Aug 19, 2025
I was interested in war as war, one of the great activities of mankind, irresistibly fascinating to a student of human nature. On my first leave, I went to my local bookstore in Trinity Street Cambridge, and bought a copy of Clausewitz in German, and read it through without being able to put it down. I stayed up night after night unable to stop reading Clausewitz. It's one of the books which most gripped my mind as a work of philosophy.
I was an eager soldier, not just a willing soldier, but an eager soldier, and alas perhaps an intellectual soldier.
British Staff Officer describing his war experience, from receiving his commission to taking part in the Battle of El Alamein
