War Is Nothing But A Duel On

The General Unreliability Of All Information Presents A Special Problem In War: All Action Takes Place, So To Speak, In The Twilight, Which, Like Fog Or Moonlight, Often Tends To Make Things Seem Grotesque And Larger Than They Really Are. Whatever Is Hidden From Full View In This Feeble Light Has To Be Guessed At By Talent, Or Simply Left To Chance. So Once Again For The Lack Of Objective Knowledge, One Has To Trust To Talent Or To Luck.

Responsibility And Danger Do Not Tend To Free Or Stimulate The Average Person's Mind- Rather The Contrary; But Wherever They Do Liberate An Individual's Judgement And Confidence We Can Be Sure That We Are In The Presence Of Exceptional Ability.

Whenever Armed Forces . . . Are Used, The Idea Of Combat Must Be Present. . . . The End For Which A Soldier Is Recruited, Clothed, Armed, And Trained, The Whole Object Of His Sleeping, Eating, Drinking, And Marching Is Simply That He Should Fight At The Right Place And The Right Time.

We Repeat Again: Strength Of Character Does Not Consist Solely In Having Powerful Feelings, But In Maintaining One’s Balance In Spite Of Them. Even With The Violence Of Emotion, Judgment And Principle Must Still Function Like A Ship’s Compass, Which Records The Slightest Variations However Rough The Sea.

But The Main Point Is That Soldiers, After Fighting For Some Time, Are Apt To Be Like Burned-out Cinders. They Have Shot Off Their Ammunition, Their Numbers Have Been Diminished, Their Strength And Their Morale Are Drained, And Possibly Their Courage Has Vanished As Well. As An Organic Whole, Quite Apart From Their Loss In Numbers, They Are Far From Being What They Were Before The Action; And Thus The Amount Of Reserves Spent Is An Accurate Measure On The Loss Of Morale.