Now It Can Be Told · Chapter
II explained
The War Office reluctantly authorizes war correspondents in 1915, breaking Lord Kitchener's prejudice.
What happens
The War Office reluctantly authorizes war correspondents in 1915, breaking Lord Kitchener's prejudice. The narrator is among the first accredited correspondents, initially on an experimental visit in March, then fully credentialed in June after an adventure on the French front in Champagne, joining four others to observe the war until the occupation beyond the Rhine.
Themes in this chapter
Propaganda and Deception
The High Command's desire to 'write up' the glorious side of war while suppressing the grim realities, and the public's demand for truthful news.
Betrayal by Leadership
The army chiefs' failure to understand the nation's need for honest information, and their attempt to keep the war secret and sanitized.
Characters to notice
- Lord Kitchener
Prejudiced against war correspondents, gradually broken down by public opinion.
- Unknown Narrator
First accredited war correspondent, sent out in March 1915, fully credentialed in June 1915.
Key passages
“Even the enormous, impregnable stupidity of our High Command on all matters of psychology was penetrated by a vague notion that a few 'writing fellows' might be sent out with permission to follow the armies in the field, under the strictest censorship, in order to silence the popular clamor for more news.”
The High Command's profound ignorance of human nature was finally pierced by a dim idea that sending a few writers to the front, under heavy censorship, might quiet the public demand for news.
Critique of the military leadership's psychological blindness and their reluctant concession to public pressure.
“We want to know more about their heroism, so that it shall be remembered by their people and known by the world; about their agony, so that we may share it in our hearts; and about the way of their death, so that our grief may be softened by the thought of their courage.”
The people desire to know of their soldiers' bravery for remembrance, their suffering for empathy, and their deaths for consolation through courage.
The public's deep emotional need for authentic war news, contrasting with the army's sanitized reports.