Experiences of a Dug-out, 1914-1918 | Page 7

have done what the "Old Contemptibles" did -- Conclusion.
CHAPTER I
THE OUTBREAK OF WAR
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 until 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.
In a record of experiences during the Great War that were for the most
part undergone within the War Office itself, it is impossible to
overcome the temptation to draw attention at the start to the

unreasonably disparaging attitude towards that institution which has
been adopted so generally throughout the country. Nobody will contend
that hideous blunders were not committed by some departments of the
central administration of the Army in Whitehall during the progress of
the struggle. It has to be admitted that considerable sums of money
were from time to time wasted--it could hardly be otherwise in such
strenuous times. A regrettable lack of foresight was undoubtedly
displayed in some particulars. But tremendous difficulties, difficulties
for the existence of which the military authorities were nowise to blame,
had on the other hand to be overcome--and they were overcome. Nor
can the War Office be robbed of its claim to have borne the chief share
in performing what was the greatest miracle of all the miracles
performed during the course of the contest. Within the space of less
than two years the United Kingdom was, mainly by the exertions of the
War Office, transformed into a Great Military Power. That achievement
covers up many transgressions.
It has to be remembered that in this matter the detractors had it all their
own way during the struggle. Anybody harbouring a grievance, real or
imaginary, was at liberty to air his wrongs, whereas the mouths of
soldiers in a position to reply had perforce to remain closed and have to
a great extent still to remain closed. The disgruntled had the field pretty
well to themselves. Ridiculous stories for which there was not one atom
of foundation have gained currency, either because those who knew the
truth were precluded by their official status from revealing the facts or
because no one took the trouble to contradict the absurdities. Some of
these yarns saw the light in the newspapers, and the credulity of the
public in accepting everything that happens to appear in the Press is
one of the curiosities of the age. Not, however, that many of the
criticisms of which the War Office was the subject during the
protracted broil were not fully warranted. Some of them were indeed
most helpful. But others were based on a positively grovelling
ignorance of the circumstances governing the subject at issue. Surely it
is an odd thing that, whereas your layman will shy at committing
himself in regard to legal problems, will not dream of debating medical
questions, will shrink from expressing opinions on matters involving
acquaintance with technical science, will even be somewhat guarded in

his utterances concerning the organization and handling of fleets,
everybody is eager to lay the law down respecting the conduct of war
on land.
A reference has been made above to the extraordinary difficulties under
which the War Office laboured during the war. The greatest of these, at
all events during the early days, was the total misconception of the
international situation of which H.M. Government had been guilty--or
had apparently been guilty--during the years immediately preceding the
outbreak of hostilities. No intelligible and satisfactory explanation of
this has ever been put forward. Their conduct in this connection had
been the conduct of fools, or of knaves, or