REALITIES OF WAR

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 63, Issue 4475, 10 September 1941, Page 3

REALITIES OF WAR

SOME REVELATIONS. “ Before every battle fought by the Second Army in the Great War, and on the eve of it, Sir Charles Harington sent for the war correspondents and devoted an hour or more to a detailed explanation of his plans. He put all his cards on the table, with perfect candour, hiding nothing, neither minimising nor exaggerating the difficulties and danger of attack,, pointing out the tactical obstacles which must be overcome before any chance of success, .and exposing the general strategy in the simplest and clearest speech. “ I used to study him at those times, and marvelled at him. After intense and prolonged work at all this detail involving the lives of thousands of men, he was highly wrought, with every nerve in his body and brain at full tension; but he was never flurried, never irritable, never depressed or elated by false pessimism or false optimism. He was a chemist explaining the factors of a great experiment of which the result was still uncertain. “ At the end of one of his expositions Sir Charles Harington would rise and gather up his maps and papers, and say, ‘ Well, there you are, gentlemen. Yon know as much as I do about the plans for to-morrow’s battle. At the end of the day you will be able to see the result of all our work, and tell me things I do not know.’ ” —Sir Philip Gibbs in his book “ Realities of War.”