Distinguished Service
In the next two years and four months during which General Hickie commanded the 16th (Irish) Division, it earned a reputation for aggression and élan and won many memorials and mentions for bravery in the engagements during the 1916 Battle of Guillemont and the capture of Ginchy, then during the Battle of Messines, in appalling conditions the Third Battle of Ypres and in attacks near Bullecourt in the Battle of Cambrai offensive in November 1917.
During this period the Division made considerable progress in developing its operational techniques but at a price in losses. The growing shortage of Irish replacement recruits (due to nationalist disenchantment with the war and the absence of conscription in Ireland) was successfully met by Hickie through integrating non-Irish soldiers into the division. In January 1918 he was knighted a Knight Commander of the Bath for his services in France and "distinguished service in the field".
In February 1918 Hickie was invalided home on temporary sick leave, but when in hospital the German Spring Offensive began on 21 March, with the result that after his division moved under the command of General Hubert Gough it was practically wiped out and ceased to exist as a division. Although promised a new command, this did not happen before the Armistice in November. Hickie had typified the army’s better divisional commanders, was articulate, intelligent and had been competent and resourceful during the BEF’s difficult period 1916-17, laying the foundations for its full tactical success in 1918.
Read more about this topic: William Bernard Hickie
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“In any service where a couple hold down jobs as a team, the male generally takes his ease while the wife labors at his job as well as her own.”
—Anita Loos (1888–1981)