Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918

ᴄ
Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918, by

Charles Edward Callwell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918
Author: Charles Edward Callwell
Release Date: June 14, 2007 [EBook #21833]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPERIENCES OF A DUG-OUT ***

Produced by David Clarke, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)

[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all other inconsistencies are as in the original. Author's spelling has been maintained.
Pages anchors have been added for the pages to which the author refers under the format [p.xx].]

EXPERIENCES
OF A DUG-OUT
1914-1918

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
THE LIFE OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR STANLEY MAUDE K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. Illustrations and Maps.
THE DARDANELLES Maps.
TIRAH 1897 Maps.
The last two of these volumes belong to Constable's "Campaigns and their Lessons" Series, of which Major-General Sir C. E. Callwell is Editor.

[Illustration: AT THE "CROW'S NEST" (page 273) 1. Colonel Maslianikov 2. Major-General Callwell 3. Captain Wigram 4. Major-General Savitzky 5. Baron Meyendorff]

EXPERIENCES
OF A DUG-OUT
1914-1918
BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR C. E. CALLWELL, K.C.B.
WITH A FRONTISPIECE

LONDON: CONSTABLE & COMPANY LIMITED 1920

NOTE
Some passages in this Volume have already appeared in Blackwood's Magazine. The Author has to express his acknowledgements to the Editor for permission to reproduce them.
Had Lord Fisher's death occurred before the proofs were finally passed for press, certain references to that great servant of the State would have been somewhat modified.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Page
THE OUTBREAK OF WAR....................................... 1
Unfair disparagement of the War Office during the war -- Difficulties under which it suffered owing to pre-war misconduct of the Government -- The army prepared, the Government and the country unprepared -- My visit to German districts on the Belgian and Luxemburg frontiers in June 1914 -- The German railway preparations -- The plan of the Great General Staff indicated by these -- The Aldershot Command at exercise -- I am summoned to London by General H. Wilson -- Informed of contemplated appointment to be D.M.O. -- The unsatisfactory organization of the Military Operations Directorate -- An illustration of this from pre-war days -- G.H.Q. rather a nuisance till they proceeded to France -- The scare about a hostile maritime descent -- Conference at the Admiralty -- The depletion of my Directorate to build up G.H.Q. -- Inconvenience of this in the case of the section dealing with special Intelligence services -- An example of the trouble that arose at the very start -- This points to a misunderstanding of the relative importance of the War Office and of G.H.Q. -- Sir J. French's responsibility for this, Sir C. Douglas not really responsible -- Colonel Dallas enumerates the great numerical resources of Germany -- Lord Kitchener's immediate recognition of the realities of the situation -- Sir J. French's suggestion that Lord Kitchener should be commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Force indicated misconception of the position of affairs.
CHAPTER II
EARLY DAYS AT THE WAR OFFICE............................. 18
Plan of issuing communiqués given up owing to the disposition to conceal reverses that manifested itself -- Direct telephonic communication with the battlefield in Belgium -- A strange attempt to withhold news as to the fall of Brussels -- Anxiety during the retreat from Mons -- The work of the Topographical Section at that time -- Arrival of refugee officers and other ranks at the War Office -- One of the Royal Irish affords valuable information -- Candidates for the appointment of "Intelligence Officer" -- How one dealt with recommendations in regard to jobs -- Linguists -- The discoverer of interpreters, fifty produced as if by magic -- The Boy Scouts in the War Office -- An Admirable Crichton -- The scouts' effective method of handling troublesome visitors -- Army chaplains in embryo -- A famous cricketer doing his bit -- A beauty competition outside my door -- The Eminent K.C. -- An impressive personality -- How he benefits the community -- The Self-Appointed Spy-Catcher -- Gun platforms concealed everywhere -- The hidden dangers in disused coal mines in Kent -- Procuring officers for the New Armies -- "Bill" Elliot's unorthodox methods -- The Military Secretary's branch meets with a set-back -- Visits from Lord Roberts -- His suggestion as to the commander-in-chiefship in China -- His last visit -- The Antwerp business -- The strategical situation with regard to the Belgian field army -- The project of our Government -- The despatch of the Seventh Division and the Third Cavalry Division to Belgian Flanders -- Organization of base and line of communications overlooked -- A couple of transports "on their own" come to a halt on the