Where was Hannay?
Sir: A puzzle that I have never seen or heard addressed is this: did the French or British really have no inkling of the Schlief- fen Plan?
The Plan was devised when Alfred von Schlieffen was Chief of the General Staff, a position he held until 1905, nearly a decade before the outbreak of war. The Plan called for the movement of 53 divisions and must have required large-scale and repeated mil- itary exercises involving the mobilisation of the entire western half of the German rail- way system. Given the time available for either deliberate or accidental revelation of the secret, and its huge visibility, did the War Office or the Quai d'Orsay notice nothing? Where was Richard Hannay? Where Ashenden?
Alex Woodcock-Clarke
47 Hubert Grove, London SW9
Previous page
