Smith-Dorrien‪ ‬

Includes 17 maps and the First World War Illustrations Pack – 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photos

In this volume, Brigadier Ballard, provides a detailed biography and defence of his former commander, General Horace Smith-Dorrien.

‘With the outbreak of war Smith-Dorrien, who was a veteran of the 1879 Battle of Isandhlwana and the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, was given command of II Corps of Sir John French’s British Expeditionary Force (BEF). He was praised for his conduct during the Battles of Mons and Le Cateau in August 1914, and was given command of Second Army from December 1914 to April 1915.

Smith-Dorrien fell foul of Sir John French, whom he little respected, during the Second Battle of Ypres, when he recommended a strategic withdrawal closer to Ypres, feeling that nothing short of a major counter-offensive was likely to regain the ground taken by the Germans during their offensive.

French disagreed, dismissing Smith-Dorrien home to England upon the pretext of ill-health, and replacing him with Herbert Plumer, who ironically also recommended a withdrawal upon taking up his position; French accepted Plumer’s advice.’-Michael Duffy