Andrew Hamilton Russell Major General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell KCB , ( 23 February 1868 – 29 November 1960 ) was a General from New Zealand , during the Great War who rose swiftly to high command during the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 – 1916 and to prominence as the inspirational commander of the New Zealand Division on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918 . Early life . Andrew Hamilton Russell , known as Guy to his family , was born on 23 February 1868 at Napier , New Zealand , the oldest son of a farmer and his wife . The Russell family had a long military history dating back to the Napoleonic Wars ; Guy ' s great - grandfather served in the Black Watch Regiment and his grandfather , also named Andrew Hamilton Russell , fought in the New Zealand Wars of the 1840s with the 58th Regiment . After retiring from the British Army , Guy ' s grandfather took up farming in the Hawke ' s Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand . His sons followed in his footsteps , and Guy ' s father , another Andrew Hamilton Russell , also served in the 58th Regiment and ran an isolated sheep station with his brother in the Hawke ' s Bay . After tiring of life in colonial New Zealand , Guy ' s father moved his family to England in 1874 and settled in Sedgley . After three years the family returned to New Zealand and lived in Flaxmere . The family were less isolated than at their previous home in the country and they had an active social life . However , finances became tight and Guy ' s father once more moved the family to England and then onto Switzerland , where they lived off income from their land in New Zealand . Guy remained in England to be schooled at Twyford School , near Winchester . In 1882 , after graduating top of his year in Twyford , and encouraged by both his father and grandfather to pursue a career in science or law , he attended Harrow School . He did not perform well in his academic studies , preferring instead sporting endeavours and the school ' s Cadet Corps . Life in the British Army . In 1885 , Russell left Harrow and after spending several months in Germany learning the language , he sat the entrance examination for the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst . Two days before taking the exam , he received the news of his mother ' s death . Despite he scored high marks and duly entered Sandhurst in September 1886 . Excelling in his military studies , he won the Sword of Honour as the best performing cadet of his intake and graduated in August 1887 . In January 1888 , Russell was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Border Regiment which was stationed in British India . There was little action to enliven his time in India , and he found the duty tedious . Much of his time was spent riding and he earned a " great reputation as a polo player " . A year later , the Border Regiment was transferred to garrison duties in Burma which , at the time was experiencing some unrest as bandits carried out guerrilla warfare against the British rulers . Apart from one minor skirmish , Russell saw little action and spent much of his time training mounted infantry . The regiment was stationed in Burma for six months before it moved to England to return to its home barracks in Dover . Desiring active service and disillusioned with how his military career was developing , he began to consider leaving the British Army . In June 1891 , after applications to join units in Southern Africa were rejected , he transferred to the British Indian Army . Assigned to a substandard infantry regiment back in Burma he grew even more dissatisfied with his career and in August 1892 , he resigned his commission . Return to New Zealand . Russell returned to New Zealand to pursue sheep farming albeit somewhat unenthusiastically . At one stage , he went to Australia to investigate farming prospects there but soon decided New Zealand offered better opportunities . He was taken on as a farming cadet on sheep stations in Tunanui and Flaxmere , jointly owned by his father and uncle , with a view to running his father ' s share of the property . In 1895 , when the farming partnership between his father and uncle was amicably dissolved and the stations subdivided , Russell took on responsibility for his father ' s land . The same year , he began a courtship with Gertrude Williams whose family had extensive land holdings in the Hawke ' s Bay . The couple eventually married in August 1896 , and would go on to have five children . Farming was at times difficult ; much of his father ' s land was bush country and needed to cleared before it could be converted to pasture . Russell also had to contend with low wool and meat prices as well as occasional floods and droughts . However , the farm was running at a profit by 1905 and he requested his father give him a lease on the land and this was granted the following year . A few years later he took over full ownership of the farm by buying out his siblings ' interest in the property . In addition to his farming , Russell pursued business and political interests . In 1899 , he played a role in the development of the Farmers ' Union and later became chairman of its Hawke ' s Bay chapter . He took up directorships of several large businesses in the area . In 1905 , he became heavily involved in the Political Reform League which worked to promote conservative views and candidates for public office . Despite an active working and business life , Russell was prominent in the raising of a militia unit of the New Zealand Volunteer Force following the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 . He commanded the unit , the Wellington ( East Coast ) Mounted Rifles Regiment , which by 1901 numbered about 900 men . Most of his volunteers were young farm workers who provided their own horses and saddles , while the Defence Department provided rifles and other equipment . Russell set about training his unit , an experience that he greatly enjoyed and which rekindled his interest in the military . However , his work and family commitments kept him from volunteering for active service in South Africa . The New Zealand Volunteer Force declined in the years after the Boer War and Russell endeavoured to keep his regiment , comprising five squadrons of mounted infantry , well trained and prepared for any future hostilities . He was promoted