The Lectures in this volume are based upon the official Text-books
issued by the Imperial General Staff and upon the works of recognised
authorities on the Art of Warfare.
The aim of the Author is to examine the Principles which underlie the
Art of Warfare, and to provide illustrations from Military History of
the _successes_ which have attended knowledge and intelligent
application of Text-book Principles, and of the _disasters_ which have
accompanied ignorance or neglect of the teaching provided by the
Text-books. The "dry bones" of the official publications are clothed
with materials which may be supplemented at will by the student of
Military History, and the Lectures may thus, it is hoped, be of
assistance to Infantry Officers, either in the course of their own
studies, or as a convenient groundwork upon which the instruction of
others may be based.
The scope of the work may be gathered from the Table of Contents and
from the Index, and it will be seen that the general Principles
underlying the Art of Warfare are included in the scheme, while
advantage has been taken of the revision of the official Text-books to
incorporate in the Lectures the lessons gained from the experience of
leaders in the Great War.
Upwards of 230 citations are made of "Battle incidents," and, as an
example of the Author's methods, attention may perhaps be directed to
the reinforcement of the Text-book Principle of co-operation and mutual
support by the citation of an instance, on the grand {viii} scale, by
Army Corps (during the _First Battle of the Marne_), and on the minor
scale, by tanks, bombers, aircraft, and riflemen (during the _First
Battle of the Somme_); to the successful application of established
Principles by the Advanced Guard Commander at _Nachod_, and to the
neglect of those Principles by "Jeb" Stuart at _Evelington Heights_,
and by the Prussian Advanced Guard Commanders in 1870; and to the value
of Musketry Training by instancing the successes achieved at the
_Heights of Abraham_, at _Bunker Hill_, _Coruña_, and at
_Fredericksburg_, which were repeated during the _Retreat from Mons_
and at the _Second Battle of the Somme_.
While every effort has been made to achieve accuracy in citation, and
to avoid ambiguity or error in the enunciation of Principles, the
Author will be very grateful if his readers will notify to him (at the
address of the Publishers) any inaccuracies or omissions which may come
under their notice.
LONDON,
March, 1922.
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