Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Bridgwood Walker, KCB, KCMG, DSO (26 April 1862 – 5 November 1934) was a senior British Army commander who led Australian and New Zealand forces for much of the First World War.
[4] Walker was commissioned into the British Army as a lieutenant into the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) (later the North Staffordshire Regiment) on 20 May 1884,[5] before transferring to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI), and the Regular Army, just under two years later, on 14 May 1884[1][6] With the DCLI, he served on the Nile Expedition in 1884 and 1885,[1] and later with the mounted infantry.
After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in South Africa in October 1899, Walker was ordered to transfer there on special service, and left Southampton on the SS Nile in March 1900.
[9] Following the end of the war in June 1902, Walker returned home on the SS Kinfauns Castle in October,[13] and received the substantive rank of major on 22 November 1902.
[18] According to the Australian official historian, Charles Bean, Walker was "an officer who, by his directness, his fighting qualities, and his consideration for his men, had in a few weeks much endeared himself to his troops."
It was while Walker was in temporary command of the 1st Division that the Turks delivered a massive counter-attack on 19 May which failed to breach the Anzac line and resulted in over 10,000 casualties.
When he saw the Turks start to collect rifles he called off the truce, stating that if an official armistice was desired a formal request should be made.
[18] A secondary action was an attack on German Officers' Trench from which Turkish machine guns enfiladed neighbouring positions, notably Quinn's Post and the Nek.
The attack on German Officers' Trench was to be made at midnight, 7 August, by the Australian 6th Battalion (2nd Brigade), commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel H. G. Bennett.
On 29 September Walker was buried when a shell exploded in his dugout and two weeks later, on 13 October, he was severely wounded by a machine gun while visiting the front-line.
In March 1916, following the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula, Walker, who in January was promoted to substantive major general,[20] resumed command of the 1st Division and moved to France in April, initially on a quiet sector near Armentières.
In April 1917 Walker and his chief of staff, Colonel T. A. Blamey, planned the capture of the fortified villages of Boursies, Hermies and Demicourt during the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line which preceded the Battle of Arras.
[2] Walker Lines at Bodmin in Cornwall was a Second World war camp build as an extension to the DCLI Barracks.