Garnet Hughes

Major General Garnet Burk Hughes CB, DSO, (April 22, 1880 - April 13, 1937) was a Canadian military officer during World War I.

Garnet Hughes was the son of Sir Sam Hughes, a Canadian politician and Minister of the Militia during the war.

Before the Great War, Garnet joined the Canadian militia in Victoria, British Columbia as a part-time officer. In 1913, he was commissioned as a major in the 50th Battalion (Gordon Highlanders) militia , where he was third in command under Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Currie.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, Currie was considering staying behind in Victoria to take care of some financial problems, but Garnet talked Currie into accepting the overseas command being offered by Garnet's father: commanding officer of the 2nd Brigade in the 1st Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Garnet himself was promoted to colonel, and appointed to be brigade-major of the 3rd Division under Brigade-General Richard Turner.

The 1st Division spent the winter of 1914-15 training in England, and were sent to France in February 1915. After a period of indoctrination about the realities of trench warfare, they took control of a section of trench in the Ypres Salient on April 17, 1915. Only five days later, on Hughes' 34th birthday, the Germans used poison gas gas for the first time on the Western Front, sending clouds of chlorine wafting over the Allied trenches. French colonial troops on the Canadians' left flank broke, leaving an enormous hole in the Allied line.

In the chaos that followed, both Turner and Hughes panicked and sent erroneous messages back to divisional headquarters that their line had been broken and was in full retreat, when in fact the 3rd Brigade had not even been attacked yet. Late in the evening, they ignored a message from Currie suggesting that two reserve battalions should be used to fill the hole in the Allied line. Instead, Turner and Hughes sent the soldiers on a night-time attack against a German strongpoint at Kitcheners Wood. Hughes himself personally came forward to order the attack, but rather than waiting for proper reconnaissance and supporting artillery pieces, Hughes merely pointed in the direction that the battalion should take, and sent them marching forward at 11:48 p.m., shoulder to shoulder, illuminated by bright moonlight, while Hughes retired to brigade headquarters. The lack of reconnaissance proved to be deadly; in breaking through a fence while still several hundred metres from their objective, the Canadians were detected, and enfilading machine gun fire caused 75 percent casualties before the soldiers reached the Wood and drove the Germans out. Back in the rear, Hughes had lost touch with the attack and precious hours were lost until communications were re-established. With no reinforcements being sent forward, the Canadians could not hold their position, and the survivors were forced to retreat the next day in the face of determined German counterattacks. [cite book| last = Dancock | first = Daniel G. | title = Welcome to Flanders Fields: The First Canadian Battle of the Great War: Ypres, 1915 | publisher = McLelland & Stewart | date = 1988 | location = Toronto | pages = 117-124 | isbn = 0-7710-2545-9]

In light of Hughes' actions during the battle, Arthur Currie considered Hughes to be incompetent under fire, and a danger to the men under his command. After Currie was promoted to command of the entire Canadian Corps, he refused to promote Hughes to a divisional command of his own, even though the request came from Garnet's father Sam, the Minister of Militia and Defence.

Hughes was promoted to brigadier-general in 1916, and was eventually given command of the newly formed 5th Division, but it was an administrative post only, since the 5th Division was broken up as soon as it reached England, and its men sent as reinforcements to replace battle losses in the four other divisions of the Canadian Corps. By the end of the war, Hughes had been assigned to an obscure administrative post in England. He spent the rest of his life seeking revenge by attacking Currie's reputation through scurrilous editorials published in newspapers owned by his family.

He died in New York City at the relatively young age of 56. [cite web | title = GEN. GARNET HUGHES; Commander of the Fifth Canadian Division in World War | work = | publisher = New York Times | date = 1937-04-13 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30F11FC385E177A93C1A8178FD85F438385F9 | accessdate = 2008-09-26

References