p.

10.

disheartening, this kind of thing. Of the only other two
officers I know who have gone to Staff College - one
is a little wimp in my Regt, with a pair of handle
bars on hia upper lip & who was so brainless he had
to give up trying to be a solicitor & go into the
Regular Army. And the other, from a Scotch Regt &
who is known in his Bn as a nit wit when,
when will they begin to realise that, having decided that
the British soldier, man for man, is equal to & superior
to the German solider - the main reason for the
success of the German Army is superior Staff work -
in other words, efficiency & organisation & hard work &
that those qualities do not of neccesity go hand in
hand with family, money & influence & snobbery
& being a good fellow in Mess & being able to talk
Regular Army nonsense & knowing how to cover up
other people's mistakes (dog doesn't eat dog). Do you know,
they still, out here try & stick to the tradition that
one does not talk politics in the Mess & one
does not listen to foreign news broadcasts. Oh God -
but these people make me sick.

But I must calm down - there is so little that I
can do about it, worst luck.

What else did Frank tell me? The time was so
short, & as it was he kept his plane waiting
20 minutes, they were pretty set up when we
arrived. I asked him what he thought about you
& Maxie coming out here - he thought that it
might be a bit hard on Max, that I should