Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/100/1 - February 1918 - Part 5

101 50
never heard anything
at / front except the
fullest approval of it.
Everyone thought it an
exceedingly practical move,
at last - at long last.
The papers state that when
the extension of the powers
o / council were agreed
to last month (in order to
ensure our all facing
this critical year together)
the offer was made to Sir
Wm. Robertson of which
post he wd accept -
either the post of Chief
o / Staff at Versailles
(for / English) of tt of
Chief of Staff in London
 

 101 51
with diminished functions.
Robertson refused to
accept either. So now
he has resigned & Sir H.
Wilson has been given / post
of C. G. S at Versailles.
I shd say this ws
a good solution - tt it ws
to / benefit o / country -
White is / only man I
know who is a friend
closely acquainted w both
men. He has always told
me tt Robertson, who is
a man whom he knew well
at / staff college, has
a strictly limited ability -
in his opinion. He is a
hard soldier, but without
 

101 52
an idea beyond / barrack
square - very strong &
efficient in his own
line but probably very
limited of vision; strong
almost to / verge of
crudeness - and rather
coarse - & narrow. White,
I can see, does not think
tt Robertson possesses
imagination. Wilson
on / other hand, he says,
is a brilliant, imaginative,
harum scarum unscrupulous
Irishman - with an
entire determination
to get on - who has qu
probably pushed himself
into the position he now
 

 101 53
occupied by a certain
use pulling of political strings.
But he has imagination 
- stocks & stocks of it.
It was he whose lectures,
at / Aldershot school for
Commanding offrs, so
impressed our officers over
there. He wd stand up
before / map & say tt
he thought, today, he
wd give them a lecture,
for a change, up on /
causes o / war - or
upon "who had won".
He wd tap (say) the
pink outline of Germany
with his stick & say
"Now what does this
 

101 54
chap think he has got
out o / war ......what's
his state of mind just 
now. Fed up? Well, yes,
he's very fed up - but
he'll fight on - German
is very tough - One o / 
toughest men on Earth -
he's not going out o /
war because he's fed 
up. Well is he going
out because he's starved?
No - I dont think so; hard
up for food, but not starved; 
- he will hang on in
spite of his hunger. Is he
going out because of the
strategical position of
his armies? Why shd he?
 

101 55
. . . . . ." & he wd go on
tapping the map: "take this chap .... or now how abt
this fellow" - & prove country by country
tt / German, looking at /
war, must be full of hope
& spirits - & his audience
couldn't help feeling tt
things looked overwhelmingly
strong for / Germans -
And then, just as he had
them properly depressed
he would tackle / other
side & show them all tt
ws weak in / German
xxxxx case - the flaw in
their hopes - & leave off
with his C.Os thoroughly
cheerful. An unscrupulous
clever man is a danger
- no doubt. But after /
 

 101 56
dullness strength of Haig you
cannot help looking with
relief to the infusion of
imagination, at last,
into the British Army
command. I supose tt
is why Irishmen had
always made our best
generals - because they
are imaginative, whereas
/ English are "practical" -
wh by most English people
is used to describe / well-recognised
virtue of lack of imagination.

Feb. 17 Started this morning
for Chaumont - the American
"Grand Head Quarters" -
as they call it - "G.H.Q"
 

101 57
by any other name would
anyhow. In the New York
Herald is the follg extraordinary
statement from Robertson:
(Interviewed by newspaper
correspondents as to the
official announcement
tt / Govt had, "with much
regret, accepted his
resignation," he said:)
"I have not resigned.
The only statement I have
to make is tt it is quite
true I will not accept
another either position" (i.e.
C.I.G.S, or British repve.
on the Versailles War Council).
"I do not see why you
 

 101 58
shd not publish my
statement," sd Sir. W.
Robertson, "but please
respect my wishes &
add no more."
Wh means, I suppose,
tt he will go out if he is
dismissed but tt / Govt
must dismiss him.
Well - he is making it
easier.
Asquith seems to me
to have been playing on
this controversy lately
as a means of getting
back into power - wh
is / real danger. He
sd in one of his speeches
(knowing tt / position of
 

 him profit and glory.
There was a pathetic passage in the Bolshevik
declaration to Russian workmen a few days
ago: "We are even now firmly convinced that
the German working class will rise against the
attempts of the ruling classes to stifle the
revolution, but we cannot with certainty predict
when this will occur." No more can we.

101 59
Robertson & Haig ws
certainly at issue) tt
he had complete
confidence in both of them;
that he believed they
were / men best fitted
for / positn etc (or something
in te that tenor) - It
looked like nothing else
but a bid for power on
/ place cry: "Robertson &
Haig! If you believe in
Robertson & Haig vote
for Asquith & Coy; they
will back them!"
God preserve us
from that limp snobbery
& jellybacked liberal