London, Nov. 11.
Wisdom after events is the prerogative of certain war historians but not of all, says Reuters military correspondent.
Captain Liddell Hart, the late military correspondent of "The Times", was for years a voice crying in the wilderness, His supporters, however, held him as the greatest military historian since Clausewitz His trenchant-and constructive campaign for greater mechanization of, the British Army some years ago was an uphill task. He argued, that fast tanks offered a means of reviving the former powers.of cavalry and from 1925 onwards he took the lead in advocating the equipment of infantry with armoured vehicles, a policy which was subsequently followed.
Summing up the first year of war it is by counting our trials up to date that in many vital aspects do we find the clearest warrant for confidence in the future. That may not be compensation for what has to be needlessly suffered but on a balance it registers a definite gain for the of the national. cause', Captain Hart discusses lessons learned fromthe war- so far. the Nazis were conducting the war with far more cunning; how the French Army paved the way for its own defeat failing to adopt technique suitable to modern conditions; how. German strategy was to find the line of least resistance and abstain. from head on assaults. Captain Hart recalls his pre-war opinion that to give an offensive'.a reasonable prospect -óf success, attackers would need a superiority of three-to-one in -weapons like tanks and aircraft, The Germans built up a margin of fully. four-to-one before attempting an offensive in the west and even took care to avoid a direct attack on the Maginot Line.
On.the British side Captain Hart is restrained in his criticisms of their methods, which he declares, led to their. failure, Instead he is cone structive and advocates a new war policy. He declares that Britain's first requirement is make Britain as secure as possible; but this can be re" conciled with defence in the Mediterranean if the position is viewed as a whole and an opportunity created for reviving the historic "British war in warfare" in a modern form "ever since Crecy and Agincourt it has always been the British technique to rely on superiority in quality. Against mass we pitted mobility. The defeat of the Armada was a supreme example."
The problem of the immediate future is a dual one—to repel any attempted invasion by land forces while defeating the submarine and air counter blockade, Captain Hart believes it is within the scope of the British forces, as now constituted, io accomplish this gigantic task.—~
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.