20 Born Henry George Chauvel on 16th April 1865 at Tabulam NSW, he was always known as Harry Chauvel. By the outbreak of war, Harry had already established a long history of service to his country. It was however, that his finest hours were to be as Commander of the Australian Light Horse in the Middle East. In a war littered with examples of disregard for human life, Chauvel was the outstanding exception. His attitude to command is best explained by Henry Gullet – official Australian historian. “Chauvel was no hard‐riding gambler against odds. Like Alva, he could on occasion ignore the ardent enthusiasm of his officers and bide his time. Always cool, and looking far enough ahead to see the importance of any particular fight in its proper relation to the war as a whole, he was brave enough to break off an engagement if it promised victory only at what he considered an excessive cost to his men and horses. He fought to win, but not at any price. He sought victory on his own terms. He always retained, even in heated moments of battle, when leaders are often careless of life, a very rare concern for the lives of his men and his horses.” Yet there was one outstanding example when he did throw caution to the wind – The Charge at Beersheba. What could have been the slaughter of 800 brave men and their mounts, resulted in victory and the loss of ‘just’ 31 men and 70 horses. We can only presume 100 years later that the only alternative was to die of thirst in the desert. The saying ‘fortune favours the brave’ was never so aptly demonstrated. Harry Chauvel, we salute you. The story of By Bill Gibbins HARRY CHAUVEL
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