th degree of pomposity, as I had been led to believe by contact with other generals and staff-officers. Here at least was a man who dealt with it as a scientific business, according to the methods of science⁠—calculating the weight and effect of gunfire, the strength of the enemy’s defenses and manpower, the psychology of German generalship and of German units, the pressure which could be put on British troops before the breaking-point of courage, the relative or cumulative effects of poison-gas, mines, heavy and light artillery, tanks, the disposition of German guns and the probability of their movement in this direction or that, the amount of their wastage under our counter-battery work, the advantages of attacks in depth⁠—one body of troops “leapfrogging” another in an advance to further objectives⁠—the timetable of transport, the supply of food and water and ammunition, the comfort of troops before action, and a thousand other factors of success.