and so on--had often been
mentioned in official despatches; the enemy not only knew they were in
Palestine but were fully aware of their positions in the line; their
commanders and brigadiers were known by name to the Turks. On the
other hand, in describing a certain battle I was allowed to speak of
divisions of Lowland troops, Welshmen and Londoners, allusions which
would convey (if there were anything to give away) precisely as much
information to the dull old Turk and his sharper Hun companion in
arms as though the 52nd, 53rd, and 60th Divisions had been explicitly
designated. This practice seemed in effect to be designed more with
the object of keeping our people at home in the dark, of forbidding
them glory in the deeds of their children and brothers, than of
preventing information reaching the enemy. Some gentleman enthroned in
the authority of an official armchair said 'No,' and there was an
end of it. You could not get beyond him. His decision was final,
complete--and silly--and the correspondent was bound hand and foot by
it. Doubtless he would have liked one to plead on the knee for some
little relaxation of his decision. Then he would have answered 'No'
in a louder tone. Let me give one example from a number entered in
my notebooks of how officers at home exercised their authority.
In January 1917 the military railway from the Suez Canal had been
constructed across the Sinai Desert and the first train was run into
El Arish, about ninety miles from the Canal. I was asked by General
Headquarters to send a cablegram to London announcing the fact that
railhead was at El Arish, the town having been captured a fortnight
previously after a fine night march. That message was never published,
and I knew it was a waste of time to ask the reason. I happened to be
in London for a few days in the following August and my duties took me
to the War Office. A Colonel in the Intelligence Branch heard I was
there and sent for me to tell me I had sent home information of value
to the enemy. I reminded him there was a G.H.Q. censorship in Egypt
which dealt with my cablegrams, and asked the nature of the valuable
information which should have been concealed. 'You sent a telegram
that the railway had reached El Arish when the Turks did not know it
was beyond Bir el Abd.' Abd is fifty miles nearer the Suez Canal than
El Arish. What did this officer care about a request made by G.H.Q. to
transmit information to the British public? He