"OUR MILITARY BRASS-HATS"
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Snt,—I desire to point out that in my letter commenting on Mr. E. L. Woodward's remarks I stated there was an implica- tion in those remarks that prior to the Great War our com- manders'and staffs had neglcc:ed preparation and thought.
I know from experience at their hospitable board that the Fellows of All Souls College are masters of such subtle implica- tions. On such occasions they serve their purpose and lead up to interesting discussion and argument. But what is suitable in conversation after dinner may be out of place in the printed word.
There is a similar implication in the first sentence of Mr. Woodward's letter published by you on April 30th. Even as many others and I read Mr. Woodward's previous remarks to imply that there had been neglect prior to the Great Wari though no direct statement was, we admit, made to that effect : so the statement now made in his first sentence implies that the time and attention given to study for war by British was not equal to that given by German and French staff officers.
I also have no desire to enter into controversy on such a subject which is one impossible of proof one way or the other. Such a matter cannot be measured in total man-hours, for both German and French pre-War staffs were vastly more numerous than ours. Further who can tell whether such men as the late Sir James Grierson or Sir William Robertson did not give as much time to their peculiar service problems as did Marshal Foch ? With such men the hours devoted to their life work cannot be measured by those spent in their offices.
One -thing 1 do know, and it is that since the Great War
many of the men concerned in the preparation for that war and its conduct have died at comparatively early ages owing to the result of previous overwork.
In these circumstances we who know them consider that certain matters might be treated from All Souls with those virtues of good literary composition, namely, clarity
and restraint. H. LETHBRIDGE ALEXANDER.
Alderrnoor, Beaulieu, Ham's.
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