Machine gun joke
Sir: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.' This inscription below the statue of David, to which J. H. Huizinga objects (Letters 20 May), was a wry jest by the Machine Gun Corps at the expense of the artillery, whose massive memorial nearby honours a far less effi- cient instrument of extermination.
Cf Lieutenant-General Lord Freyburg VC: 'Shelling never killed anybody.') The deadly effect of the machine gun in the 1914-18 war made the Corps the prime target in any attack and their position (unlike that of the artillery) — in the front line made their casualties heavy. There was not much for them to laugh at and I hope that J. H. Huizinga's paint pot will let the Corps keep its little joke even if it was not (as was pointed out at the time) in the best of (civilian) taste.
Owain Jenkins
Boles House, East Street, Petworth, Sussex
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