An Interview With
John Elting
by Dave Watkins
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At right, Colonel John Elting in conversation with Peter Holmes, leading American Specialist Book Dealer at the Napoleonic Fair, London
My first commission had been from the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Stanford University in 1932. We were taught military equitation and the functioning of horse-drawn field artillery, equipped with the famous Model 1897 'French 75'. (Like Napoleon's gunners, I had learned something about what horses could do and the problems of caring for them knowledge unavailable to later motorised/mechanised artillerymen.)
In those informal days I could combine college with summer duty in Company H (machine guns), 163d Infantry Regiment, Montana National Guard, and see the Army from the buck private's worm's-eye point of view. Afterward came the years of duty as company, railhead, and construction officer with the Civilian Conservation Corps (Old Army shavetails 'knew nothing and did everything') and a civilian interlude as a high school biology teacher.
In 1940, President Roosevelt having, evinced an urgent need of my assistance, I returned to active duty as an ROTC instructor at Oregon State College. Then there was the 71st Armoured Field Artillery Battalion; the Armoured School at Fort Knox; Combat Command B, 8th Armoured Division (Rhineland, Ardennes, Alsace, and Central Europe campaigns); 24th Field Artillery Battalion and the Philippine Scouts.
With the Cold War beginning to hot up in 1948, I was recalled and assigned to the Armed Forces Information school and my service there earned me the nomination to the Military Academy.
In those days instructors came for a 3-year tour. You were given a set of textbooks, a look at the reference library, a couple of demonstration lessons by experienced instructors, and then loosed upon the cadets. Military Art was a popular subject, cadets recognising it as the sharp point of their professional schooling and Colonel Esposito picked his instructors carefully.
Having been interested since boyhood in military history, especially that of the Napoleonic Wars, I had read extensively, and so was better prepared than the average new instructor. The West Point Library was a treasury of original material, mostly accumulated during the previous century. I really looted it - and learned from my continuing self-education that I knew less than I thought I did, and that some of the things I thought I knew were not so.
In 1954 my turn for overseas duty came up. I hoped for - finally - the command of a tank battalion, but found myself in the 5-2 (Intelligence) Division of the Far East Command. That. undoubtedly, was better, training me in high-level staff planning and function.
When the Far East Command was deactivated in 1957, Colonel Esposito reclaimed me. After the success of the West Point Atlas of American Wars, with its novel integrated map-and-text format, I suggested the development of a similar Napoleonic text. The Napoleonic Wars had always fascinated me - the scale and duration of the conflict, and the drama - as they were probably the last major 'cavalry war'. Also the unique figure of Napoleon as their central character. Read Fain's memoirs and Marchand's account (recently translated by Proctor Jones) for the human side of the emperor. As for Napoleon's own commanders, they too were a colourful bunch. Probably the best were Massena, Davout and Suchet. The worst were Oudinot, Murat and, after 1809 - Macdonald.
The basic research and writing of the A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars were my responsibility; