World War: Defense Is the Best Attack

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The Liddell Hart doctrine thus inverts the saying that "attack is the best defense" into "defense is the best attack." To "strategic defense" he would add a "harassing offensive." frequent sharp, short blows delivered with surprise; artillery fire and air bombing to upset the enemy's supply lines and rest camps. The whole he calls "super-guerrilla warfare." Captain Liddell Hart comes to the conclusions which may startle those in the U. S. who assume that the U. S. will be drawn into the war and send another A. E. F. to Europe. He questions the wisdom for Britain herself of pouring forces into France—questions its wisdom even in 1914-18.

Rooting for smaller divisions with better weapons and plenty of trucks and tanks, he deplores attempts to prepare England for war by conscription of masses of infantry. Says he:

"For the aggressor, aiming at conquest, the complete overthrow of the opposing forces and the occupation of the opponent's territory may be necessary to his success. But not to ours. Our object is fulfilled if we can convince the enemy that he cannot conquer. . . .

"It is often asserted that a war of 'limited liability' is impossible, and also that to enter upon war with any idea of conserving our strength is to invite defeat. The first assertion is unhistorical; the second unpractical. We conducted all our wars until the last on the policy of profiting by our sea-moat and seapower to limit our liability . . . and had a sustained run of success in, and after, them that no other modern nation has known. . . ."