Beach was commissioned into the
Royal Engineers in 1889 and served in
Chatham (1890)
Shorncliffe (1891), the
Curragh (1892–94) and
Cairo (1894). In 1895 he was posted to India where he was to spend most of his service. From 1895 to 1898 he served in the
Central Public Works Department (Military Works Service and Irrigation Branch) where his activities included constructing a section of the Lower Ganges Canal, as the only European in charge of many hundred Indians. In 1899 he was transferred to the
Bengal Sappers and Miners and was promoted captain in 1900. He commanded successively the 6th and 5th Field Companies mainly at
Roorkee and, in 1901, worked on the Khushalgarh Kohat Thal (KKT) railway. In 1905 he left the Sappers and Miners to pursue a career on the general staff, serving successively with the
Meerut Cavalry Brigade and the Dehra Dun Infantry Brigade. In April and May 1908 the British mounted a punitive expedition against the
Mohmand tribes on the North West Frontier where he saw his first active service as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General to the 3rd Brigade. He was promoted major in 1909 and served for the next two years on the staff of the
7th Meerut Division. In 1912 he joined the staff of Lieutenant-General
Sir John Nixon (Commanding the Southern Army) as Assistant
Military Secretary. In April 1915 Nixon took command of
Indian Expeditionary Force D, whose task was to invade
Mesopotamia (now Iraq), then part of the
Ottoman Empire. Beach went with him as head of the
Military Intelligence Branch. The
Mesopotamian campaign began well, with the rapid advance of a division under
Major General Townshend up the
Tigris River, with a view to capturing
Baghdad. In late November 1915 this advance was halted at the
Battle of Ctesiphon, 25 miles south of Baghdad. During this battle Beach received a gunshot wound, the bullet going through his arm and narrowly missing his heart after being deflected by his cigarette case. Townshend withdrew his force in good order to the town of
Kut-al-Amara, which he fortified. The Turkish army followed up and, on 7 December, laid siege to the town. It soon became clear that the garrison of Kut, while defensible, could not be re-supplied. The limited air drops available were insufficient. Four successive attempts to break the
siege of Kut all failed. On 24 April 1916 an effort by the paddle steamer 'Julnar' to resupply the garrison by river also failed. Food was running out and disease was spreading rapidly. On 29 April, Beach, together with
T E Lawrence (later to become known as 'Lawrence of Arabia') and Aubrey Herbert went through the Turkish lines under a white flag, insisting upon an interview with the Turkish commander
Halil Kut (Khalil Pasha). Ostensibly seeking to arrange exchanges of wounded and prisoners, Beach had secret permission from London to offer Khalil a bribe. This was brushed aside. The mission failed and on the same day Townshend surrendered. Over 13,000 soldiers became prisoners of war, a major defeat for the British. Nearly all the British commanders involved were removed from their jobs but Beach survived with his reputation unscathed. Nixon, in a despatch, had written of him: ‘As head of the Intelligence Branch he has shown exceptional powers of insight and organisation.’ T E Lawrence, in a report dated May 1916, while deploring that the Intelligence Branch contained no Turkish speakers and only one who knew Arabic, commented that ‘(Beach) is very excellent.’ The remainder of 1916 was spent in reinforcing the British forces and setting up much improved lines of supply. The new commander, General Maude, began an offensive in December 1916 and by March 1917 had captured Baghdad. Further operations took place in the spring of 1918 and again in the autumn culminating in the surrender of Halil with his army, followed by the capture of
Mosul on 14 November 1918. During this time the Intelligence Branch was greatly expanded. Beach remained at its head and was promoted successively to lieutenant colonel in January 1916, colonel later that year and brigadier general in January 1917. When the Ottoman Empire capitulated to the Allies in October 1918, they agreed to withdraw all their troops from the
Caucasus, leaving
Armenia,
Azerbaijan and
Georgia as three emergent states, independent of both Russia and Turkey. The British immediately sent a Military Mission to the Caucasus under General
George Milne, involving a division of British and Indian troops. They were to secure the withdrawal of the Turkish army, and safeguard the railway and the oil pipeline from
Baku on the
Caspian to
Batum on the
Black Sea, so becoming the predominant foreign power there. Beach was posted as head of intelligence to this Mission and wrote reports on several controversial issues including the status of
Nagorno Karabakh and the location of the border between Georgia and Russia. But all the borders were disputed, which soon led to bloodshed, particularly between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The British had no clear policy for the region and, by the late summer of 1919, faced with a resurgent Turkey under
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the
Red Army looming on the horizon and general lack of resources, Whitehall decided upon withdrawal. Most of the troops left and Beach was at last free to return to India. In 1920 Beach became Deputy Director of Intelligence at Army Headquarters India. From 1923 to 1927 he commanded the
Jubbulpore Brigade. He then reverted to England on half-pay, being promoted Major General in January 1928. From 1929 to 1932 he commanded the
42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division in the
Territorial Army, and on 29 April 1931 he was appointed
Honorary Colonel of the
42nd (East Lancashire) Divisional Engineers. ==Later life==