THE SERVICES.
A Chapter of Misfortunes. By Major-General W. D. Bird. (Forster Groom. Ss. 6d. net.) A Chapter of Misfortunes. By Major-General W. D. Bird. (Forster Groom. Ss. 6d. net.) General Bird, the well-known writer on strategy, has reviewed in this book the battles of Ctesiphon and the Dujailali Redoubt in the winter of 1915-16. He has used the war diaries and a Turkish semi-official account as well as the well-known books on the Tigris campaign, and his narrative is by far the fullest and most intelligible that we have seen. His comments are temperate and fair. General Townshend fought and won the action at Ctesiphon against a Turkish army of thrice his strength because his superior, General Nixon, took an unduly optimistic view of the apparently misleading information with which he was supplied. The author reminds us that Napoleon, Wellington, and Moltke all made mistakes for want of accurate news of the enemy's movements and that a good general must always take risks. The action of Dujailah was General Aylmer's last and most serious attempt to relieve Kut, and much of the detail given by the author is new. General Bird suggests that the plan was unduly elaborate, but that with a little luck and a little more initiative on the part of the subordinate commanders the redoubt might have been held after its capture and the whole Turkish line west of the Tigris rolled up. Military students will find the book most instructive.
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