STAND-BY FOR INCOMING! Yes, indeed, as 2014 and the centenary of WWI approaches you can expect four solid years of non-stop historical pounding from battalions of military history writers. Now, I shall expect you chaps, er, and chapettes, I suppose, to keep a stiff upper lip and face the coming ordeal with proper British stoicism. That bounder, Max Hastings, has broken the rules of the game by firing off his historical guns before autumn has properly set in which was supposed to be the time the starting gun would be fired for a huge barrage of war books - just in time for that period of peace and goodwill-to-all-men - Christmas! Allow me to provide you all with a very perceptive (what else would you expect?) intelligence briefing prior to this publishing war: the only really interesting things about WWI is the run-up to the beginning and the first six weeks, and then the Battle of Jutland. Yes, Gallipoli is worth a glance if you can take yet another example of British military ineptness amounting to criminal folly, but that's it, really. In between it was all non-stop whizz-bang-crump and another zillion dead or maimed - my dear, simply too, too tedious, er, except for the poor buggers involved, of course! You may read an early critique of Hastings's book at 'The Speccie' written by David Crane and entitled, rather suitably, I gather, "Why does Max Hastings have such a hatred for the British military?" Perhaps I should stress that I think his hatred is mainly aimed at the Generals and as the commander of the British Expeditionary Force for the first two years of war was the congenital military idiot, Gen. Sir John French, Hastings's animus is understandable and, by me, at any rate, forgiven.
Well, it was all nearly a hundred years ago so who cares? Well, not our current crop of Generals, according to a review of a book at the 'War on the Rocks' site kindly forwarded to me by my 'Intelligence Chief', JK. It repeats what has been obvious for years that the British army, fooled by the success of their Malaya campaign, which only worked because very early on the British agreed to independence which took the steam out of the communist insurrection; and trained in 'nicely-nicely' tactics in Ulster ('Bloody Sunday' was an aberration), they thought a few troops in Basra, wearing berets not helmets and with simply oodles of 'hearts 'n' mind' attitudes would win the day on the cheap. Big wrong! But did anyone in the military hierarchy complain, kick off on one, resign and - oh my God! - tell the truth out loud? Not a bit of it! They all went along knowing that it was their turn next for the top job, a knighthood and a seat in the Lords. This tells it the way it was, is and forever will be:
Consider the advice that General Nicholas Houghton, then commander of the Permanent Joint Headquarters in the UK (and now General Sir Nicholas Houghton, Chief of the Defence Staff, the equivalent of the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), gave to the British commander in Iraq, MG Richard Shirreff, in 2006: “…he warned him bluntly that he did not wish to see ‘unnecessary displays of military testosterone’ on the streets of Basra. He did not want General Shirreff to write cheques that the British Army would be unable to cash.” (quoted in British Generals in Blair’s Wars, p, 163). Maybe if the account had more in it, the checks could have been written. [My emphases]
Of course, they will claim today that it was lack of resources and money that led to British defeats - yes, DEFEATS! - in Basra, and in Helmand, but they lie! The fact is that the only sure way to grip an occupied city or a provence is to pour in overwhelming numbers and to pulverise any resistance with maximum force - ask 'Vlad the Impaler' who will tell you with relish how the Russians did it in Chechnya. If you lack the ruthlessness required then the answer is simple - don't bloody well go there! That's what Generals 'Plonker', 'Dimwit' and 'Moral-Coward' should have shouted at Blair followed by their resignations.
So, with a hundred years between two sets of poltroons we learn the truth of that wise old French saying, plus ça change, mais plus c'est la même chose! God help us!
