In Haig's Shadow: The Letters of Brigadier-General Hugo De Pree and Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig
Dec 2019 · Casemate Publishers
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256
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About this ebook
This collection of correspondence and newly discovered family papers is “a good read for anyone interested in WWI, or the British Army” (The NYMAS Review).
Hugo De Pree was the nephew of the better-known Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. However, De Pree had a distinguished military career in his own right. He served in the Boer War. He was sent to the Western Front, as Chief of Staff of IV Corps, and played a key part in planning the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.
In 1918 De Pree was appointed to command 189 Brigade in 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. His part in the March Retreat showed that he was not a chateau general. In August 1918, he took the morally courageous decision to cancel his Brigade’s attack, fearing heavy losses for little gain. He was sacked, but after appealing was appointed to command a brigade of 38th (Welsh) Division, which he commanded with distinction in the last weeks of the war. Afterward, De Pree rose to Major-General and was the Commandant at RMA Woolwich. His son, John, was killed in 1942 when attempting to escape from a POW camp in Germany, a story told in this book by one of the leading academics in the field, which combines De Pree and Haig family papers with incisive commentary to give a multi-faceted insight into both an important but obscure senior officer of the First World War, and his hugely famous uncle.
Hugo De Pree was the nephew of the better-known Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. However, De Pree had a distinguished military career in his own right. He served in the Boer War. He was sent to the Western Front, as Chief of Staff of IV Corps, and played a key part in planning the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.
In 1918 De Pree was appointed to command 189 Brigade in 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. His part in the March Retreat showed that he was not a chateau general. In August 1918, he took the morally courageous decision to cancel his Brigade’s attack, fearing heavy losses for little gain. He was sacked, but after appealing was appointed to command a brigade of 38th (Welsh) Division, which he commanded with distinction in the last weeks of the war. Afterward, De Pree rose to Major-General and was the Commandant at RMA Woolwich. His son, John, was killed in 1942 when attempting to escape from a POW camp in Germany, a story told in this book by one of the leading academics in the field, which combines De Pree and Haig family papers with incisive commentary to give a multi-faceted insight into both an important but obscure senior officer of the First World War, and his hugely famous uncle.
About the author
Born in 1961, Gary Sheffield studied history at the University of Leeds, before beginning to lecture on war studies at the Royal Military Sandhurst Academy. He then completed his PhD at King’s College, London. After finishing his studies, Sheffield moved into full-time academia, as Professor of Modern History at King’s College, and then the first Professor of War Studies at the University of Birmingham. He later moved to the University of Wolverhampton. Sheffield has been published widely on military history subjects, with his second book, The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army (2011) widely commended in both academic and popular circles alike. Sheffield currently serves as Vice President of the Western Front Association and sits on the Advisory Board of the Royal United Services Institute.
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