to major in 1907 , and lieutenant colonel in 1910 . At this time , New Zealand ' s military was being reorganised under the overview of Major General Alexander Godley , an officer in the British Army and newly appointed as commander of the New Zealand Military Forces . Compulsory military training was introduced and the Volunteer Force was abolished and replaced with a Territorial Force . Godley was impressed with Russell ' s work with his regiment of mounted infantry and in 1911 , he was appointed commander of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Brigade . Godley later offered Russell a position with the New Zealand Staff Corps although this was declined for family reasons . Instead Russell went to England for six months on secondment to the British Army . In October 1913 , New Zealand ' s military provided assistance to the government in maintaining order during a strike in Wellington involving mining and waterfront unions . Infantry were drawn from territorial formations and appointed special constables in order to support the police in Wellington . Russell commanded the mounted contingent of special constables , which became known as " Massey ' s Cossacks " ( after William Massey , the prime minister ) . His men broke up pickets and cleared the docks of striking workers , duties which would occupy them for nearly two months before order was fully restored . The following year , Russell ' s men would again be used to maintain order , this time at a training camp in the Hawke ' s Bay , following a riot by territorial infantry protesting at the imposition of compulsory military training on their ability to work and support their families . First World War . On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 , the New Zealand government offered Great Britain a New Zealand Expeditionary Force ( NZEF ) for service in the war . The offer , the first to be made by a Dominion of Great Britain , was quickly accepted . Godley set about raising the NZEF , the main body of which was to consist of an infantry brigade , a mounted brigade and an artillery brigade and support units . Russell was offered command of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade which he duly accepted . Promoted to brigadier general , he departed New Zealand with the main body of the NZEF on 16 October 1914 as its highest ranking territorial officer . Gallipoli . The NZEF was originally destined for France for service on the Western Front . After the Turks entered the war and were perceived to be a threat to the Suez Canal , the NZEF and the Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) , traveling in convoy , were diverted to the Middle East . Based in Egypt , the NZEF carried out intensive preparations for active service . Russell oversaw the training of his brigade in shooting , tactics , map reading and navigation . After four months , Godley considered the NZEF ready for active duty . The War Office had developed a plan to open up a second front in the Dardenalles in the hopes of splitting Turkey away from her allies , Germany and Austria - Hungary . It would also relieve pressure on the Eastern Front by creating a supply route through to the Black Sea . After the failure of a naval offensive in March , the NZEF and AIF was to be landed at Gallipoli on 25 April . The area designated for the landings was not appropriate for horses and only the New Zealand Infantry Brigade embarked for Gallipoli . Much to his frustration , Russell ' s Mounted Rifles brigade remained in Egypt . However , casualties amongst the infantry eventually led to the transfer of Russell ' s command , sans its horses which remained in Egypt , to Gallipoli in early May . On its arrival in the front lines on 12 May 1915 , the Mounted Rifles was deployed on the northern ( or left ) sector of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ( ANZAC ) perimeter and relieved a brigade of Royal Marines Light Infantry . It would remain here for three months . The area was overlooked by the Sari Bair range and the Turks dominated with snipers and machine gun fire . Russell set his men to improving the defensive arrangements of their positions , digging trenches and saps and implementing measures . He made his headquarters on an elevated plateau which would become known as Russell ' s Top , only 40 metres from the front line and sharing the discomfort and dangers with his men . A week after arriving , the Mounted Rifles helped to fend off a Turkish night attack across the entire front line . The Turks lost 10 , 000 men killed and wounded , and the next morning , Godley , commanding the New Zealand and Australian Division to which the Mounted Rifles were subordinate , ordered a counterattack . Russell , aware of how exposed to Turkish machine gun fire an advance across the front lines would be , refused to order the attack . Despite insisting his orders be followed , Godley eventually conceded . In August 1915 , Russell ' s brigade participated in the Battle of Sari Bair , an attempt to break the stalemate that existed at Gallipoli . Commanding a contingent of Maori pioneers in addition to his own brigade , the Turkish positions at No . 3 Outpost , Table Top Hill and Bauchop ' s Hill , guarding the approach to the Sari Bair ridge , were captured in a well organised attack on the night of 6 August . Russell took care to ensure his men fully understood their roles and the tactics to be used . Originally , Russell ' s brigade was to have been the spearhead of the attack on Chunuk Bair itself but was shunted into the supporting role of securing the approach . The capture of the Turkish positions cleared the way for the New Zealand Infantry Brigade to make its way up the slopes of Chunuk Bair . Heavy losses were incurred amongst the infantry making an initial attack during daylight hours . A nighttime attack was planned using two squadrons of Russell ' s command together with the Wellington Infantry Battalion . This succeeded and the peak of Chunuk Bair was captured in the early hours of 8 August . The peak was exposed to gunfire from neighbouring Hill Q , which made it difficult to dig in . The battalion held Chunuk Bair for a day until relieved by the Otago Infantry Battalion and two more squadrons of Russell ' s mounteds . The peak was lost the following day after it was handed over to two British battalions and the Sair Bair ridge remained in Turkish hands . Later , Godley regretted the change to the original plan , considering that Russell , after taking the approaches to the Sari Bair ridge , could have proceeded on and secured Chunuk Bair and Hill Q with his brigade . Two weeks later , Russell ' s brigade was involved in attacks on Hill 60 , positioned between the ANZAC positions and the British 9th Corps at Suvla Bay . Russell ' s command , which also included 500 men from the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade and a battalion of Irish Rangers was part of a three brigade attack from the ANZAC front while elements of 9th Corp attacked from the other side . On 21 August , in broad daylight , Russell ' s forces succeeded in capturing a portion of the Turkish trenches , despite heavy casualties . The upper reaches of the hill remained in Turkish hands and an attack by reinforcements the following day failed . Russell favoured a nighttime attack but was overruled . It took eight days of further attacks before the crest of Hill 60 fell to the Allies . Instrumental to the success were the mounteds , who managed to hold onto their gains where other units failed . Russell made a good account of himself , with Godley noting he " . . . is really quite an exceptionally good man . " Russell took over command of the New Zealand and Australian Division in November 1915 , from Godley , who became commander of ANZAC . Sir Ian Hamilton , commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force , had come to view Russell as ' the outstanding New Zealander on the ( Gallipoli ) peninsula ' , and in November 1915 he was created Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George and promoted to major general . A month later , Russell had overall command for the final 48 hours of the highly successful evacuation of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps ( " ANZAC " ) from the Gallipoli peninsula . Western Front . The New Zealand Division was formed in March 1916 , with Russell divisional commander , and was sent to France the next month . With scant preparation , the division became operational in May 1916 in the Armentières sector of the Western Front . Soon it was involved in supporting the Somme Offensive , exposing problems and straining the men as extensive raids and patrols were carried out . Russell pushed for improvement , his goal being to create the best division in France . He inspected units daily and regularly visited the front line . Russell was a strict disciplinarian , and cracked down on high levels of desertion by recommending the death penalty for those found guilty of it . However , only five deserters were eventually executed and all were given posthumous pardons in 2000 . Russell ' s insistence on rigid discipline was balanced by intensive training and tempered by close attention to the welfare of the troops under his command . In a letter to James Allen , the New Zealand Minister of Defence , Russell wrote : " What we want is a platoon officer who will look after his men exactly as a mother does her boy of 10 " . The early discipline issues were overcome and , under Russell ' s leadership , the New Zealand Division would gain a fine reputation with success in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and in June 1917 the capture of Messines Ridge . On a visit to the front line at Messines , Russell was nearly killed when a " sniper ' s bullet passed through his steel helmet , creasing his scalp " . Failure came however on 12 October that year at the First Battle of Passchendaele , when – in what is still the costliest day in New Zealand ' s military history – the New Zealanders ' second assault was repulsed with 2 , 735 casualties . Russell took the blame , in what military historian Christopher Pugsley called " a rare example of a military commander ' s willingness to accept responsibility for failure " , though Pugsley attributes the main fault to the staff of the corps commander , General Godley . After further failure at Polderhoek in December and a hard winter in the Ypres salient , Russell worked to rebuild the division and its morale . Despite this , by now , as historian Les Carlyon notes : " There were no better troops on the western front than the New Zealanders " . Throughout 1918 , Russell emphasised training as new mobile warfare tactics evolved : this proved its worth during the Hundred Days Offensive that ended the war . In June Field Marshal Haig , who was a great admirer of Russell , offered him command of a British corps – the only Dominion commander to be so asked – but he diplomatically declined in order to stay with the New Zealanders . Russell commanded the New Zealand Division for the remainder of the war and then returned to his farm in New Zealand , " loaded with foreign decorations " . ( According to Pugsley , these included : " the French Légion d ' honneur ( croix d ' officier ) and Croix de guerre ( avec palme ) , the Belgian Ordre de Léopold ( commander ) and Croix de guerre , the Serbian Order of the White Eagle ( first class ) and the Montenegrin Order of Prince Danilo I " . ) He was given a hero ' s welcome at Wellington being " hailed , in Maori , as ' Ariki Toa ' , The Fight Chief Sent Forward To Lead " . Later life . Returning to civilian life , Russell spent nearly two years in a bed - ridden state due to poor health . On recovery , he contested the electorate in the as an Independent , where he came second after Gilbert McKay of the Liberal Party . He occupied himself with veterans ' affairs , serving as president of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services ' Association from 1921 to 1924 , and again from 1927 to 1935 . In 1932 his military career came to a formal end when he moved to the retired list , although he continued to serve in a ceremonial capacity as the honorary colonel of the Wellington Regiment in 1934 and the Wellington ( East Coast ) Rifles in 1937 . With the outbreak of World War II Russell returned to the colours , as the Inspector General of New Zealand Military Forces , before retiring again in July 1941 , aged 73 . Andrew Russell died on 29 November 1960 , aged 92 , at the family homestead near Hastings and was buried with full military honours . He was survived by his wife and four children . One of his two sons , John Russell , served with the New Zealand Divisional Cavalry during the Second World War and was killed in action during the Western Desert Campaign .