of the war. Here, or in the
Staff train moving with the Commander-in-Chief along the front, the
vast organisation of battle culminated in a few guiding brains from
which energising and unifying direction flowed out to all parts of the
field of war. Here were the heads of Q., of A., of G.--in other words,
of Supply, Reinforcement, and Operations. In a bare room, with a few
chairs and tables and an iron stove, the Director of Operations was at
work; close by was the office of the Quartermaster-General, while up
another staircase and along another narrow passage were the quarters
of the Adjutant-General; and somewhere, I suppose, in the now historic
building, was or had been the office of the Commander-in-Chief
himself. The Intelligence Department was not far off, I knew, in the
old town; I had been its grateful guest in 1917. The directing
Intelligence of the Army flowed out from here to the front, while from
the front, at the same time, there came back a constant stream of
practical knowledge and experience, keeping the life of G.H.Q.
perpetually fresh, correcting theory by experience and kindling
experience by theory. The complexities and responsibilities of the
work done were vast indeed.

"At any time," says an officer of the General Staff, "during the
operations of the past year, work was commenced here in the
office, or on the train, when G.H.Q. was advanced nearer the
battle-line, at any hour before nine o'clock. The work to be done
consists, in general terms, of co-ordinating all the arrangements
for the operations undertaken and carried out by the several
armies; the issuing of general orders and instructions for
operations, the details of which were worked out by the armies
concerned; the issuing of orders for the movement of divisions, of
artillery units, cavalry, and Tanks--in fact, all the different
services which go to make up the Army. These orders must be so
arranged as to fit in with the roads and railway facilities, or
the mechanical transport available, and must be so couched as not
to interfere or clash with arrangements made by the armies in the
Army areas. This necessitates very intimate _liaison_ with the
armies and with the departments concerned. Maps have to be kept up
to date, showing the dispositions of troops at all times, both on
the battle-front and in back areas.

"In addition, there are the arrangements with our