2110-2-15-16

XIVth Corps Troops S.C. B.E.F.

30-5-16.

Dear Mr Buchan: - Once more my sincere thanks for the latest volume of your history. Once more I am filled with envious admiration. Your account of the evacuation of Gallipoli is brilliant - One sees it, for the first time. Yet much as I appreciated it, much as I enjoyed your keen analysis of the German temper, your chapter 'The Breaking Point in War' is, I think, the summit of the volume. Perhaps my opinion springs from the fact that, keenly interested as

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I have always been in the psychology of the fighting man, I am here best able to measure the height of your attainment. Your conclusion (at least if it is not yours exclusively, the British Army has hitherto showed no sign of having made it theirs) that the 'advance must be by way of stages ..... capture ..... & then an artillery concentration against the next position followed by a second .... the use of fresh troops for every stage of the advance -' is, of course, exact, and I hope some of those who direct our destinies will not be above taking it to heart, The Germans certainly have arrived at that conclusion, as their methodical (& I think admirable in many ways) campaign against Verdun shows.

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While on the subject of this chapter of yours, - you quote a striking passage from 'Battles and Leaders'. This is from Frank Wilkeson's Reminiscences of a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac, an admirable book. I think it would be fairer to quote the title of the work in your later editions, than a reference to that all but inaccessible mine, 'Battles & Leaders. Either Putnams or Scribners published it, both in England & America.

I entirely agree with your parallels from the American Civil War. I have been preaching them from the very start. Incidentally there is one great lesson to be drawn from that struggle which you do not touch on - the inefficacy of a blockade, however stringent,

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as a prime weapon in war. Despite the inferiority in resources of the Confederacy, which rendered the blockade far more severe to her than ours is to Germany, it was Grant's armies, superior in numbers and equipment and led with a single purpose, that broke her - not the blockade. Despite the blockade the South all but won independence several times. You, who have done more to educate the British Public to the meaning of war than any other writer, might, I think, draw attention to this fact with advantage. Those who misgovern us have constantly diverted the public mind from the essential truth that if Germany is to be defeated, it can only be on the field of battle and by an English army. It is not the fault of the public if they do not realise this. According to the majority of the Press, Germany was to be beaten by

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the Russians, the Italians, the shortage of copper, the lack of rubber, the depreciation of the mark, starvation - one 'Aunt Sally' after another - anything rather than our own warlike efforts.

What is going to happen? Certainly, the German attack on Verdun must be delaying our offensive. But when and where is that offensive going to be made? Ever since Xmas the rumour has been that the British will attack from the Southern Area. Whether that is true or not, I don't know. But I am quite sure that if we do attack there we shall not achieve anything great. In my opinion, the attack should be made from the Ypres salient, It is not impossible, given sufficient artillery preparation & enough fresh troops, to break the line and seize Menin & Roulers.