Evening star., 1923-03-25
Distinguished British Soldier Is Selected
To Command Fortress of Gibraltar

OF his elder brother. is the King,
and owner OF those Scilly Isles, the
hrst bit Of English territory that
meets the gaze OF the American Wis.
| itor TO Europe at the entrsnc. oY tho
enamel. will always figure in the an
nails of the great war. as having com
| nsnded the memorable retreat from
Mons in the early months Of rio
Struggle. Owing to some unaccount
| a Bile mistake which many have iai5
at the door OF Field Marshal III
French, Sir Horace was left at Mons
totally unsupported, with division
or $4,000 men to confront the Ger
man Gen. Won Giuck who received the
most peremptory Instructions from
own 10000 men TO exterminate what
| he described as the contemptibIe
| little English army = - 0''
Sir Horace, thereupon. in order 70
preserve his forces from, being com.
| fall back and to retreat until thev
could come again in touch with the
| main army Of Lord French, and with
the French army. He conducted the
retreat in so mastery a manner
averted any undue loss Of life. guns
and material. and preserved the mo-
raj and the spirits Of his officers and
| men TO such an extent that when he
re-established contact with the
French, he was able to reassl,n,e +b q
offensive with unimpaired Strength,
ana TO drive the enemy back step by.
step, almost to the Belgian border :
| thus saving Calais and incidentailv
| also Paris.
The great Field Marshal Moltke IF
the war OF 1870. was wont to insist
that to conduct a mastery retreat
was an even greater manifestation
OF clever generalship and military
, genius than to make a victorious All -.
vance. According to the standard set
by Moltke. perhaps the greatest mill.
| tary expert In scientific warfare OF
the nineteenth century, Gen. Sir Hor-
| ace Smith-Dorrien's retreat from,
| Mons, prepatory to his resumption of
+, the offensive, was perhaps the most
brilliant feat Of the war, a view held
by Lord Kitchener, and by the lead
ing generals and historians Of the
! world conflict
But th-Dorrien was too nnuch
| OF q Kitchener man to get along With
] Field Marshal Lord French. and disA s.l
approved SO strongly of his miIitary
/ methods and of his character In gen,
| eral, that he declined to serve anv
/, longer under him and returned tc
: england. Lord French being recall.
1 ed and deprived Of the commander-in. !.
| chiet OF the British forces in France
| not long afterwards.
i: = y
! Sir Horace, however. was not Ief,
to rest In idleness in England. bu,
\ was sent Off almost immediately n
assume command Of the British army
in German East Africa, engaged in
adding the vast territory Of the kaiser
in the eastern part Of the dark con.
tinent. to the British empire.
| Sir Horace has been on two sepa.
rate occasions. recommended for the
Victoria Cross. for splendid pieces OF
heroism. and during his long stay in
J India acquired much fame among the
/ natives as a killer of tigers. He
| styles himself "Smith.Dorrien ~
whereas his elder brother and the
latter's son and heir. have stuck to
| 'Dorrien Smith" Asked to explain
this discrepancy in the order Of their
surnames. Sir Horace declared thai
the "reigning family" OF the Scilly
/ Isles were not quite sure in which
| order the names came, and therefore
| rang the changes on them, 80 that at
lsast one branch Of the house might
be correct