2110-2-15-18

Thomas Nelson and Sons Publishers

35 & 36 Paternoster Row LONDON E.C.

10th June, 1916

Alastair Buchan, Esq., 9th Royal Scots Fusiliers, North Queensferry, FIFE.

My dear old Alastair

I hear from Mother that Monday is your twenty-second birthday, and this is just a line to wish you many happy returns. I am sending you Vol. XII of my History; but I cannot think of any birthday present. Wishing 'happy returns' in these times to a soldier has more meaning than in peace.

I suppose you will soon be going out to France again, and I wonder what your Battalion will be. The fight at Ypres has been pretty stiff, and the 3rd Canadians have borne the brunt of it. I do not think it a serious German advance, but one of their attempts to anticipate and postpone our own offensive. The real centre of gravity is still Verdun. I saw a man who had just come back from French General Headquarters yesterday, and he told me that the French have no doubt that they can hold the place. Their casualties up to date have not been as many as those of the abortive offensive in the Artois last summer, though I fancy they must be getting pretty tired, and it is impossible to believe that the

2.

German thrust can go on much longer at the same pace. The old Russians are doing wonders. It looks as if they were going to repeat Mackensen's performance last year on their own account. If they could put Austria out of action the whole situation would change at once.

I dined with Winston the other night. He was asking a lot about you. He says he is very sorry to come back from the front, but that there was no chance for him there, and he didn't want a Brigade. I wish I could make him see that his presence at home just now is ruinous to his reputation. He is a good fellow, and I don't want him to run amuck. At this moment he is one of the most discredited people in Britain.

Being at Rosyth you will be in the thick of the stories of the naval fight. It was a marvellous performance, and David Beatty's reputation, when the despatches come out, will go to the top. I regard it as a great victory in every sense, and especially in the moral sense. The spirit of our naval offensive, which has had no chance for a hundred years, has shown itself quite unblunted.

The Foreign Office have collared me for good now, and are giving me a department. I think I can manage it, but the volumes of my History may be slow in appearing.

I am very glad you had a week's holiday in Peebles, and I hope you are quite fit. The children are always talking about you, and longing to see you again.

With much love from us all.

Yours ever affectionately

John