LORD STRABOLGI AND THE ARMY
Stu,—In your issue of August 21st you attack me for an article on the British Army in Colliers Magazine, apparently basing your. strictures on certain extracts quoted in the Daily Telegraph. The Telegraph has been good enough to publish a letter from me protesting against certain mis- quotations and the use of sentences torn from their context which have misrepresented the whole tone of the article. This article was written at the special request of Quentin Reynolds, London correspondent of Colliers Magazine, one of the best friends this country has ever bad. Its whole object was to show that fundamentally nothing is wrong with the British Army ; that the military virtues of the British fighting man are as high as ever ; and, by so doing, to remove certain misapprehensions in America.
I paid the highest tribute to the gallantry and steadfastness of all ranks in difficult circumstances in the campaigns in this war. I also drew attention, as I have before and shall do again, to the need of a thorough reorganisation of the whole system of Army command, and particularly of the need of widening the field of selection of officers. The need for these reforms is thoroughly understood in Parliament and other informed circles in the country. Perhaps you will allow me to state that I have had a very large number of letters from responsible people supporting my arguments. The gentleman who saw fit to attack me in your columns would probably have written in a quite different strain if he had read the article and not a few selected and misquoted selections of it. Will you allow me to remind you, also, that in my years in Parliament between the wars I have been a persistent advocate of the necessity of modernising the training, organisation and equipment of our fighting forces? The need still exists. If my advice had been heeded His Majesty's soldiers would have been saved many a disaster.---I am, Sir, yours, &C., House of Lords, London, S.W. 1. STRABOLGI.
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[It would take a good deal of context to justify such phrases--f01 publication in America—as "Wherever it [the British Army] has fought on the mainland of Europe it has been decisively defeated." "Against both the Japanese and the Germans the British Army has only chronicled a dismal record of failures." "Only one British General with the neces- sary mental equipment plus the other qualities required of a great leader—General Wavell—has so far managed to win through to high position against the obstruction of the Government clique: "—Ea, The Spectator.]
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