Harold Bridgwood Walker Lieutenant General Sir Harold Bridgwood Walker KCB , KCMG , DSO ( 26 April 1862 – 5 November 1934 ) was an English general who led Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War . He was highly regarded by the men he commanded and was only replaced in 1918 when politics dictated that all Australian Imperial Force division s should be commanded by Australians . Early life . Walker was born in Dilhorne , North Staffordshire , England in 1862 , a descendant of George Walker , and was educated at Shrewsbury and Jesus College , Cambridge . He was commissioned into the British Army in the Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry in May 1884 and served on the Nile Expedition in 1984 and 1985 . He served on the North West Frontier of India in 1897 and saw action in the Second Boer War . Before the outbreak of the First World War he was serving as a staff officer with the British Indian Army . When the headquarters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ( ANZAC ) began forming under Indian Army general William Birdwood , Walker was appointed as corps chief of staff with the rank of brigadier general . Landing at Anzac . For the invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula , it was Walker ' s role to formulate the landing plans for ANZAC but he deferred management of the planning to his subordinate , Lieutenant - Colonel Andrew Skeen , who was an excellent staff officer . Walker was keen to hold a fighting command and his opportunity arose during the landing at Anzac Cove , 25 April 1915 , when the commander of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade , Colonel Francis Johnston , became ill . Walker had landed as Birdwood ' s representative on the beach and was instructed to assume command of the brigade which held the left flank of the Anzac perimeter , occupying a ridge that was given the name " Walker ' s Ridge " . Walker relinquished command of the brigade when Johnston returned to duty but was soon after , on 30 April , given permanent command of the Australian 1st Infantry Brigade whose commander , Colonel H . N . MacLaurin , had been killed during the Turkish counter - attack of 27 April . When on 15 May the senior Australian general , and commander of the Australian 1st Division , Major General W . T . Bridges was killed by a sniper in Monash Valley , command of the 1st Division temporarily passed to Walker . 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 . The following day he oversaw an informal truce on MacLaurin ' s Hill during which time Turkish wounded were retrieved . Standing in no man ' s land , Walker conversed in French with some Turkish officers . When he saw the Turks start to collect rifle s he called off the truce , stating that if an official armistice was desired a formal request should be made . ( An armistice was eventually arranged for 24 May . ) The Australian government desired an Australian to command the division and so dispatched from Australia the then current Chief of the General Staff , Colonel J . G . Legge , to take over command . Walker remained in the post until Legge arrived on 24 June 1915 . When Legge was given command of the newly - forming Australian 2nd Division on 26 July , Walker was restored to permanent command of the 1st Division , a post he would hold through the remainder of the Battle of Gallipoli and much of the AIF ' s campaigning on the Western Front . Lone Pine . Walker now oversaw the 1st Division ' s preparations for the August Offensive in which the division would play a supporting role to the main attack by the New Zealand and Australian Division and the British IX Corps landing at Suvla . The 1st Division ' s main task was a diversionary attack at Lone Pine . A secondary action was an attack on German Officers ' Trench from which Turkish machine gun s enfilade d neighbouring positions , notably Quinn ' s Post and the Nek . Lone Pine became the only time during the campaign in which Anzac forces captured and held a Turkish trench system . 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 . When the first attempt failed , Walker assumed that the attack had been mishandled and so ordered another attempt to be made . When this second attempt also failed , Walker , aware that failure here would jeopardise later attacks at other points , ordered a third attempt but upon receiving further negative reports , he approached Birdwood and got approval to call off the assault . It is from this episode that Walker learnt never to repeat an attack without modifying the plan to address the causes of its failure . 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 . Walker was initially replaced by Brigadier - General Talbot Hobbs until he too fell sick , and then by Brigadier General Harry Chauvel . Western Front . In March 1916 , following the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula , Walker resumed command of the 1st Division and moved to France in April , initially on a quiet sector near Armentières . With the Battle of the Somme going badly for the British , Birdwood ' s I Anzac Corps was called upon in mid - July , joining Lt . - Gen . Hubert Gough ' s British Reserve Army . Gough tried to pressure Walker into making a hasty assault on Pozières but Walker refused , insisting on adequate preparation and delivering a successful attack on 23 July . Walker led the division during its two tours on the Pozières ridge and then later holding the line near Flers during the Somme winter . 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 . Walker also led the 1st Division through numerous phases of the Third Battle of Ypres . When the Germans launched their final offensives in 1918 , Walker ' s 1st Division was attached as a reserve to Lt . - Gen . Herbert Plumer ' s Second Army , and was instructed to build defences in front of Hazebrouck in Artois , where the division helped in halting the German Operation " Georgette " offensive . It had long been a policy of the Australian government to have command positions in the Australian Imperial Force held by Australians or at least members of the AIF — Walker was neither . On 5 March 1918 , General Birdwood informed the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force ( of which the Australian Corps was part ) that all non - AIF commanders could be replaced by AIF officers once suitable positions in British Army units could be found . However , Birdwood insisted that Walker be the last officer to be replaced and so Walker was still in command of the 1st Division during the fighting at Hazebrouck . When Birdwood was promoted to command of the reformed British Fifth Army , Walker was next in line for the command of the Australian Corps but , believing an Australian should hold the post , he made no claim on the position which was eventually taken by General John Monash . Finally , at the beginning of July 1918 , Walker was given command of the 48th ( South Midland ) Infantry Division which at the time was stationed in Italy . He went on to be General Officer Commanding - in - Chief , Southern Command , India in 1924 .