Claude Auchinleck - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

The Auchinlecks were an Ulster-Scots family from County Fermanagh, where they had settled in the 17th century. Claude Auchinleck was born in Aldershot, son of Colonel John Claud Alexander Auchinleck and Mary Eleanor (Eyre) Auchinleck, while his father's regiment was stationed there. His father died in 1892, when he was eight years old, and Auchinleck grew up in impoverished circumstances, but he attended Wellington College with the help of scholarships. After Wellington, he went to the nearby Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Auchinleck joined the Indian Army as an unattached second lieutenant in January 1903 and in 1904 joined the 62nd Punjabis. He learnt Punjabi and, able to speak fluently with his soldiers, he absorbed a knowledge of local dialects and customs. This familiarity engendered a lasting mutual respect, enhanced by his own personality. In April 1905 he was promoted to lieutenant and in January 1912 he was promoted to captain.

During World War I, he served in the Middle East in Egypt, Palestine and Mesopotamia. Auchinleck's division was the last of four offered by the Indian government. While en route for France, it was reassigned to defend the Suez Canal from possible Turkish attack. When the attack occurred in February 1915, Auchinleck's regiment prevented the Turks from crossing the canal and he led a successful counter-attack; the Turks subsequently surrendered.

The 6th Indian Division, of which the 62nd Punjabis were a part, was landed at Basra on 31 December 1915 for the Mesopotamian campaign. In July 1916 Auchinleck was promoted Acting Major and made second in command of the regiment. North of Basra, the Punjabis were in heavy action in dreadful conditions: cold, rain and mud as well as determined Turkish defence reduced the regiment to 247 men and Auchinleck took temporary command when his regimental commander was wounded. Further hard fighting ensued: the Turkish army inflicted a humiliating reversal on the British and eventual success was hard won. Auchinleck was mentioned in despatches and received the Distinguished Service Order in 1917 for his service in Mesopotamia, promoted to major in January 1918 and was also appointed brevet lieutenant-colonel in 1919 for his "distinguished service in Southern and Central Kurdistan" on the recommendation of the C-in-C of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force.

Auchinleck took a number of practical lessons from his experiences in Mesopotamia. First, the health and well-being of soldiers was critical to an army's effectiveness and he became convinced of the need of adequate rest, hygiene, good food and medical supplies for the troops. Second, he had seen the futility of inadequately prepared attacks against dug-in, well-armed defenders and this fuelled his later reluctance to initiate precipitate actions advocated by his political and military superiors.