A LITERARY LOG

Southland Times, Issue 21431, 27 June 1931, Page 11

A LITERARY LOG

ROLLED BY

lITA.

BOOKS ON THE TABLE

FROM SAMBRE TO MARNE. Looking at the Army’s Brain. In the great library of war literature there is no work more valuable than Briga-dier-General E. L. Spears's “Liaison, 1914.” One may be reminded of the magnificent official histories, the shattering criticisms of the great strategists, but their value to the future marshals cannot alter the fact that Spears has put into literature for the ’first time a satisfying description and explanation of the “fog of war” which descends on the opposing leaders, and has added footnotes to controversies which should end one of the most famous at least. It is an extraordinary fact that there are as many people in the world who know all hbout the conduct of war as there are accomplished economists. A man who could not organize a hockey team or supply enough strategy to outdo an opponent at tiddlywinks, will excel the best Napoleonic achievements with the aid of nothing more than a few pieces of bread and one or two military terms. This ’simple arrogance grows out of the almost complete ignorance of the way wars are waged. To-day the public is dragged into talkie theatres by the publication of the names of the screen “stars” because they make the direct appeal to the mass, and so the fact that the bulk of these wonders of the shadow stage are mere puppets in the hands of a director is overlooked. The public similarly listens greedily to the man who does the fighting and expects to get. from his lips "all about the war," forgetting that the strength of an army depends chiefly on the few who train it and direct its operations when war begins. Spears, then a lieutenant of the 11th Hussars, was sent to Paris for a term with the French headquarters staff when events were shaping for war, ami his brief description of conditions adds to the evidence crushing a story, and so generally discredited that one never hears it, that Britain was committed to France as an ally prior to 1914. No more stupid declaration was ever made public but it was swallowed and there exists a book by a lawyer prominent in New Zealand which argues most convincingly and ® demonstrates that France and Britain were allied before the war, and the statements by Lord Grey (then Sir Edward) that Britain was not committed were so much eye-wash. Spears’s few references to the attitude of the officers of the French headquarters, confirm the evidence of the known views of members of the French Government, who must have known more about this matter than a lawyer in New Zealand, and the extraordinary value of these direct contacts with vital details, though simple in themselves, should be noted as aids when other folk tackle world problems from a distance and misuse facts. When Britain at last entered the War and France's doubts were ended, Spears was posted to the Fifth Army as liaison officer. Laurezac, a commander of whom Joffre expected great things, especially in an offensive role, unfortunately nurtured an unconcealed contempt for the British, and this boded ill for the left wing of the French Army because Laurezac’s job was to work with Sir John French. From the outset there was trouble. By the time the British Army had come to affect the affairs of the Fifth Army, Laurezac was a disgruntled man. He wuas opposed to the plan of great headquarters, and undoubtedly he detected the German plan long before Joffre, so that his early work on the Sambre saved the French from a disastrous blunder, but his dissatisfaction seemed to make him behave like a silly child in his first interview with the British commander. What Sir John French thought of a direct, and wholly inexcusable, insult will never be really known, nor is it possible to calculate the influence on the course of the war of Laurezac’s unmanaged contempt of the British, and his suspicion of them. These things chimed in with his mental attitude to the campaign. Having lost faith in the higher command because he saw the German plan while his chief

“Liaison, 1914” (E. L. Spears) “The Flaming Crescent.” ' (Ottwell Binns) “The Five Red Herrings” (Dorothy L. Sayers)

still saw the main thrust elsewhere, Laurezao became cautious, even pusillanimous. * He extricated the Fifth Army, the most powerful on the front, by running away, leaving the British unwarned, and when he did stand to fight, performing brilliantly in the conduct of the battle, it was only when headquarters insisted and put on the ground a special man to see its orders .carried out. In the Fifth Army at the time in the less prominent commands were Petain and Mangin, destined to become famous, and one of Laurezac’s corps was led by Franchet d'Esperey, who succeeded his chief in charge of the Fifth Army on the eve of the Battle of the Marne. To the controversy over the first battle of the Marne, Spears contributes clinching evidence. He shows beyond all doubt, that before the end of August,' Joffre was thinking of the counterstroke against the German right and that when von Kluck’s turn was first noted and confirmed by British airmen, he was preparing. Gallieni, without being aware of the fact, was obviously part of Joffre’s game and though the Governor of Paris saw the chance offered by von Kluck on September 3 or 4 and communicated his ideas to Joffre, the Commander-in-Chief was already at work making the final arrangements for the attack he expected to launch on September 5 or 6. Gallieni saw the chance, but Joffre had anticipated it. Gallieni’s recognition of the opportunity enabled him to prepare so that when his instructions came he was ready to play his part. Joffre kept his plans to himself until the last possible moment, but the early moves, before Gallieni was aware of the trend of events, considered in the light of subsequent events, show how Joffre’s mind was working. In that battle the British were accused of being slow. Sir John French had not then recovered from his mistrust of the French staff, but the real trouble was a conflict of tactical plans made independantly by sections of the British staff with d’Esperey and Manoury. Of the British part in the fight there is no doubt. The Germans escaped but largely through their own tough fighting, and through the lucky chance which put Colonel Hentsch, of the Imperial General Staff, at the front, for an entirely different purpose. “Liaison, 1914” covers about a month, but packed into those four weeks are events of tremendous significance and breathtaking interest. Even now the story of the retreat of the Allies and the counterattack of the Marne is exciting, and Spears, who is lucid and impartial, makes it all the more startlingly real than any treatise devoted to the battles could. He has done this because he has written from the

