In his tactless German way, Prince Albert pulled no punches: 'We have no general staff or staff corps, no field commissariat, no field army department; no ambulance corps, no baggage train, no corps of drivers, no corps of artisans; no practice or possibility of acquiring it, in the combined use of the three arms, cavalry, infantry and artillery.' The merest subaltern at the front could see what was wrong. Lieutenant Fred Dallas of the South Devonshires: 'What kills us out here is the utter want of system and arrangement in every department.'

LRB 20 May 2004 | PDF Download