ABSTRACT

In a note written in October 1936, the journalist and military commentator Basil Liddell Hart cast a disappointed eye over the senior officers of the British regular army. Eight of the 21 Generals and Lieutenant-Generals were ‘dud’, ten ‘show signs of deteriorating’, only five were ever ‘first rate’ and only three ‘are now really capable of commanding in the field’. Of the 70 Major-Generals, he awarded the accolade of being ‘first-rate’ to only 10 (and he had reservations about five of those) and 19 were ‘good second rate’. 2 The root of the problem was that too many of them were too old. In September 1937 he publicised his conclusions in an article in The Times. It showed that on average divisional commanders were nearly four years older, generals holding the major home commands were nearly six years older, and Military Members of the Army Council were five years older than they had been in 1914. 3