Gough, Gen Sir Hubert de la Poer (1870-1963). Scion of an old military family, he was commissioned into the 16th Lancers in 1889. Gough earned a reputation for dash in the Second Boer War and was appointed to command 3rd Cavalry Brigade at the Curragh in 1911. In March 1914, fearing that troops would be used to coerce Ulster into a united Ireland, he determined to resign, as did most of his officers. Summoned to London, Gough remained obdurate until given a written declaration that opposition to Home Rule would not be crushed. The government repudiated part of this, and the Secretary of State for War, CIGS, and adjutant-general had to resign.
Despite this, Gough took his brigade to France in 1914 and was promoted to command 2nd Cavalry Division that autumn. A corps commander in mid-1915, he was given the Reserve (later fifth) Army in 1916. Initially designated to exploit the breakthrough achieved by Fourth Army, Gough soon found himself committed to the slogging match of the Somme. In early 1917, as the youngest and most dashing of the army commanders, he was selected to command the offensive at the third battle of Ypres. His slapdash staff work combined with dreadful terrain and unrealistic objectives to produce stalemate, and Plumer, commanding Second Army, took over the major role.
In 1918 Fifth Army held the southern end of the British line. Gough pointed out that he was short of troops; that his positions, taken over from the French, were weak; and that his sector would be the focus of the imminent German offensive. On 21 March his army was pushed back with heavy loss, and he was replaced by Rawlinson on 27 March. In 1919 he briefly headed the Allied military mission to the Baltic and retired in 1922. Gough's arrogant manner and hot temper made enemies who were not sorry to see him fall. Haig later admitted that a scapegoat was required in 1918, and ‘the only possible ones were Hubert or me. I was conceited enough to think that the army could not spare me’. His brother John, a VC winner, served as Haig's COS and was killed in 1915.
— Richard Holmes
