Namur came to be realized. I spoke
to Sir C. Douglas on the subject myself--I believe before the retreat
from Mons began. A Committee was set up, to which I contributed a
member from amongst the gunners in my branch. The immediate
construction of a very large--although not nearly large enough--number
of 8-inch, 9.2-inch and 12-inch howitzers was recommended by this
body. Lord Kitchener approved its recommendations on the spot, and the
Master-General of the Ordnance started work. All this, I believe, took
place before Sir J. French raised the question at all. But past
neglect could not be overcome at a moment's notice. Experiments had to
be carried out, and designs had to be approved. To construct a big
howitzer with its mounting takes time even after you have the
machinery available, and in 1914 the machinery had to be got together
in the first instance. How the ex-First Member of the Army Council
comes to be unaware of the extent to which the factor of time enters
into the construction of armament, I do not pretend to understand.

To a retired officer of artillery who had kept himself acquainted with
military progress, it did seem strange that after the Balkan War of
1912-13, which had clearly demonstrated the value of high-explosive
ammunition with field-guns, the War Office should continue to depend
entirely upon shrapnel for our 18-pounders, instead of following the
example of all other European countries that spent any considerable
sums on their armies. No very intimate acquaintance with technical
details was needed to realize that there were difficulties in the way,
and that high-explosive is awkward stuff to deal with--a gun of my own
5-inch battery in South Africa was, shortly after I had left the unit
to take up other work, blown to pieces by a lyddite shell detonating
in the bore, with dire results to the detachment. To secure detonation
is more difficult in a small, than in a big shell; but other countries
had managed to solve the problem in the case of their field-guns
somehow.

On joining at the War Office on mobilization, and before any fighting
had taken place, I asked about the matter, but was not wholly
convinced that there was adequate excuse for our taking the field
without what our antagonists and our Allies alike regarded as a
requisite. Ever since I joined the Army in 1878--and before--there had
been a vein of conservatism running through the upper ranks of the
Royal Artillery. (When my battery