Mounted troops and officers raise their hats and cheer staff officer Brudenell White, who is on ...

Accession Number P03717.007
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Print silver gelatin
Maker Unknown
Place made Australia
Date made c 1914
Conflict Army organisation period 1912-1918 (not WWI)
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Mounted troops and officers raise their hats and cheer staff officer Brudenell White, who is on horseback in the centre foreground. The occasion is unknown, but precedes the First World War. White served with the 1st Commonwealth Horse during the Boer War. He attended the British Army Staff College at Camberley, Surrey; eventually he was recalled to Australia as a major and served as Director of Miltary Operations at Army Headquarters. When war broke out in 1914 he was appointed chief of staff of the new Australian Imperial Force. After taking part in the landing at Anzac Cove, in May 1915 he became chief of staff to the new commander, Lieutenant General William Birdwood; he did most of the planning for the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula in December 1915. For the remainder of the war he served on the Western Front, continuing as staff officer to Birdwood and becoming senior staff officer to the British 5th Army in 1918. He retired as Chief of the General Staff in 1923.

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