Page:Can Germany Invade England?.djvu/57

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THE INVASION SCARE
45

Lord Roberts interpreted in that sense. The man who recognised that " The transport of troops is a very risky enterprise, if the command of the sea has not been gained, even when the troopships are escorted by a Fleet which is superior to the enemy's ships,"[1] and that "No force is more sensitive about its communications than a landing-force; it has no broad base upon which it can fall back, but must retire upon a single point—its landing-place,"[2] was incapable of recommending to his students an act of suicidal folly; and no one can read the chapter on " The Cooperation of the Army and Navy in War," from which Lord Roberts quoted, without being convinced that the only circumstances in which the writer would hold it lawful to sacrifice even a portion of a nation's fleet in order to make possible the transport of

  1. The Duties of the General Staff, p. 554. [4th edition.]
  2. Ibid. p. 556.