John Charteris

Brigadier-General John Charteris (1877-1946) was a British general during the First World War. He was Sir Douglas Haig's Chief of British Army Intelligence Officer at the British Expeditionary Force's headquarters from 1915-1918.

Despite his grasp of military intelligence, Charteris was an unpopular officer sometimes described as Haig's "evil counsellor", or "The Principal Boy" due to his rapid promotion. A key influence on Haig, he is sometimes blamed for Haig's errors. His intelligence reports were crucial in strategic decisions and "during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) and at Cambrai, Charteris was certainly guilty of being overly optimistic with regard to the Allies' chances of success at both set-piece battles." [http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/charteris.htm John Charteris at First World War.com]

Haig was later forced to dismiss Charteris after Charteris angered Lord Derby, then Minister of War. In January 1918 Brigadier-General Edgar William Cox was recalled to France to replace Charteris.Charteris continued to advise Haig on intelligence affairs, and correctly predicted a German offensive in Spring 1918.

Propaganda

He has also been associated with some notable allied propaganda and disinformation successes like “the master hoax” of WWI, the story of the German corpse factory Kadaververwertungsanstalt. Charteris deliberately switched captions on two German war pictures: one image showed soldiers killed in battle being taken away for burial, while the other showed horse bodies being delivered to a corpse processing factory behind German lines. After the war Charteris admitted the deception causing a media outcry. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728588,00.html "Candid Charteris" in "Time" 1925]

A letter from Charteris, dated 5 September 1914, noted "the story of the Angels of Mons [is] going strong through the 2nd Corps". This may be the earliest account of the rumour. If authentic, this reference would pre-date Arthur Machen's "The Bowmen" - widely held to be the source of the Angels of Mons legend. [cite web |url=http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/213/the_angel_of_mons.html |title=The Angel of Mons |accessdate=2008-03-13 |last=Clarke |first=David |date=May 2003 |work=Fortean Times |publisher=Dennis Publishing Limited] However, this letter was published in 1931 in compilation book "At G.H.Q.", and its authenticity is questionable. Examination of Charteris' original letters gives evidence that these entries and/or dates were falsified, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2386/is_1_115/ai_n6118622/pg_1 "Rumours of Angels: a response to Simpson" Folklore, April, 2004 by David Clarke] leading David Clarke, among others, to suggest that Charteris was using the Angels rumour for propaganda purposes.

After the war he was the Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire. He wrote several books on Haig.

Notes

* [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=368&inst_id=21 AIM25: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London: CHARTERIS, Brig Gen John (1877-1946) ] at www.aim25.ac.uk