Analysis of War
La Guerre des Cinq Continents. Par le Critique Militaire de la revue "La France Libre." (Hamish Hamilton. 35. 6d.) L'Annee Cruciale. Par le. Critique Militaire de la revue "La France Libre." (Hamish Hamilton. 2s.)
IN the first of these pleasantly-produced paper-backed volumes " Strategicus " has collected eighteen of the monthly reviews of the progress of the war which appeared in La France Libre between November, 1940, and May, 1943. These articles have been widely read and appreciated and must have been one of the main reasons for the success of M. Labarthe's venture. It is, of course, a severe test for a writer to have his contributions to a periodical disinterred and read at leisure in the light of more recent events ; the number of military correspondents at least that could pass Fuch a test must be extremely limited. Yet, in reading these articles and savouring the delight of once more reading about war in the language of Guibert and Grouard and Colin, one is rarely conscious of any stamp of ephemerality. The reason for this success is to be found in the author's approach and methcd. He regards his task as the analysis of the phenomena of war, in so far as they are known to him, into their material, intellectual and moral elements. His instru- ments are a wide know!edge of military theory, a careful apprecia- tion of the particular situation about which he is writing, and logic, that science with which by tradition no Englishman and all French- men are endowed. He is thus able to present us month by month not only with a reasoned statement of what we ourselves would have thought if we thought clearly enough, but also with an attempt at fitting passing events into a complete picture of the war as a whole. There is no space to spare for concrete illustrations, but mention must be made of a few points which specially struck me. There are on several occasions penetrating analyses of tank tactics and of the way in which changes have been introduced in the method of using armour. There is a suggestive note on the application of the theories of Douhet and Seversky to the Pacific War. ' And there is a passage towards the end where logic is forgotten, and the author writes with modest but glowing pride of the achievement of the French troops in the Tunisian campaign.
L'Annee Cruciale deals with the period from June, 1940, to June, roar (these dates are wrongly given on the title pages as 1941-1942). The author takes as his text the words of Georges Bernanos: "Ii etait une fois, dans une petite Ile, un grand peupk sent contre tous." He passes in review the Battle of Britain, which he regards as the Marne of this war, the period of the air attacks on our cities, the Battle of the Atlantic and the campaigns in the Mediterranean theatre. His intention is neither to narrate nor praise but simply to fit the facts into a logical pattern. The two books taken together are a valuable aid to our attempts to see a most complicated struggle as a unified whole. They are all the more valuable because the author is one of the few continental military writers to realise the importance of the mastery of the seas.
S. H. F. JOHNSTON
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