17 MAY 1997, Page 30

Sir: I, like David Damant (Letters, 3 May), have doubts

if Alice von Schlieffen exists. I sincerely hope 'she' is a hoax. If Miss von Schlieffen is in fact real, what hope is there for a United Europe?

The Schlieffen Plan resulted in a major world catastrophe. When one reads William Jannen's The Lions of July, one wonders how the masters of Europe could have been such fools. Miss Schlieffen writes of the bloody battles of the first world war as if she is discussing why her favourite team should have won a sporting match. We should weep for a generation of young men who shed their blood in the Flanders mud as a consequence of the cult of the offensive.

William McBride

73 Yarranabbe Road, Sydney 2027, Australia