Letter

Letter from Sir John Dill, writing from the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington, to Auchinleck, sympathizing with him in his defeats and losses, especially in the fall of Tobruk; comparing the present depressing state of the Middle East operation with the disasters of March 1918, and declaring that, just as the Army in those days did not lose faith in Douglas Haig, so the 8th Army will not have lost confidence in Auchinleck, whose achievements, despite some setbacks, must have created great trust; describing the visit of the Prime Minister and Alan Brooke to Washington, their relief that Auchinleck himself has taken command of the 8th Army, and their regret that he did not do so earlier; and exhorting him to keep in himself the confidence that others have in him, and to restrain the sensitiveness which makes him vulnerable to the knocks and bumps inflicted by defeat in desperate battles. Holograph.