A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
THE Sunday Times article on General Eisenhower's book has not created as much tumult as it might have. That, on the whole, is a good thing. Eisenhower was so conspicuously successful in welding the British and American armies into a single harmonious force that it would be peculiarly unfortunate if his book became a subject of Anglo-American contention. That is not to say that the Sunday Times article was unjustified. Misstatements of fact that involve wrong judgements of events and personalities cannot go un- challenged, and there was nothing unjustifiably polemic in the Sunday Times' Military Correspondent's treatment of his subject, though it is unfortunate that, no doubt for copyright reasons, he was unable to quote textually most of the passages to which he took exception. But the plain,fact is that the only person who could check and correct anyone so intimately familiar with every vital fact as General Eisenhower is someone equally well informed. That means in effect Field-Marshal Montgomery, who has other things to do at the moment than write books. For final verdicts between conflicting versions we shall have to wait for some time. Meanwhile it is as well to be reminded that all individual narratives, however distinguished their authors, should be accepted with some reserve. When all that matters has been published and collated we shall begin to move into the realm of real history.
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