17 OCTOBER 1998, Page 28

LETTERS Acute embarrassment

Sir: Ian Ousby is right to reprove me for allowing the illiteracy `marechale' to appear in The First World War, which he reviewed last week (Books, 10 October). He is wrong, however, in his belief that Gallieni is spelt with an acute accent. It would be interesting to discover how this common English misapprehension arose.

John Keegan

The Manor House, Kilmington, Wiltshire