Ivor Maxse

Sir Ivor Maxse
General Sir Ivor Maxse
Born	22 December 1862
Died	1958 (aged 95)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Unit	World War I
Commands held	1 Bn Coldstream Guards 18th (Eastern) Division XVIII Corps 9th Army Corps Northern Command
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Distinguished Service Order

General Sir (Frederick) Ivor Maxse, KCB, CVO, DSO, (22 December 1862 – 1958) was a World War I general, best known for his innovative and effective training methods.

Early life

Maxse was educated at Mr. Lake's Preparatory School in Caterham, Surrey from 1875 to 1877; Rugby School from 1877 to 1880 and Sandhurst from 1881 to 1882.

Early military career

Maxse was commissioned into the 7th Royal Fusiliers in 1882. He transferred to the Coldstream Guards in 1891, commanding its first battalion from 1903 to 1907. In 1910, he was promoted to command of the 1st Guards Brigade.

Great War

In the First World War, as a divisional commander, he led 18th (Eastern) Division when it took all its objectives on the First Day of the Somme. He achieved this in part by hiding the division in no man's land before the battle was joined and having them closely follow the creeping barrage towards the German line. They were "probably the best fighting division possessed by the British Army in September 1916", recruited from volunteers from London and the south-east. In January 1917, Maxse was given command of XVIII Corps, commanding them at Passchendaele. Maxse's speciality was training and he was moved from field command in June 1918, to become Inspector General of Training to the British Armies in France, preparing men for the combination of assault and open warfare that was to characterise the Hundred Days Offensive.

During the negotiations for an armistice with Germany, Maxse claimed in a letter that:

The Hun is only wishful for peace in order to recover military power and be ready to launch a more successful attack at some opportune moment in the dim future. His heart is by no means altered. That is his nature. Recognise it. It is no use blaming him for his natural temperament, but it is wicked not to recognize what it is. His history during four wars proves it – i.e. 1864, 1866, 1870, 1914 – covering altogether a period of 64 years, two generations! He had but one objective and said so – world power...To prevent it we must crush and humiliate his Army which means his motive...let no sentimental gush be expended on the dirty Hun.

After the War Maxse was still concerned with what he perceived to be the dangerous potential of Germany. He wrote in January 1919: "They are incapable of fighting but I am still more convinced that they will quickly recover – say in ten years? And that when they do recover they will be just the same Huns as they have been, with the result that they will revert to militarism which is the only thing they do really understand". Maxse provoked controversy when he gave a speech in November to the annual dinner of the York Gimcrack Club in which he said of the scheme for a League of Nations: "For myself, I don't understand it, and I prefer a League of Tanks to a League of Nations".

Later military career

After the War he became General Officer Commanding 9th Army Corps, stationed with the British Army of the Rhine in Germany. He went on to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command from 1919 to 1923; he retired in 1926.

Later life

Maxse set up his own fruit growing company (Maxey Fruit Company) which was successful and was colonel of the Middlesex regiment from 1921 to 1932. He had a stroke in 1956 which incapacitated him and he moved to a nursing home in Pendean, West Lavington in Sussex until his death in 1958.

Legacy

In his memoirs Basil Liddell Hart described Maxse as:

...short and dark, with a sallow complexion, small deep-set eyes, and a long drooping moustache, which gave him the look of a Tartar chief—all the more because the descriptive term ‘a Tartar’ so aptly fitted his manner in dealing with lazy or inefficient seniors and subordinates. … Maxse seized the salient points of any idea with lightning quickness, although occasionally misjudging some point because of too hasty examination. His fierce manner concealed a very warm heart, and he particularly liked people who showed that they were not afraid of him. He was always ready to encourage and make use of new ideas.

The military historian Correlli Barnett said Maxse was "One of the ablest officers of his generation, a man of originality and drive, and a formidable personality".

References

• Correlli Barnett, ‘Maxse, Sir (Frederick) Ivor (1862–1958)’, rev. Roger T. Stearn, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008, accessed 5 June 2011.
• John Baynes, Far From A Donkey. The Life of General Sir Ivor Maxse. KCB, CVO, DSO (London: Brassey's, 1995).
• Jonathan Nicholls, Cheerful Sacrifice: The Battle of Arras 1917 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books, 2006). ISBN 1844153266 ISBN 978-1844153268

External links

• Who's Who: Sir Ivor Maxse
• General Sir (Frederick) Ivor Maxse, 1862–1958

Military offices
Preceded by New Post	General Officer Commanding XVIII Corps 1917–1918	Succeeded by Post Disbanded
Preceded by Sir John Maxwell	GOC-in-C Northern Command 1919–1923	Succeeded by Sir Charles Harington