrew's division joined the Desert Mounted Corps (DMC) on 2 July.^[54] It then participated in the occupation of the Jordan Valley. Macandrew, whose units were all equipped as traditional cavalry, ordered his patrols to always charge upon sighting Ottoman Empire soldiers. This had a negative effect on desertion rates amongst Ottoman soldiers because they were too scared of Macandrew's lancers to attempt to surrender to them.^[55]

A joint Ottoman-German force attacked a weak point of the British line in the Jordan Valley on 14 July at the Battle of Abu Tellul, being defeated by a counter-charge by the ANZAC Mounted Division.^[56] While this attack was ongoing an Ottoman force of 1,200 cavalry made contact with two of Macandrew's regiments, based between Ghorniye and the Dead Sea. With the British on the other side of the River Jordan to the Turkish force, Brigadier-General Cyril Harbord of the 15th suggested to Macandrew that his two regiments, the Mysore and Jodhpore Lancers, could attack the Ottomans in a pair of flanking manoeuvres. This Macandrew agreed to.^[56][57]

The Jodhpores crossed the Jordan at El Hinu to the south of the Ottoman force while the Mysores did similarly to the north. Supported by machine gun fire, both regiments charged portions of the Ottoman force in the scrubland around the river. Over thirty Turkish soldiers were killed in the charges with more captured before the two Indian regiments withdrew, exhausted by the mid-day heat.^[58][59] The Ottomans afterwards entrenched themselves along the crossings of the river, but a portion of the 34th Poona Horse came up as reinforcements and charged across a ford, forcing the Ottomans to abandon their positions and ending the Battle of El Hinu. The three Indian regiments killed around ninety Turkish soldiers and took a further ninety-one prisoner.^[60][61]

Battle of Sharon

General Sir Edmund Allenby, the commander-in-chief of the EEF, began in July to plan a large operation to destroy the Ottoman Army Group F which faced him.^[62] XXI Corps was assigned to break through the Ottoman defences around Sharon plain, which would allow Macandrew's and two other divisions to charge into the flat terrain beyond the defences and cut off the line of retreat of the Turkish Seventh and Eighth Armies.^[63] To avoid alarming Ottoman intelligence, the cavalry divisions formed up in secret behind XXI Corps, only moving at night as they took their positions.^[64] By 17 September, Macandrew's division was in place, hiding in an orange grove 8 miles (12.9 kilometres) behind the front line.^[65] Macandrew's force was to advance behind the attack of the 60th (2/2nd London) Division, attacking along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and he spent the night sleeping at the headquarters of Major-General John Shea, who commanded the 60th and had served with Macandrew in the Indian cavalry.^[66]

XXI Corps' attack began in the night of 18 September.^[66] The push forward was highly successful, with 60th Division capturing Tulkarm in the early evening on 19 September.^[67] Macandrew's division had passed through the Turkish lines in the morning and ran along the beaches, hidden from Turkish fire by the cliffs. At around mid-day the division began to engage Turkish defences as it charged across Sharon plain; by 3 p.m. it had reached Liktera.^[68][69] The division rested there for several hours while preparing to move on to fight the pre-planned Battle of Nazareth in which elements of Macandrew's division were to make a raid on and then capture Nazareth.^[70] This was the headquarters of the Ottoman commander-in-chief, General Otto Liman von Sanders, with the goal of the attack being his capture.^[71] Slowed by poor guides and long searches of small villages, the 13th Brigade sent to Nazareth attacked only in the early morning of 20 September. It captured 1,200 Ottoman soldiers before it was forced to withdraw; Macandrew was unable to send reinforcements because his horses were too exhausted. Liman remained uncaptured, escaping from Nazareth around an hour after Macandrew had ordered the withdrawal of his force.^[72][73]

Macandrew's commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Chauvel, was highly disappointed to not have captured Liman, although his headquarters and communications had been almost completely destroyed.^[71][74] Macandrew heightened this disappointment by arriving to a meeting with Chauvel in Liman's staff car, only to announce that Liman was not in it. Allenby later on removed the direct commander of the operation, Brigadier-General Philip Kelly, from his command because of the failure to capture Liman.^[75] Allenby decided on 22 September that the DMC would take Damascus, but to do this the port of Haifa had to be taken to allow supplies to be landed for the army. Macandrew's division was tasked with this, and to capture Acre 10 miles (16 kilometres) further on.^[76] In the morning of 23 September Macandrew ordered the 13th Brigade to capture Acre, which was done without difficulty. 15th Brigade was tasked with the attack on Haifa, with the 14th in reserve.^[77] The main attack on Haifa, orchestrated by Harbord, began at 2 p.m. in concert with two flanking attacks. Supported by machine gun fire, the cavalry squadrons completed the attack by 3 p.m. having captured 687 German and Ottoman soldiers.^[78]

