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With great poise and understanding, Lieutenant-Colonel Graham trained a number of American officers in the field, who later became
outstanding members of the Allied Military Government organisation.
As Civil Affairs Officer of Tivoli, Lieutenant-Colonel Graham encountered one of the most difficult situations to be found in the wake of
the advancing Army. There were 18,000 people living in caves, no food had come into the town for 14 days and there were 700
unburied dead in the town square. With energy and efficiency, he and his American associates set at once to the task of making the
place inhabitable and preventing an epidemic of disease. Within an incredibly short time, order had been brought out of the chaos and
the town restored to a point where the homeless were able to return.
Subsequently as Civil Affairs Officer he contributed in large measure to the restoration of the port of Civitavecchia, vastly important
from a military standpoint. He also served efficiently as Commissioner for the provinces of Terni and Rovigo, where he restored
industry, maintained order and administered an outstanding public welfare programme.
With deep understanding, wide experience, and personal generosity, Lieutenant-Colonel Graham was of inestimable value to the
American officers attached to Allied Military Government. His service reflected great credit on the joint efforts of the British and
American armies to administer the affairs of civilian Italy in such a way as to be of value to the military operations. Lieutenant-Colonel
Graham originally entered the service from Glasgow, Scotland.’
Alexander Gillespie Graham, a pre-war officer on the Special Reserve, first entered the French theatre of war as a Captain in the 6th
Battalion, Cameronians in March 1915, which unit was decimated at Festubert that June, when it sustained 357 casualties in a bloody
assault launched on the 15th – the Germans having taunted the Scotsmen by shouting across No Man’s Land “Come on, Jocks, we are
waiting for you.”
At 5.57 p.m. that evening, in skeleton marching order, the 6th Battalion went over the top and swept towards the fully alerted Germans,
the bombers and leading platoon reaching the opposing front trench before the first of many enemy bombardments started to take their
toll. Ultimately, in the face of point-blank machine-gun fire, the Cameronian ranks started to dwindle. In the words of the regimental
history, ‘nothing but grim determination to close with the enemy could have carried the men forward in the face of such massacre’. But
close they did.
Although the enemy’s front trench was occupied by superior numbers, the assault never faltered. It was rushed and taken with the
bayonet, the once confident Germans fleeing in terror. Some, it is said, pleaded for their lives with presents and money, but to no avail,
the Scotsmen bayoneting and bombing their way down the communication trenches to the second line, which, before dark, had been
taken. By now, just three officers were left standing.
Meanwhile, as a result of the failure of a neighbouring attack by 7th Division, the Cameronians were left exposed on their left flank,
and when this shortcoming was compounded by the failure of G.H.Q. to send in reinforcements, the Battalion’s position became
perilous in the extreme. While on their right, the 1/4th Loyal North Lancashires had been ordered to retire by midnight, thereby leaving
the Scotsmen as sole inhabitants of the recently captured ground – unbeknown to this gallant party of survivors, they, too, were meant
to have been withdrawn, but the order never reached them, and it was not until 4 a.m. that a few ranks were able to get back to our
lines.
Among the wounded was Graham, though only slightly so, for, as revealed by the relevant war diary, he rejoined his unit from hospital
24 hours later and assumed command ‘of what remained of the Battalion.’ Mentioned in Sir John French’s despatch that October
(London Gazette 1 January 1916 refers), by which date he was a Temporary Major, Graham was awarded the M.C.
Recalled on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, he was granted an Emergency Commission in the Pioneer Corps and, as cited
above, was awarded the American Medal of Freedom for his gallant and distinguished services in Italy 1943-45, in addition to winning
a “mention” (London Gazette 23 May 1946 refers). Later still, as evidenced by his Africa General Service Medal, he volunteered for
service as Special Constable in the Mau Mau troubles in Kenya.
Sold with research.
608
A rare ‘German East Africa’ M.C. group of five for the action at Mahiwa awarded to Captain J. E. H. Maxwell, Notts
and Derby Regiment, attached 4th Nigeria Regiment
MILITARY CROSS, G.V.R.; 1914-15 STAR (Lieut. J. E. H. Maxwell, Notts & Derby. R.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS, with M.I.
D. oak leaf (Major J. E. H. Maxwell); AFRICA GENERAL SERVICE 1902-56, 1 clasp, Nigeria 1918 (Major J. E. H. Maxwell, Notts.
& Derby. R.) mounted court style for display, the obverses polished, therefore good fine or better (5) £1200-1400
M.C. London Gazette 27 December 1917:
'Rendered much useful service in command of a Company; he has always displayed a marked coolness and disregard of personal risk
in action. His personal example and quiet manner of control in action have been most beneficial to his Company. At Mahiwa on 15th
Oct. 1917 he was in command of the vanguard; the manner in which he handled his Company during a very anxious and trying day
reflects the greatest credit on his skill and leadership. His personal courage and example in this action had a most steadying effect on
all ranks.'
Maxwell is referred to several times in With the Nigerians in German East Africa by W. D. Downes, London, 1919.
www.dnw.co.uk
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