Bernard Newmans War

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24723, 27 September 1941, Page 4

Bernard Newmans War

The first impression that one obtains from this book, which is described as a “first chapter of autobiography,” is that Mr Newman is a glutton for work. In the One Man’s Year of 1940, of which this is a record, he travelled thousands of miles, giving 502 lectures on 28 subjects, “ not counting 200 short speeches and broadcasts and published four books besides, “ together with 200 articles and short stories.” In all, Mr Newman estimates, he delivered himself of a million words in the twelvemonth, half a million of them from lecture platforms, the other half to secretaries —he dislikes the physical exertion of writing, he confesses, and prefers to dictate. The limitations imposed upon an author who is as prolific as this are somewhat evident in his latest book. Mr Newman does not exactly ramble, but his account of interesting and stimulating experiences is discursive, Some of his anecdotes are good, his impressions of

people and places are often lively and discerning: but his narrative is utterly non-selective, and there are pages of this work which can hold little enthralment for the reader who is not —as Mr Newman appears to believe everybody should be—enthralled by the literary personality of Bernard Newman.

The story commences in France during the “ phoney war.” Thither Mr Newman went as a lecturer, his charge being to relieve the boredom among the B.E.F. which Herr Hitler was subsequently to dispel by more drastic methods. He was a success at his Job, and after he had returned to England, went back again to lecture tc the French Army, with the primary object of raising the morale of the reserve division. He was not, he says, impressed with the spirit of the French troops. Long absence from campaigning had ensured in the middleaged officers, the leisurely and regular habits of civil life, and they were either content that the waiting war should go on for ever, or anxious to return to their families. The Maginot Line forces were different, the

One Man’s War. By Bernard Newman. (Gollancz.) 13s 6d.

men supremely confident and absolutely efficient, and he believes that if the same spirit had imbued the field armies, the invasion of France might have gone differently. Mr Newman was in France when the blitzkrieg commenced, and his escape had some of the elements that go to the making of his own thrillers. He declares that he owes his life to the driving of a French lorry driver, so inebriated that the erratic course his vehicle, pursued completely baffled the Nazi gunner who was trying to hit it from the air. lOf the reasons for the French collapse; Mr Newman has something to say. The two primary causes were, he has decided, Inadequate equipment and lack of spirit or comprehension of the war. He emphasises that this latter lack can be as serious as the first. “ The days of armies of slave masses have gone: to-day we make war with citizen armies. it is essential for a soldier to know how to use his rifle: it is equally essential for him to know why he is using it.” Back in England once more, he became a lecturer for the Ministry of Information, i His opinion of this greatly-criticised organisation is much more friendly than we are accustomed to encounter, though it must be borne in mind that Mr Newman was. in a sense, at the dispensing end of the department. He was giving out, or passing on, information 'to the public from the lecture'.platform, not endeavouring to elicit information from Ministry officials. He- travelled the length and breadth of 'the British Isles, including Ulster !He lectured to villagers. to Labour , audiences in “ tough ” industrial cities, tp soldiers in training, including special troops in a prohibited area; to the north of the Caledonian canal. One of his, books. “ The Cavalry Went Through,” was being used by these men as an informal textbook in unusual tactics, and Mr Newman admits that, while the _ young officers’ discussions with him were invigorating, some of them did not seem to appreciate that writing about tactical ideas is rather different from executing them. In' the many pages of casual description of his journeyings which comprise the latter half of this book, a picture is built up, artless but impressive of the way in which the people of Great Britain, soldier and civilian alike, have accustomed themselves to the alarms and inconveniences and shattering experiences of total war, and have overcome their terrors. Doubts they do not seem at any time to have possessed. Mr Newman thinks that had Hitler invaded England immediately after the Dunkirk retreat he would have had a 50 per cent, chance of success, but not because of poor morale: while “he does not stand a 5 per cent, chance to-day, and the figure constantly diminishes.” His confidence in the outcome of the struggle—“ a calculated confidence is based on what he saw during his busy months up and down the country. He expects that in the end a crack-up of German morale will finish the war. “After the German forces have had a battering, and after the will of the German people has been hard hit.” he says, “ then resistance will crumble at a great pace. I don’t know when the end of the war will come, but I am convinced that it will come With remarkable rapidity.” Our copy of this book is from Whitcombe and Tombs. A. L. F.