A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLV, Issue 10450, 1 December 1919, Page 2

A LITERARY CORNER

"THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN ' FRANCE AND FLANDERS.'' (By R. A. L.) Sir A. Conan Doy'q. . (Hodder and Stoughton, London.) This is Volume V. of tho history of tho British armies, which Sir A. Conan Doylo has published. Covering tho first half of the year 1918, it gives a vivid history of the dark days of the gieat German offensive which so nearly succeeded against us. The author sustains his reputation for carotul detail and considered judgment. The well-balanced narrative is remarkable for a passage in which generous justice is awarded to the great service done by the Australians and New Zealanders in stopping the great German drive against Amiens. The passage is short, terse, and very vigorous, and is the on.y outspoken tribute to tho great feat of the oversea men that we nave come across in all the writings, onicial and otherwise, that we iiuvo seen. It is a pleasure to quote it in full; Where was the retreat to be stayed? Was it destined to roll back to Amiens or .possibly to Abbeville beyond it? The sky had clouded, tlie days were mirk, the hanging Madonna had fallen from the catne- - dral of Albert, the troops were worn to shadows. The twilight of the gods seemed to have come. It was at that very moment that the first light of victory began to dawn. It is true that the oid worn divisions could hardly be said any longer to exist, but the new forces, the Yorkshiremen of the Sixtysecond in the north, the New Zealanders and the Twelfth in the centre, and very particularly the three splendid divisions of Australians in tlie area just south of Albert, were the strong buttresses of the dam which at last held up that raging tide. Never should our British Imperial troops forget the debt which they owed to Australia at that supreme hour of destiny. The very sight of those lithe, rakish dare-devils with their reckless, aggressive bearing, or their staider fresh-faced brethren with the red facings . of New Zealand, was good for tired eyes. There was much still to be done before an equilibrium should be reached, but the rough outline of the permanent positions had even now, in those hours of darkness and danger, been traced across the German path. There was but one gap on the morning of March 26th, which lay between Auohonvillers and Hehuterne, and into this the New Zealand Division and one brigade of the Second Australians weTe, as already stated, huf-riedly eent, the -New Zoalandors supporting and eventually relieving the Second British Division, while the Australians relieved the Nineteenth. .The line was attacked, but stood firm, and the New Zealahders actually recaptured Colincamps.

The account of the whole of this great battle of March 21st to 25th, called in this history "The Second Battle of the Somme," is a masterpiece of writing. The author in his preface alludes to the many obstacles he has had to fuce in "endeavouring to preserve both accuracy and historical proportion while writing contemporary history." He acknowledges that throughout the publication he has received from hia critics "kindly indulgence from an appreciation of these difficulties," with one exception. The exception is a series of articles which appeared in "The Times Literary Supplement,''' commenting adversely. They are, the author says, admittedly from the pen of the Hon. J. Fortosoue, who was at the time of writing the official historian of the war, a- position he has resigned since the publication of his strictures, on Marshal French's notorious book. The author's complaint is of the breach of ©tiquetto by the official historian in making anonymous attaoks upon a, brother author working on tho same object, and therefore "in the involuntary position of being a humble rival." This seems true enough. As to the major question of correctness, we could not presume to judge, even if the points of hostile criticism were indioated. whioh they aro not. What we oan say certainly is that tho narrative of the groat battle is very interesting by reason of its masterly handling of military detail and tho vivid energy of the style. Tlie author champions General Gough, the commander of the Fifth Army, declaring that ho made a magnificent, skilful and singularly bravo defence against enprmously superior foroes with his badly positioned, thinly drawnout forces, with very small supports stationed too far in the rear. ■He also defends the British armies on which the brunt of tho great German onslaught fell. "The account," he says, "of how the British Army, upon which ' incomparably the greater pressure fell, rose to the occasion and first staved and then held tho terrafio flood is one of the most wonderful of military epics." A4verso comment has been made by writers and by troops arriving in the later stages of tbo battle and finally stopping tho enemy's advance, on the number of fugitives and the great .disorder in the retirement of Fifth Army. Tlie author accounts for those disasters by his descriptive details of tho fighting. These show how the huge losses thinned the holding lines, practically unreinforced, producing innumerable gaps of which the superior numbers of the enemy tpok prompt advantage; how the fire of the | enemy destroyed the telegraph and telephone lines, making the transmission of orders difficult, and often impossible; how the lines crumbled in consequence; how the broken remnants wero rallied, large numbers of various different units formins readily and making a desperato stand. The crumbling was accelerated, too, by tho fact that tho men had been accustomed to trench fighting, most of them having no idea of open Warfare, and naturally lost their units in tho swift evolutions forced upon them in difficult country carried on frequently in darkness. Every night thero were retreats of largo forces before tho enemy pressure passing through gaps when it was physically impossible for the defence, owing to its losses, to cover the -ground. Naturally, there wars throngs wandering down tho main roads, objection* and practically lost. But they wtre always rounded up I at th« river crossings and other places whera thoy could b* headed eff, «nd jwhen formed up in crowds of mixed troops they always fought heroically, t Such is his account of the fighting and th» gonoralship which in spite of all [difficulties ultimately avoided final disaster, and turned the tido of war. Tho whole story, as Sir Arthur tolls it, is |an appeal tfi the judgment and. admir-)

