Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/262/1 - 1916 - 1934 - Part 3

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gradually I support it and hope for the best for it. But it

is really nothing more than a gesture as it is constituted.

Let us take a simple case. No Nation likes our

white Australia policy - not even some of the component parts

of the Empire. It is therefore a possible cause of quarrel.

Would we or would you repudiate it in an endeavour to eliminate

the cause of quarrels? The average Australian would not I 

am certain. If the League of Nations were ever to determine

the policy to be inimical to international relationships and 

were it to go so far as to order its repudiation would Australia

acquiesce? I make bold to say very definitely that she
would not.

Yours sincerely,

Brudenell White

TELEPHONE NOS. 
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COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO 
"THE DIRECTOR".      
IN REPLY PLEASE QUOTE
NO. 12/3/49.
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.    
"They gave their lives. For that public gift they
received a praise which never ages and a
tomb most glorious - not so much the tomb in
which they lie, but that in which their fame
survives, to be remembered for ever when occasion
comes for word or deed . . . . . "
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS
"AUSWARMUSE."
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL,                                             

POST OFFICE BOX 214 D.     
EXHIBITION BUILDINGS, MELBOURNE.

13th April. 1933.

Dear Dr. Bean,

In view of the effect which the Turks achieved with

their French guns at Anzac, you will be interested to see the

following extract, especially the last sentence, from an article

in "What Would be the Character of a New War" which contains the

result of an "enquiry" organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Geneva":-

"One may wonder how this principle of freedom

of trade in arms can be reconciled with the exigencies

of diplomacy. Of course, the government of a supplying

country can recommend a large firm not to accept an

order for artillery from a State which it regards as a

possible enemy. It can even forbid the issue of the 

loan which usually accompanies this kind of order. But

it is not always easy to know the intentions of a buyer,

and the large firms often argue that a supply of 

artillery, made at the right time, may attach a foreign

country to the policy of the supplying country, if only 

from the necessity to obtain supplies of shells of the 

same calibre. This is how it happened that on the eve

of the Great War the French factories supplied Bulgaria

and Turkey with arms which a few months later were 

turned against the Allies."

Yours sincerely,

 J. S. Treloar

Dr. C. E. W. Bean,

Official Historian,

Victoria Barracks,

PADDINGTON, N.S.W.

TELEPHONE Nos. 
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COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO 
"THE DIRECTOR".      
IN REPLY PLEASE QUOTE
NO......
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.
"They gave their lives. For that public gift
they received a praise which never ages and a
tomb most glorious - not so much the tomb in
which they lie, but that in which their fame
survives, to be remembered for ever when
occasion comes for word or deed. . . . "
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS
"AUSWARMUSE."
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL,                                        

POST OFFICE BOX 214 D,   
EXHIBITION BUILDINGS, MELBOURNE.

26th July, 1934.

Dear Mr. Bazley,

With reference to your letter No. 8767

of the 23rd July I am forwarding herewith a copy of 

the article by Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice,

published in the London "Daily News" of 6th November,

1925, for which you have asked.

The article had to be copied by hand

before being typed. I believe the copy is a true one

but will arrange for a check to be made to-morrow and,

if any errors have crept in, will advise you of them.

Yours sincerely,

J. S. Treloar

Mr. A. W. Bazley,

C/- Official Historian,

Victoria Barracks,

Paddington, N.S.W.
[*Walro*]
[*Wah 10
Craig Nairn
Buiy Rd*]

(Extract from London "Daily News", 6th November, 1925.)

"The Birth of a War Lie.

The "Contemptible Little Army".

by Major-Gen. Sir F. Maurice.

While we are waiting for the opportunity to clear up the

Corpse Factory story, which cannot be left where it is, another

well-established war story has been challenged. Mr. Ponsonby has

been making a careful investigation into the truth of the statement

that the Kaiser directed his generals to concentrate their energies

upon the single purpose of walking over "General French's contemptible

little army". He has got a German general to make a

search of the files of the newspapers of his country, and he says

that he has nowhere been able to find any report of a speech by

the Kaiser referring to our army in such terms; and to clinch

the matter he has obtained a statement from Doorn by the Kaiser

that he never said anything of the kind.

General Sir Neill Malcolm has just reminded us that as

far as the British Army is concerned the statement was not

represented as being a part of one of the Kaiser's speeches, but

as an order to the German Army. In the Army Orders of the British

Expeditionary Force of Sept. 24, 1914, it was stated:

The following is a copy of Orders issued by the German 
Emperor on August 19:

"It is my Royal and Imperial command that you concentrate

your energies, for the immediate present, upon one single

purpose, and that is that you address all your skill and

all the valour of my soldiers to exterminate, first, the

treacherous English, walk over General French's contemptible

little army". 
Headquarters Aix-la-Chapelle, August 19.

Inspiriting the Troops.

Now it happened that our little army in the fourth week

of September, 1914, was having a very hard time on the Aisne and

G.H.Q. hit upon the idea of using routine orders to issue statements

which it was believed would encourage and inspirit the troops.

Most of these took the form of casting ridicule upon the German

army. I remember in particular a facetious little poem which made

great fun of the German Landwehr. These efforts were seen to be

absurd by the men in the trenches, and they were soon dropped.

