what I thought of what I had seen in
the morning and told me that the German cavalry was the most perfect
in the world; but he added: "It is not only the Cavalry; the
Artillery, the Infantry, all the arms of the Service are equally
efficient. The sword of Germany is sharp; and if you oppose Germany
you will find how sharp it is."

Before I left, His Majesty was kind enough to present me with his
photograph beautifully framed. Pointing to it, he remarked,
semi-jocularly: "There is your archenemy! There is your disturber of
the peace of Europe!"

Reverting to my story. Personally, I had always thought that Germany
would violate Belgian neutrality, and in no such half measure as by a
march through the Ardennes, which was what our joint plans mainly
contemplated. I felt convinced that if ever she took this drastic
step, she would make the utmost use of it to pour over the whole
country and outflank the Allies.

The principal source of the terrible anxiety I felt took its root in
the thought that we were too much mentally committed to meet an attack
from the east, instead of one which was to come as it actually did. It
reassured me, however, to know that our actual dispositions did not
preclude the possibility of stemming the first outburst of the storm
so effectively as to ward off any imminent danger which might threaten
Northern France and the Channel Ports.

To turn from the province of strategy to the sphere of tactics, a
life-long experience of military study and thought had taught me that
the principle of the tactical employment of troops must be
instinctive. I knew that in putting the science of war into practice,
it was necessary that its main tenets should form, so to speak, part
of one's flesh and blood. In war there is little time to think, and
the right thing to do must come like a flash--it must present itself
to the mind as perfectly _obvious_.

No previous experience, no conclusion I had been able to draw from
campaigns in which I had taken part, or from a close study of the new
conditions in which the war of to-day is waged, had led me to
anticipate a war of positions. All my thoughts, all my prospective
plans, all my possible alternatives of action, were concentrated upon
a war of movement and manoeuvre. I knew perfectly well that modern
up-to-date inventions would materially influence and modify our
previous conceptions as to the employment of the three arms
respectively; but I had not realised that