During the Russo-Japanese War he was Military Attaché with the Japanese Army, and was present at the Battles of Liao-yang, Sha-Ho, and Mukden.
He went to France in August, 1914, in command of the 10th Infantry Brigade, which was part of the 4th Division in the III Corps. The Brigade arrived in time for the Battle of Le Cateau, and took part in all the subsequent fighting, being heavily engaged in the Armentières area during the First Battle of Ypres. General Haldane was one of the first Brigadiers to receive a Division. He succeeded Major-General Sir Hubert Hamilton in command of the 3rd Division in October, 1914, and remained with this famous Division till the Battle of the Somme. Its heaviest fighting took place in the summer of 1915 within the Ypres salient, and, in the spring of 1916, it was again engaged in the neighbourhood of St. Eloi and the Bluff at Ypres.
[Illustration: LIEUT.-GEN. J. A. L. HALDANE]
At the Battle of the Somme General Haldane took part in the great advance of July 14th, when the 3rd Division was brilliantly successful, carrying Bazentin le Grand, and sharing afterwards in the desperate fighting around Longueval and Delville Wood. In August he was promoted to the command of the VI Corps, and, during the winter, held a portion of the Arras front. The opportunity of the Corps came in the Battle of Arras on April 9th, 1917, when, advancing due east of the city, its three divisions carried all their objectives, including such formidable fortresses as the Harp and Railway Triangle, and made record captures of prisoners and guns.
Few British soldiers have had a more varied experience of warfare. He is a scholar in his profession, but his book knowledge is borne lightly, and he has shown himself in every crisis a leader of shrewd judgment and ample resource. He is still a young man, and, fine as his record has been, he is universally regarded as only at the outset of his career.
GENERAL WATTS was born on February 14th, 1858, and entered the Army in 1880. He served in South Africa, where he received a brevet Lieut.-Colonelcy. He became Colonel of his regiment in 1908, and retired in 1914. On the outbreak of the European War he returned to service, and went with General Rawlinson to Flanders in October, 1914, in command of the 21st Brigade of the 7th Division.