s and divisional staffs raged against the whole of
the Fifth Army organization, or lack of organization, with an extreme
passion of speech.

"You must be glad to leave Flanders," I said to a group of officers
trekking toward the Cambrai salient.

One of them answered, violently: "God be thanked we are leaving the
Fifth Army area!"

In an earlier chapter of this book I have already paid a tribute to the
Second Army, and especially to Sir John Harington, its chief of staff.
There was a thoroughness of method, a minute attention to detail, a care
for the comfort and spirit of the men throughout the Second Army staff
which did at least inspire the troops with the belief that whatever they
did in the fighting-lines had been prepared, and would be supported,
with every possible help that organization could provide. That belief
was founded not upon fine words spoken on parade, but by strenuous work,
a driving zeal, and the fine intelligence of a chief of staff whose
brain was like a high-power engine.

I remember a historic little scene in the Second Army headquarters at
Cassel, in a room where many of the great battles had been planned,
when Sir John Harington made the dramatic announcement that Sir Herbert
Plumer, and he, as General Plumer's chief of staff, had been ordered to
Italy--in the middle of a battle--to report on the situation which had
become so grave there. He expressed his regret that he should have
to leave Flanders without completing all his plans, but was glad that
Passchendaele had been captured before his going.

In front of him was the map of the great range from Wytschaete to
Staden, and he laid his hand upon it and smiled and said: "I often
used to think how much of that range we should get this year. Now it
is nearly all ours." He thanked the war correspondents for all their
articles, which had been very helpful to the army, and said how glad he
had been to have our co-operation.

"It was my ambition," he said, speaking with some emotion, "to make
cordial relations between battalion officers and the staff, and to get
rid of that criticism (sometimes just) which has been directed against
the staff. The Second Army has been able to show the fighting soldiers
that the success of a battle depends greatly on efficient staff
work, and has inspired them with confidence in the preparations and
organization behind the lines."

Yet it seemed to me, in my pessimism, and seems to me still, in my
memory of