personal standpoint, as a staff officer who was observant, and human. Through him we see the staff at work, and begin to understand how divisions or a corps may be lost for days, and how the strain in the brain-centre of the army is even more terrible than that experienced in the trenches. He notes the deficiencies of the French training, and their prompt change to meet unexpected conditions, but best of ail he sees the people in the war. He Is a keen observer, and he has dramatic power without being aware of it, because it shows in the delineation of small things as well as in the reproduction of a scene like Joffre’s appeal to French on the eve of the Marne. Spears gives invaluable personal sketches of French commanders. They make a gallery so fascinating that one would wish he could extend his field anil put more of these men into print. “Liaison, 1914” is an absorbing book, one of the most distinctive about the war yet written, and one which contributes clinching evidence to bitter controversies, clinching because it is so obviously impartial, and so clearly presented. Brigadier-General Spears has done a fine work —he should do more.

“Liaison, 1914” Is published by William Heinemann, Ltd., London. UNDER THE CRESCENTS.

A crescent of green fire and a green star shining between its horns appearing in the sky over an African desert would be enough to make any man wonder if the alcohol was quite sound, but Michel Chevrell was not. so easily fooled. It was the sign projected into the sky by the representatives of a powerful conspiracy working to start a Moslem Holy War in Egypt and India. Chevrell, a big game hunter, suspected more than an ordinary man might have, and being only three days’ march from Cairo, he proceeded there to see more of the mystery. This is the beginning of “The Flaming Crescent,” an exciting story by Ottwell Binns. In Cairo Chevrell meets with a beautiful woman who wears a black crescent and star, recalling the sign he saw over the desert. It soon becomes obvious that Chevrell is considered dangerous. As proof of this he receives a bullet in the arm. He goes to Paris, whither the conspirators have also gone and the chase is carried on through some exciting episodes, until finally in Dartmoor, the quarry is overtaken, the evil doers are captured or killed,’ virtue is rewarded, and Egypt and India saved once more. A highly coloured mystery story, but thoroughly exciting all through, and exhilarating. “The Flaming Crescent” is published by Messrs Ward, Lock Ltd.

LORD PETER AGAIN.

Ix>rd Peter Wimsey, that brilliant amateur detective I have met and enjoyed on other occasions, appears in Dorothy L. Sayers's “The Five Red Herrings,” an intriguing murder story set among a community of artists in Galloway. Here a well-known painter met his death. Evidently he met his death while making a brilliant sketch of a scene up in the hills. Lord Peter, however, soon realizes that the sketch is not the work of the killed painter. It was done by his murderer to cover the real cause of death, and so the killer is one of the artists. Difficulties rise. There are at least six of the artists who had threatened the murdered man, and not one of them can produce an unassailable alibi. Here is a case to please any sleuth and Lord Peter plunges in enthusiastically. The author must be credited with not a little skill in keeping up the interest in spite of covering the same ground several times, and certainly Lord Peter would fail as a fiction character if the incidents were not so plausibly and so brightly contrived. “The Five Red Herrings” is an excellent piece of work, enhancing the already high reputation of Lord Peter and his "inquisitive nose.” "The Five Red Herrings,” published by Victor Gollancz Ltd., London. RECENT MAGAZINES. In the April Pearson's there is a striking article, copiously illustrated on Buckingham Palace, and Maurice Lane-Narcott’s “My Guide to Spring Gardening” is all joy. “Great Monuments All” deals with some famous monuments of unusual size and beauty with special reference to the work on Stone Mountain in Georgia where a gigantic bas-relief of the Southern heroes, Davis, Lee and Jackson, is being carved. The fiction section is well filled, led by a fine "terror” story “Winged Terror” by G. R. Malloch. The Novel for May has fifteen complete stories including work by Florence Ward, Jan Gordon, Donovan Maule, Ethel Mannin, Gladys M. King and E. C. Davies. William A. Ucker has a particularly interesting short story in “Man-Made Laws” and Gwendoline Pitkin’s “The Case of Thursley v. Thursley” is worth the price of admission alone. Really good value. These copies come from Messrs Gordon and Gotch. IN DEMAND AT THE LIBRARY. Following are the best books inquired for at the library during the month:— Fiction: 1. “Hopalong Cassidy and the Eagle’s Brood” (by C. E. Mulford) ; 2. “Men Dislike Women” (M. Arlen) ; 3. “Idol Worship” (E. W. Savi); 4. "Mystery of the Channel” (F. W. Crofts); 5. “On the Spot” (Edgar Wallace); 5. “Th’ Big City" (J. G. Grandon). Classes: 1. “Worshipful Masters” (A. B. Piddington) ; 2. “Look at Chicago” (E. D. Sullivan) ; 3. “Star dust in Hollywood” (J. and C. Gordon); 4. “Since Then” (Sir Philip Gibbs); 5. “Steinhauer, the Kaiser’s Spy” (ed. by S. T. Felstead); 6. “Jungle Islands” (S. N. Shurcliff). SAWDUST. . Berridale Keith, a well-known authority, has written “An Introduction to British Constitutional Law” for publication by the Oxford Press. . Karl Kautsky, the German Socialist leader, is the author of "Bolshevism at a Deadlock,” which Allen and Unwin issue in English. A new volume of poems by Herbert E. Palmer, who entitles it “Cinder Thursday,” appear with Benn. “Blithe Waters” is the title of a series of travel papers in Suffolk by Granville Baker, which Heath Cranton announces.