15 MARCH 1997, Page 28

The Schlieffen Plan

Sir: When I was a cadet at Sandhurst before the war, we were told that the Ger- mans did not win in 1914 because von Kluck who commanded the operation lost his nerve (Letters, 8 March).

The Schlieffen Plan was to advance and capture the Channel ports (c.f. 1940). Instead von Kluck felt he was not quite strong enough and turned south away from his real objectives and to the east of Paris. Thus he met the BEF and the French on the Marne.

Had von Kluck not wavered maybe it would have been all over by Christmas, with a German victory.

R.C. Taylor

Aaron Court, 1 & 2 The Beeches, Sandford, Wareham, Dorset