ation of the reader, and considering the many .adverse criticisms of the behaviour of the rank and file, is n. very welcome and praiseworthy attempt to put- the great battlo mto its right perspective. Sir Arthur's story is -worth} of Professor Pollard's description in the "Daily Chronicle" as "a book which should appeal to every Briton ano should shame those who wish to malv. of no effect tho deeds and sacrifices recounted in its pages." "KATE PLUS TEK." Edgar "Wallace. (Ward Lock and Co. 212, Little Lonsdale street, Mel bourne.) The invention, graphio power and dramatic instinct so remarkable in th> African books of this writer, are here once' more displayed. The central figures are a perfectly wonderful girl who is princess of a wild b« of daring burglars, which she rules with a rod of iron, and a younger sci of nobility, of great courage and resource, who professes socialism am flourishes greatly among the detectivpolicer/ Scotland Yard. The wits of these two produce some hair-raising adventures which can be better imaginei than described, for you can't condens the book. Besides one must not spo, the story. It is a story of wonderfu variety, worked out by many cbarai. tors real and true to type, and th love-making is of tho most original The final episode is of the raiding oi a great train load of South Africa."gold, and its recovery by a mastd stroke which restores it ; in tho mom unexpected manner (uot without humour) to the lamenting directors of tin gold-mining company. Ono of the bes: j stories of ijlie year. I "IN PERIL OF "THE SEA." M. T. Hainsselin. (Hoddeir and Stoughton, London.) Like the land, the sea has its perils. In war these perils are magnified. Among the rest there is the peril o: being blown up by an infernal machine. That is tho peril that con fronts H.M.S. Marathon. An Irishman —probably Sinn Feiner—goe adrift in a "boat with the iafernaj thing,, and a couple of young ladieiare willing helpers, and the three get purposely in the way of H.M.S. Marathon. Picked up, they tell n story of shipwreck,-hardship, and the rest of it. The narty is -well treated, especially by the junior officers. There follow some tangled adventures, witii a love story, of course, and, incidentally, H.M.S. Marathon goes to the bottom. But t'he course of love fairly smooth nevertheless. It is a fine bit of construction, worth reading, for the naval men and the three derelicts, two of them charming and the third as irgly-hcarted a villain as ever got blown up, are real people, one or two with good brains, such as detectives like to possess, and the navy colour is all right throughout. "THE WOMAN'S FOOTPRINT." E. R. Punshon. (Hodder and Stoughton. London.). White women, awfully nice girls, as somebody with an eye in his head dftclared, carried "off into the heart (~ Africa by an Airab slave-dealer at the head of a big, disciplined gang oi armed men. It is a. startling situa tion,' and yields a fine story of wit. courage, and good luck not without some defiance of probability. "THE^ETRAYERS>" Hamilton Drummond. (Stanley Paul and Co., 31, Elssex street', Strand, W. 0., London.) Historical works, when well done, are good lights far tho reading 01 history, if they are properly constructed. They keep the pageant of history going, the great characters of history do their familiar part in shaking the world of their day, and the children of the author's brain, who are the chief characters of his story, give motive to some of the actions of the real men of old in a convincing manner. The result is that you learn something of history and enjoy the story to boot. This novel comes up to that standard. The great/ Emperor Frederic makes war on the Pope and the City of Parma s fighting battles, hanging people 'right- and left, and doing the usual devastation of war and occupation of hostile country, whose people object after their manner. During these proceedings he narrowly escapes heing poisoned by n faithful retainer, the question of whose guilt is one of the mysteries of history. But it is not. a mystery to the author, who makes a fine story of it/, and cleverly reviews the historio evidences. He unravels the mystery with the aid of much fighting, hard galloping, and some incidental love-making. "A WOMAN OF~~ACTION." Paul Trent. {Ward, Look and Co., 211, Little Lonsdale street, Melbourne.) Paul Trent is at his best in -this story—a woman, of course, commencing with a lover, who finds a mine in West Africa, a man who is not a gentleman, who cheats the lover out I of his mine, and wants to cheat him out of his lady as well. The lover 13 murdered, and there if) a proper oldfashioned tangle. The tangle is straightened, out in the best Trent manner, which is the mannec of a wizard with a wand, so to speak, and, therefore, convincing.