10. The Contemptible Little Army

There can be no question that the most successful slogan for recruiting purposes issued during the whole course of the war was the phrase “ the contemptible little army,” said to have been used by the Kaiser in reference to the British Expeditionary Force. It very naturally created a passionate feeling of resentment throughout the country. The history of this lie and of its exposure is extremely interesting.

In an annexe to B.E.F. Routine Orders of September 24, 1914, the following was issued :

The following is a copy of Orders issued by the German Emperor on August i9tn:

“ It is my Royal and Imperial command that you concentrate your energies for the immediate present upon one single purpose, and that is that you address all your skill and all the valour of my soldiers to exterminate first, the treacherous English, walk over General French’s contemptible little army. . . .

“ Headquarters, Aix-la-Chapelle, August The results of the order were the operations commencing with Mons, and the advance of the seemingly overwhelming masses against us. The answer of the British Army on the subject of extermination has already been given.

Printing Co., R.E.69.

The authenticity of this official military declaration was naturally never questioned, although one attempt was made to pretend that it was an incorrect translation.

The indignation roused throughout the country was heartfelt and widespread.

Tbe Times Military Correspondent referred to the Kaiser as being in “ a high state of agitation and excitability,” and the leader-writer in Tie Times (October i, 1914), referring to the statement, said :

In spite of the ferocious order of the Kaiser . . . to-day. “ French’s contemptible little army ” is not yet exterminated.

On the same day The Times printed a poem entitled “ French’s Contemptible Little Army.”

The Kaiser scoffed at the British Army and labelled it “ contemptible ” because it was small. He felt grossly insulted that any army that did not count its men in millions should dare to assail the might of the HohenzoUems, and against this small British David, in a pronouncement which will certainly be historic, he directed his Goliath legions to “ concentrate their energies.”

“ Daily Express,” October 2, 1914.

Mr. Churchill made great play with it in a recrtiiting speech at the London Opera House on September ii, 1914.

In March 1915 Punch had a cartoon of the German Eagle in conversation with the Kaiser : “ It’s like this, then; you told me the British Lion was contemptible —well—he wasn’t.”

And again, in 1917 (after the entry of America into the war), a cartoon depicted the Crown Prince saying to the Kaiser (who is drafting his next speech): “ For Gott’s sake, father, be careful and don’t call the American Army ‘ contemptible ’! ”

There was not a village in the land where the expression was not known and not a provincial newspaper in which it was not quoted, until at last the word was used as the designation of the officers and men who were in the original Expeditionary Force. They became known as “ the old Contemptibles.”

A thorough investigation of the authenticity of this order, “ issued by the Kaiser,” was undertaken in 1925 with the assistance of a German General, who had the archives in Berlin carefully searched, and of a British General, Sir F. Maurice, who was able to throw a good deal of light on the subject.

While the Kaiser’s proverbially foolish indiscretion might account for any preposterous utterance, it was known that he did not issue orders of his own vohtion ; they were prepared for him by his Staff, which was certainly not so ignorant of its business as to tell the German Generals to concentrate their energies upon the extermination of an army when they could not tell them where that army was. Their ignorance of the whereabouts of the British Army was proved by a telegram sent by the German Chief of the Staff to Von Kluck on August 20th (the day after the issue of the supposed order): “ Disembarkation of English at Boulogne must be reckoned with. The opinion here, however, is that large disembarkations have not yet taken place.”

It was further discovered that German Headquarters were never at Aix la Chapelle. Headquarters moved from Berlin about August 15 th and went to Coblenx, later to Luxemburg, from whence they moved to Charleville on September 27th.

A careful search in the archives proved fruitless. No such order or anything like it could be discovered. Not content with this, however, the German General had inquiries made of the ex-Kaiser himself at Doom. In a marginal note the ex-Kaiser declared he had never used such an expression, adding: “ On the contrary, I continually emphasized the high value of the British Army, and often, indeed, in peace-time gave warning against underestimating it.”

General Sir F. Maurice had the German newspaper files searched for the alleged speech or order of the Kaiser, but without success. In an article exposing the fabrication {Daily News, November 6, 1925), he remarks that G.H.Q. hit on the idea of using routine orders to issue statements which it was believed would encourage and inspirit our men. “ Most of these took the form of casting ridicule on the German Army. . . . These efforts were seen to be absurd by the men in the trenches, and were soon dropped.”

We may laugh now at this lie and some may be inclined to give some credit to the officer who concocted it, although he made a careless mistake about the whereabouts of the German G.H.Q. There can be no doubt as to its immense success, nevertheless there are many who will share the opinion of a gentleman who wrote to the Press {Nation and Athenaum, August 8, 1925), who, having heard that doubt was cast on the authenticity of the well-known and almost hackneyed phrase, remarked on “ its extreme seriousness to our national honour or to that of the British officer originally responsible,” were it proved to be an invention.