THE BATTLE OF FRANCE

present war. He, too, thought we should not be
in a position to attack before 1941.

It's a most regrettable fact/ he said, 'but we're
short of everything. .. . Aircraft! Do you know
how many aeroplanes I, the Commander of an
Army, have at my disposal? Eight. Just eight.
I know of course that there's the Royal Air Force
and that it's excellent, but if I want to make a
reconnaissance I have to ask General Georges who
asks General Gamelin, who asks Marshal Barratt,
who asks Vice-Marshal Blount, who has a recon-
naissance made for me, but more often than not
long after it would have been of any real use/

'And what if the Germans take the initiative and
go into Belgium?*

'Then we'll have to start fighting this year, but
it'll be difficult. I should have liked to have entered
Belgium at the beginning of hostilities and occupied
a solid line on the frontier, instead of advancing to
meet the enemy—a very risky procedure—as we
shall have to. The Belgians would have protested,
of course, but that again is a risk to be taken to avoid

worse.*

Going back to Lille in his car, he talked about his
sons, about their education and the dangers that
beset characters in nations too rich and too happy.

164