Capture of Damascus

With around 40,000 enemy soldiers retreating between Haifa and Damascus, the rate of the attack was increased by Allenby in order to ensure that German and Turkish soldiers did not reform and provide effective resistance to the British.^[79] Macandrew's division was tasked with advancing on the most direct route to Damascus, through the Golan Heights, following behind the Australian Mounted Division (Ausdiv). The enemy units in front of them were the remnants of Seventh and Eighth Armies. Having begun on 27 September, the 5th and Ausdiv reached Quneitra on 28 September. The advance continued and on 30 September Macandrew's 14th Brigade encountered an Ottoman column near Al-Kiswah; it captured the front half of the column, around 2,000 men. The rear half of the column turned around but was intercepted by the 13th and 15th Brigades, which captured much of the rest and funnelled the survivors in the direction of Ausdiv.^[80][81]

The DMC completed the surrounding of Damascus on 1 October, and Chauvel ordered that the city was not to be entered until 2 October.^[82][83] Macandrew, however, entered Damascus in mid-morning on 1 October alongside the 14th Brigade and marched the length of the city.^[84][83] Chauvel assumed temporary command of the city on 2 October and Macandrew ordered his staff to not mention the incursion of the previous day. The British subsequently organised a show of force, with a column consisting of one unit from each regiment in the DMC marching through the city. Chauvel headed the column, alongside Macandrew and Major-Generals George Barrow and Henry Hodgson.^[85][83] This calmed the agitated local population and stopped some incipient looting.^[86]

The advance through Ottoman territory continued after this, with Macandrew's division marching on 5 October.^[87] Travelling slowly in the knowledge that the Ottoman armies had already left the area, Macandrew occupied Rayak and Zahle on 6 October without resistance.^[88] The division then began to advance on Homs, with Macandrew splitting his division into two columns. They reached the city on 16 October to find it also bereft of defences, and Macandrew was given a banquet by the local authorities.^[89] Illness had by this point begun to take a heavy toll on Allenby's troops, with the division following up behind Macandrew, the 4th Cavalry, having to stop its advance because of the amount of disease in its ranks. 5th Division, however, was the healthiest remaining. With horse artillery, armoured cars, and a Royal Air Force squadron also under his command, this meant that Macandrew commanded the strongest column available to the British, with 2,500 men.^[90][91]

Pursuit to Haritan

Macandrew was given the task of capturing Aleppo, as part of the Pursuit to Haritan.^[92][91] On 20 October Chauvel, worried that the defending force at Aleppo would be too strong for Macandrew, ordered him to halt his advance. Macandrew responded "Not understood" and continued on, receiving the support of Allenby to do so.^[93] He sent his armoured cars forward first, leaving Homs the same day.^[92][91]

Having pushed the Ottoman rearguard away on 22 October, Macandrew sent a request for surrender to Aleppo on the following day. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the commander, declined, saying he did not "find it necessary to reply to your note".^[92] Macandrew overestimated the condition of the Aleppo walls and defences, which had been maintained poorly, and chose to surround the city with his force rather than directly assault it.^[94] The 15th Brigade caught up with the armoured cars on 25 October, but on the same day the allied Arab force of Prince Faisal entered Aleppo and pushed the Ottomans out, completing the Battle of Aleppo.^[92] Macandrew entered Aleppo in the morning of 26 October, the same date he had planned to begin his own attack.^[95][96]

On 26 October, the 15th Brigade advanced north to Haritan and encountered a force of Ottoman soldiers that outnumbered them, with around 3,400 men; Harbord attacked in the Charge at Haritan and was repulsed.^[97] Macandrew relieved the 15th with the 14th Brigade on 27 October, and the Ottoman force fell back to a strong defensive position with around 7,000 men, outnumbering Macandrew's immediate force around seven to one. The same day Ausdiv was ordered to reinforce Macandrew and he settled to observe the enemy force until it arrived. Before Ausdiv could complete its march the Armistice of Mudros was signed on 31 October and hostilities ended.^[98][99] This completed a campaign in which Macandrew's division had covered around 600 miles (970 kilometres) in thirty-eight days.^[100]