To Win the Battle/We Lead, Others Follow

TO WIN THE BATTLE/WE LEAD, OTHERS FOLLOW

This was prepared as an email to a friend, to discuss two books that I read, but on which I did not prepare reviews. It has been lightly edited.

I think I mentioned to you that I had read Robert Stevenson's book on the 1st Division in the Great War, To Win the Battle, but did not gain any startling insights from it. I have now read the Canadian equivalent. We Lead Others Follow: First Canadian Division 1914-1918, by Kenneth Radley (Vanwell Publishing, 2006) follows a similar theme. Radley uses a thematic approach, emphasising the roles of command and control, staff work and training in the development of an effective fighting force, with a summary chapter on three Canadian battles during the Hundred Days, showing how ‘It All Came Together’.

Again, there were no startling new insights (or maybe I am just old and jaded). After all, who would possibly have guessed that good leadership, effective command and control systems, efficient staff work and vigorous training would lead to a successful fighting organisation? That said, Radley's book is very interesting, and there were some useful points of detail (such as the demands by some Canadian battalion and brigade commanders for machine guns and trench mortars to be integrated into infantry battalions, rather than operating separately, and the strong engineer elements in Canadian divisions in 1918, three battalions and a pontoon bridging unit each).

Radley's book is generally more readable, but I think he must have spent a posting (he is a retired Canadian army officer) as directing staff at a staff college, as he has a propensity to ‘grade’ orders he has found in the Canadian archives. This makes the chapters on staff development, in particular, somewhat dry reading!

Looking at both books, I get the impression that a lot of effort is going into attacking the ‘citizen soldier’ myth, that once a uniform is on a magical transition occurs from citizen to soldier. However, books like Stevenson's and Radley's are preaching to the converted. Their likely readers already know that time, training, good staff and effective commanders are needed to make an army. The real audience is (or should be) the readers of ‘pub yarns’, or popular histories. The Campaign Series is a good approach to that audience, and should be continued, if only to get a toe into the ‘pub yarn’ market.

JOHN DONOVAN