The
same thing was observed in the Canadian Corps, General Currie, the
corps commander, having been an estate agent, and many of his high
officers having had no military training of any scientific importance
before they handled their own men in France and Flanders.
XXI
As there are exceptions to every rule, so harsh criticism must be
modified in favor of the generalship and organization of the Second
Army-of rare efficiency under the restrictions and authority of the
General Staff. I often used to wonder what qualities belonged to Sir
Herbert Plumer, the army commander. In appearance he was almost a
caricature of an old-time British general, with his ruddy, pippin-
cheeked face, with white hair, and a fierce little white mustache, and
blue, watery eyes, and a little pot-belly and short legs. He puffed
and panted when he walked, and after two minutes in his company Cyril
Maude would have played him to perfection. The staff-work of his army
was as good in detail as any machinery of war may be, and the tactical
direction of the Second Army battles was not slipshod nor haphazard,
as so many others, but prepared with minute attention to detail and
after thoughtful planning of the general scheme.
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