DEFENSIVE ARMOUR.
[TO THE EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—I note the rebuke administered to me in your article entitled " Armour of Offence " ; but may I point out that I was not so " foolish " as to blame subordinates in the Army for a policy of " do nothing " as regards defensive armour ? For all I know to the contrary, fifty thousand inventions or ideas may have been suggested by subordinate officers, but it remains entirely with those at the top s.3 to whether such ideas are favourably received. In this war, no new departures or reforms, so it seems, have been effected without Press agitation of the unpleasant order. Hence my effort, small though it be I suppose it is as certain as anything can be that before the end of the war we shall see defensive armour used, and if it is to come sooner or later, why not make it sooner ? Sir A. Conan Doyle has already advocated complete suits of armour for the bomb-throwers who attack machine gunners ; whether such a method, or simply that of covering the vital parts with steel of sufficient resistance, will be employed remains to be seen. At any rate, if by such means the reduction of casualties in
these attacks be only twenty-five per cent., it would be worth trying, seeing that the factor of man-power will ultimately prove the decisive
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