Evening star., 1941-02-16

as military handbook, Prime Minister
| Churchill availed himself of "the bril-
| liant, decisive victory at Sidi Barrani"
to call the conqueror's attention to the
seventh verse of the seventh chapter of
the Gospel of st. Matthew. The passage
reads: ASK, and it shall be given you:
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you"
AS devotee of Scripture in its war
like aspects, Gen. Wavell could not fail
to understand the hint. A dazzling
sequence OF victories recorded his
answer-after Sidi Barrani, Solum,
Bardia, Tobruk, Derna and Bengasi
The Army of the Nile" triumphed the
Prime Minister, has asked and it was
given; they sought and they have found;
they knocked and it has been opened
unto them" With characteristic gusto,
Mr. Churchill added the details:
In barely eight weeks, an advance
of over 400 miles has been made; the
whole Italian Army in the east of Libya,
reputed to exceed 10000 men, has been
captured or destroyed; the entire prov
lnce OF Cyrenaica, nearly as big as Eng
land and Wales, has been conquered:
the unhappy Arab tribes who have for 80
years suffered from the cruelty of Italian
rule, carried in some cases to the point
of methodical Observation-Disclosures
Bedouln survivors have at last seen
their oppressors in disorderly flight or
led off in endless droves as prisoners of
war"
Blow Wiped Out Division.
The opening blow OF that classic cam
paign, which, for the time at least, has
shattered the axis dream of conquering
Egypt and the SueZ Canal, was struck
just before dawn Of December 9, when
British motorized troops surprised an
Italian advance post at Nibewa, south OF
Sidi Barrani, and wiped out division
of Mussolinis desert fighters. Possibly
enough, the text of Gen. Wavells OPEN
ing operation was the seventh chapter
of the Book of Judges It depicts the
first night attack, of which there is a
detailed description.
In his brilliant volume, "The Palestine
Campaigns Gen. Wavell recounts that
more than 5000 years ago host of ir-
regular tribesmen in the plain of Es-
draelon, traditional site of Armageddon,
fed in sudden panic from Gideon'S we'll
schooled and handpicked warriors He
adds that the main principles under
lying Gideon's plan of action-his selec-
ton OF disciplined men. careful recon-
naissance and preparation, and use of
moral eftect-are as necessary for sue
cess in night operation as they were
in his time"
This is by no means solitary instance
of Gen. Wavells references to Holy Writ.
His books and professional lectures
bristle with similar citations
Warning From Book of Kings.
When he desires to warn fellow Off
GETS against rainy seasons in desert cli-
mates, he resorts to Kings, xviii, A, in
which Elijah sends a message to Ahab as
follows: Make ready thy chariot and
get thee down. that the rain stop thee
not" The danger of floods in Palestine
is pointed with a quotation from Jere-
miah, xii, 5: How wilt thou do in the
swelling of Jordan?" Violent changes
of weather in the Holy Land are illus
trated by reference to II Samuel, xiii,
20, in which it is declared that Benaiah
went down also and slew a lion in the
midst of pit in time of snow"
Scouting any hope that the British
may expect military assistance from the
people of the Nile, he remarks: The
folly of trusting to Egypt is an old story.
See II Kings, xviii, 81" The passage
reads: Now, behold, thou trustest upon
the staff of this bruised reed, even upon
Egypt; whereon if man lean, it will go
into his hand and pierce it,"
Gen. Wavell has recourse to scripture
for an answer in the highly current de-
bate of tanks against cavalry The prob
lem dates back to biblical times, he as
serts when the war chariots of the
Egyptians, Philistines and Assyrians
controlled the issue of battle in the
plains, but we're powerless in the Judaean
hills
Not All Quotations Pious.
In contrast, the hero of England's
African blitzkrieg is capable of utter
ances saltily modern and far from pious
Some of these attributed to him follow:
MY ideal infantryman has the quail
ties of a successful poacher, cat burglar
and gunman."
An imposing presence is useful
asset, but good generals, like good race
| horses, run in all shapes"
Speed is an expensive commodity
| In battleships, motor cars racehorses
and women, comparatively small in
crease of speed may double the price Of
| the article"
AS chapter headings, he is likely to
use passages in Latin, and compliment
the literacy of his readers by failing
to supply translations. Speaking of Sir
Archibald Murray's advance across the
Sinai Desert in 1916, he refers casually
| to the famous epigram of Tacitus on the
Romans -Solitudinem faciunt, pacem
appellant. 1t means: They make a
desert and call it peace" Paraphrasing
the indictment into form which might
serve as a motto for his own present
campaign, Gen. Wavell observes regard
ing the Egyptian Expeditionary Force of
"a years ago: "They turned the desert
into a workshop and called it war"
Expert at Winter Sports
Next to the Bible and the Latin clas-
sizes, his favorite literature is declared
to be the poems of Browning. After
the fall of Bardia, the Kipling Society