Staff of life
Sir: Mr Chowdary-Best writes that he is biased in favour of studies about war at sea by men who have reached high rank in the naval service, as aginst those of civilian theorists. Lloyd George and Clemenceau would, I think, have disagreed with him, as they believed that war was too serious a business to be left to soldiers, or presumably sailors. Would Mr C-B, to take the argument a stage further, leave the decision to bomb North Vietnam in the hands of air force generals, where it must be assumed, it effectively now lies?
The fallacy in this view is, surely, that the serviceman is trained to win battles, not to decide the sort of situations when the winning of battles makes sense. Someone must be in a position to say what the sailor, or even the ex-sailor, cannot say, that there are certain occasions when the pursuit of victory, or even thinking principally in operational terms, is a mistake.
Perhaps your correspondent has himself a responsibility in this matter, should sharpen his own pencil, and as a representative of society which employs the services, risk setting out his own views. How would he divide his credence, I wonder — and he might consider as a first rider, between Admirals Martin and Cosgrave and Professors Gretton and Hezlet?
A. B. T. Davey
23 Rheidol Terrace, London Ni ,
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