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22 Feb. '15

My dear Buchan. -

I have delayed acknowledging your 1st volume
of the History of the War - for which many thanks -
until I could read it: which isn't very easy to do on
service - one has so little spare time, & even now I
haven't read it all.

I think it is most lucid & excellent in every way, &
I congratulate you heartily on it. Your criticisms of
the German Empire & the Emperor hit the nail on the
head every time, & all the preliminary survey of the
different nations & their positions, financial & economical
interests, & military power, are very good indeed: though
I think you overstate it when you say that "our troops
were without question the most professional in the world". p. 65.
The accounts of the different movements of the Armies have
shed (to me at all events) much light on the subject: I had
no idea the French had put themselves into such a prepost-
erous salient at Namur; & all the first movements of
the German armies are new to me.

I have noted a few very trifling errors: & the only thing
I have to grumble at is the maps - which don't shew the