Richard Ernest William Turner

Lieutenant General Sir Richard Ernest William Turner VC, KCB, KCMG, DSO (July 25, 1871 – June 19, 1961) was a Canadian army officer during the Boer War and World War I, and a recipient of the Victoria Cross. Although Turner always displayed great personal courage while under fire, he lacked the acumen for brigade- and division-sized tactics, and the men under his command during World War I suffered grievous losses in several battles before he was moved into administrative roles.

Early life

Turner was born in Quebec City, the son of Richard Turner, and worked at his father's grocery and lumber business before turning to the military.

Boer War

Turner was 29 years old and a lieutenant in The Royal Canadian Dragoons,Canadian Army when it was sent to South Africa during the Second Boer War. Following action at Leliefontein near the Komati River on November 7, 1900, Turner was one of three men from his regiment who were subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. (The others were Lieutenant Hampden Zane Churchill Cockburn and Sergeant Edward James Gibson Holland.) He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) with effective date 29 November 1900. [LondonGazette|issue=27306|startpage=2699|endpage=2702|date=19 April 1901|accessdate=2008-09-25]

Turner was Mentioned in Despatches on 16 April 1901, [LondonGazette|issue=27305|startpage=2604|endpage=2609|date=16 April 1901|accessdate=2008-09-25] and the VC citations were published in the "London Gazette" on April 23, 1901. Turner's read, "Later in the day when the Boers again seriously threatened to capture the guns, Lieutenant Turner, although twice previously wounded, dismounted and deployed his men at close quarters and drove off the Boers, thus saving the guns." [LondonGazette|issue=27307|startpage=2775|date=23 April 1901|accessdate=2008-01-21]

World War I

Promoted to brigadier-general just after the outbreak of war on 29 September 1914, [LondonGazette|issue=29086|startpage=2096|date=2 March 1915|accessdate=2008-09-25] Turner was given command of the 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His second in command was Colonel Garnet Hughes, son of Sam Hughes, the bombastic Minister of Militia and Defence in Robert Borden's government.

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, 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 sent erroneous messages back to Lieutenant General Edwin Alderson at 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. Turner was also responsible for sending two reserve battalions forward in a night-time attack on Kitcheners Wood, although he left the details to his subordinate Hughes. Much of the subsequent high casualty rate during the attack can be attributed to Hughes and his insistence on an immediate attack before proper reconnaissance could reveal the presence of enfilading machine gun nests. Although Turner demonstrated great personal bravery when his brigade headquarters came under direct small arms fire and suffered several near misses from artillery [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] , he seemed unable to adequately cope with this new type of mechanized warfare nor with the demands of brigade-sized tactics.

He was replaced as brigade commander by R. G. E. Leckie on 12 August 1915. [LondonGazette|issue=29307|startpage=9436|date=24 September 1915|accessdate=2008-09-25] His subsequent promotion to divisional command was opposed by his superior Edwin Alderson, who considered him to be incompetent. However the well-connected Turner had the support of Sam Hughes and other Canadian politicians, and Alderson was over-ruled. Alderson bitterly wrote, "I am sorry to say that I do not consider Turner really fit to command a Division and his name was not put forward by Sir John French, but Canadian politics have been too strong for all of us and so he has got it." [cite book| last = Cassar| first = George | title = Beyond Courage | publisher = Oberon Press | date = 1985 | location = Ottawa| pages = 189] Turner was subsequently appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the King's Birthday Honours of June 1915, [LondonGazette|issue=29202|supp=yes|startpage=6111|endpage=6112|date=22 June 1915|accessdate=2008-09-25] and promoted to major-general in September 1915, and given command of the 2nd Division when it arrived in France. However, the division suffered heavy losses during the battle of St. Eloi in September 1916 when Turner lost communication with his division and did not form a clear picture of where they were on the confused battlefield. In addition, due to a miscommunication, his men were decimated by their own artillery, suffering 1,600 casualties. [cite web | last = Duffy | first = Michael | title = Who's Who: Sir Richard Turner | publisher = FirstWorldWar.com | url = http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/turner.htm | accessdate = 2008-09-25] Turner was subsequently relieved of field command on 5 December 1916 and shunted into administrative duties, becoming commander of Canadian forces operating in Britain and the Canadian government's chief military adviser. [LondonGazette|issue=29855|startpage=12064|date=8 December 1916|accessdate=2008-09-25] [cite web | title = Sir Richard Ernest William Turner | publisher = The Canadian Encycloperdia | url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008171 | accessdate = 2008-09-25]

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in the King's Birthday Honours of June 1917, [LondonGazette|issue=30111|supp=yes|startpage=5458|date=1 June 1917|accessdate=2008-09-25] and promoted to lieutenant-general on 9 June 1917. [LondonGazette|issue=30178|supp=yes|startpage=6956|date=1 June 1917|accessdate=2008-09-25] On 18 May 1918, he became the Chief of the General Staff, Overseas Military Forces of Canda. [LondonGazette|issue=30696|supp=yes|startpage=6048|date=21 May 1918|accessdate=2008-09-25] In addition, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre [LondonGazette|issue=32113|supp=yes|startpage=10742|endpage=10743|date=2 November 1920|accessdate=2008-09-25] avec Palme and the Legion d'Honneur from the French government, and the Russian Order of the White Eagle with Swords. [LondonGazette|issue=30476|supp=yes|startpage=828|date=11 January 1918|accessdate=2008-09-25]

The medal

His Victoria Cross is currently stored as part of the RCD Archives and Collection at CFB Petawawa, Ontario.

References

*Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*Victoria Crosses of the Anglo-Boer War (Ian Uys, 2000)

External links

* [http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/turner.htm Biography of Sir Richard Ernest Turner on First World War Website]
* [http://www.legionmagazine.com/features/victoriacross/04-05.asp Legion Magzine Article on Richard Ernest William Turner]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7333726 Find-A-Grave profile for Richard Ernest William Turner]