GENERAL GATACRE AS A FIGHTER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue II, 13 January 1900, Page 70

GENERAL GATACRE AS A FIGHTER.

General Gatacre. who commands the Third Division in South Africa, is one of our youngest generals (says a writer in “M. A.l’.”). He first won distinction in Chitral, and then had the good fortune to be sent out to the Upper Nile to command the British brigade thatfought at the Atbara. This was a step to the command of the British division at Omdurman. Gatacre has the reputation of being rather a hard man. He holds that plenty of work is the best way of keeping soldiers in good condition, and in the Soudan he sometimes seemed to go out of his way to invent work for his brigade or division. He is a “first-rate fighting man.” At the Atbara he charged in the first rank, and was himself busypulling down the thorn hedge of the zereba. when a Dervish rifle was aimed at him at close quarters. He went on tugging away at the mass of thorns, simply saying to the man next him: “Shoot that fellow.” and the Dervish was dropped before he could make up his mind to fire. When the zereba hedge was passed, and the hand-to-hand fight began. Gatacre was in the thick of it. and ran one of the enemy

through with his sword. Some verygood soldiers still doubt if he was in his right place in this beau sabreur performance, and say that a brigadier, even during the assault, ought not to be out in the front fighting like a company officer, but in the midst of his brigtide, where he can bring up support to a weak point or check any temporary disorder. As a divisional commander the brave young general will lie safe from temptations to such displays of personal prowess. In this same Atbara fight Gatacre showed in one point distinct originality. It is generally laid down that it is useless for soldiers to fire without halting while actually moving forward. But Gatacre trained his brigade to fire while on the move, and during the advance on the zereba there were volleys from the foremost ranks. “Do you suppose that many Dervishes were hit?” Gatacre was asked by a critic of this novel departure. “I am sure that we hit very few.” he replied, “but 1 am quite as sure that we prevented them from hitting a good many of us. If we had halted to fire, we should have lest time. If we moved on without firing . they could have taken many a cool shot at ns. But our fire must at least have made them jumpy ami spoilt their aim a bit. So I think we did the right thing."