It would appear that the report about the German

Emperor's reference to our contemptible little army first appeared

in England towards the end of August and reached G.H.Q. sometime in

September, to be converted by an ingenious propagandist, who was

searching for material of an inspiriting kind, into a German Army

Order. At the time no one was disposed to examine the alleged

Order with critical eyes, and it served its purpose, but it will

not stand looking into to-day.

In the first place, German Headquarters on August 19

were not at Aix-la-Chapelle, but at Coblence, and they were moved

a few days later to Luxembourg. Aix-La-Chapelle was doubtless

chosen with the idea that an Order issuing from a place on the

frontier of Belgium would confirm the impression that the Germans

were giving especial attention to the left wing of the armies of

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their enemies, on which stood the British Expeditionary Force.

Unfortunately, the Kaiser was never there in August, 1914.

A Telegram.

But there is yet another reason which stamps the Order

as a fabrication. On August 19 the Germans were quite uncertain

whether the British Army had landed, and they had no information

whatever as to where it was. On August 20, they day on which Sir

John French issued an order for the advance of his army from

behind Mauberge to Mons to begin early the following morning,

von Moltke, the German Chief of the General Staff, telegraphed

from Coblence to von Kluck, who commanded the 1st Army on the

German right: "Disembarkation of the English at Boulogne and

their employment from direction of Lille must be reckoned with.

The opinion here, however, is that large disembarkations have not

yet taken place."

Now anyone who knows the rudiments of German military

organisation is aware that the Kaiser did not issue orders for

the operation of his armies of his own volition. The constitutional

practice was for all such orders to be prepared by the Chief of the

General Staff, and that General Staff was certainly not so ignorant

of its business as to tell the German generals to concentrate

their energies upon exterminating an army, when they could not tell

them where that army was.

I have no knowledge of how the original announcement

appeared in the English Press, but I have not the smallest doubt

that the Kaiser's military Order which was published in our Army

Orders was nothing more than the invention of a propagandist.

It would seem, therefore, to be reasonably certain that the title

of which our first five divisions are prouder than any other was

not given to them by the German Emperor. The "Contemptible Little

Army" has outlived the Russian Armies only to join at last that

interesting fable in the realms of fiction."

Falsehood in War-Time

By Arthur Ponsoby M.P.

(Geo Allen & Unwin. 1928)

pp. 84-7

In an annexe to BEF Routine Orders of Sept 24 1914 the follg was issued:-

"The follg is a copy of Orders issued by the Germ Emperor on Aug 19

'It is my Royal and Imperial command that you concentrate your energies for the

immed. present upon one single purpose, and that is that you address all your skill and all

the valour of my soldiers to exterminate first, the treacherous English, walk

over Gen French's contemptible little army . . . . .'

HQ Aix-la Chapelle Aug 19

The results of the order were the operns commencing with Mons  and the advance of  the seemingly

overwhelming masses against us. The answer of the Brit Army on the subject of extermination has

already been given. 

Printing Coy RE 69 "

The authenticity of this official mily declaration was naturally never

questioned, altho one attempt was made to pretend that it was an incorrect 
translation.  . . . . . .

The Times Military (pdt referred to the Kaiser as being in "a high

state of agitation and excitability", and the leader writer in the Times (Oct 1, 1914)

refg, to the statement, said:

"In spite of the ferocious order of the Kaiser . . . today. 'French's 

contemptible little army' is not yet exterminated."

A thorough investigation of the authenticity of this order

was u/taken in 1925 with the assist of a German general who had

the archives in Berlin carefully searched, and of a  British general

Sir F Maurice, who was able to to throw a good deal of light

on the subject.

It was further discovered that German HQ were never at

Aix La Chapelle.  HQ moved from Berlin abt Aug 15

and went to Coblentz, later to Luxemburg, from whence they

moved to Chevileville on Sept 27.

A careful search of the archives proved fruitless. No

such order or anything like it cd ever be discovered. Not content with this however

the Germ general had inquiries made of the ex Kaiser himself at

Doorn. In a marginal note the ex Kaiser declared he had

never used such an expression - - - -

Gen Maurice had the Germ n/paper files searched

for the alleged speech or order of the Kaiser, but without success

In an article exposing the fabrication [Daily News, 6/11/25]

he remarks that GHQ hit on the idea of using routine orders

to issue statemts which it was believed would encourage and inspirit

our men. "Most of this took the form of casting ridicule on the German

Army - - - -  These efforts were seen to be absurd by the men in the trenches

and were soon dropped".

We may laugh now at this lie and some may be inclined to

give some credit to the officer who concocted it, altho he made a

careless mistake abt the whereabouts  of the Germ GHQ.

There could be no doubt as to its immense success, nevertheless there

are many who will share the opinion of a gentleman who wrote to the 

press (Nation and Athenaeum, Aug 8, 1925), who, having heard

that doubt was cast on the authenticity of the well known and almost hackneyed

phrase, remarked on "its extreme seriousness to our national honour

or to that of the Brit officer [[one?]] responsible", were it proved to be an

invention.