In the 1940s, during WWII, George Orwell wrote a series of columns he wrote for the journal, Tribune, under the rubric “As I Please”. The forum gave Orwell carte blanche to report his observations of the state of affairs in Britain and abroad.
On December 17, 1943, he wrote the following,
“Yet I was not so wrong as the Military Experts. Experts of various schools were telling us that the Maginot Line was impregnable, and that the Russo-German pact had put an end to Hitler’s eastwards expansion; in early 1940 they were telling us that the days of tank warfare were over; in mid-1940 they were telling us that the would invade Britain forthwith; in mid-1941 that the Red Army would fold up in six weeks; in December 1941, that Japan would collapse after ninety days; in July 1942, that Egypt was lost – and so on , more or less indefinitely.
Where now are the men who told us those things? Still on the job, drawing fat salaries. Instead of the unsinkable battleship, we have the unsinkable Military Expert.”
Right Dick?
No comments:
Post a Comment