BOOK REVIEW

Rangiora Gunner, Volume 1, Issue 1, 6 October 1942, Page 8

BOOK REVIEW

‘ V® CURREHT OF W;.R" by Captain Li uAell Hart • Whan Captain Liddell Hart’s ”The defence of Britain” was published in 1939, Hitler called 0 special meeting of his Military Advisers at Berchtesgaden to discuss the problems it raised* It is a pity that Whitehall did not pay similar respect to the opinions of England’s most prominent military critic* In the pre-war period the technique of mechanised warfare with Captain Liddell Hart, as its most patient and able exponent - was elaborated in England and then because of it* newness made a present of to the Nazis* In ”Ths Current of War” Captain Hart traces the development of mechanised warfare. and gives an account of its use by the Nazis in the preaahtratruggle* However, Liddell Hart is much more than a military critic* He deals with the whole attitude of a nation towards ths problems of war* He suggests effective policy measures to bring the war to a satisfactory conclusion, and to ensure a more stable pence* But again, and this a most substantial BUT, in ’’The Current of War” we are offered no emotional assurance of victory, no easy way to peact* We must, to begin with, accept responsibility for the errors of British statesmen and military leaders in the recent past* There is no escaping them# ’-<• . .