Battle Studies | Page 7

the other;
the kind of wounds of the officers, non-commissioned officers,
corporals, privates, etc., etc.?
"All these details, in a word, enlighten either the material or the moral
side of the action, or enable it to be visualized. Possibly, a closer
examination might show that they are matters infinitely more
instructive to us as soldiers than all the discussions imaginable on the
plans and general conduct of the campaigns of the greatest captain in
the great movements of the battle field. From colonel to private we are
soldiers, not generals, and it is therefore our trade that we desire to
know.
"Certainly one cannot obtain all the details of the same incident. But
from a series of true accounts there should emanate an ensemble of
characteristic details which in themselves are very apt to show in a
striking, irrefutable way what was necessarily and forcibly taking place
at such and such a moment of an action in war. Take the estimate of the
soldier obtained in this manner to serve as a base for what might
possibly be a rational method of fighting. It will put us on guard against
a priori and pedantic school methods.
"Whoever has seen, turns to a method based on his knowledge, his
personal experience as a soldier. But experience is long and life is short.
The experiences of each cannot therefore be completed except by those
of others.
"And that is why, General, I venture to address myself to you for your
experiences.

"Proofs have weight.
"As for the rest, whether it please you to aid or not, General, kindly
accept the assurance of most respectful devotion from your obedient
servant."
* * * * *
The reading of this unique document is sufficient to explain the glory
that Ardant du Picq deserved. In no other career has a professional ever
reflected more clearly the means of pushing his profession to perfection;
in no profession has a deeper penetration of the resources been made.
It pleases me particularly to associate the two words 'penseur' and
'militaire,' which, at the present time, the ignorance of preconceived
opinion too frequently separates. Because such opinion is on the verge
of believing them to be incompatible and contradictory.
Yet no calling other than the true military profession is so fitted to
excite brain activity. It is preëminently the calling of action, at the same
time diverse in its combinations and changing according to the time
and locality wherein it is put to practice. No other profession is more
complex nor more difficult, since it has for its aim and reason the
instruction of men to overcome by training and endurance the fatigue
and perils against which the voice of self-preservation is raised in fear;
in other words, to draw from nature what is most opposed and most
antipathic to this nature.
There is, however, much of routine in the customs of military life, and,
abuse of it may bring about gross satires which in turn bring it into
derision. To be sure, the career has two phases because it must fulfill
simultaneously two exigencies. From this persons of moderate capacity
draw back and are horrified. They solve the question by the sacrifice of
the one or the other. If one considers only the lower and somewhat
vulgar aspect of military life it is found to be composed of monotonous
obligations clothed in a mechanical procedure of indispensable
repetition. If one learns to grasp it in its ensemble and large perspective,
it will be found that the days of extreme trial demand prodigies of vigor,

spirit, intelligence, and decision! Regarded from this angle and
supported in this light, the commonplace things of wearisome garrison
life have as counterweights certain sublime compensations. These
compensations preclude the false and contemptible results which come
from intellectual idleness and the habit of absolute submission. If it
yields to their narcotic charms, the best brain grows rusty and atrophies
in the long run. Incapable of virile labor, it rebels at a renewal of its
processes in sane initiative. An army in which vigilance is not perpetual
is sick until the enemy demonstrates it to be dead.
Far, then, from attaching routine as an indispensable companion to
military discipline it must be shown continually that in it lies
destruction and loss. Military discipline does not degenerate except
when it has not known the cult of its vitality and the secret of its
grandeur. The teachers of war have all placed this truth as a preface to
their triumphs and we find the most illustrious teachers to be the most
severe. Listen to this critique of Frederick the Great on the maneuvers
which he conducted in Silesia:
"The great mistake in inspections is that you officers amuse yourselves
with God knows what buffooneries and never dream in the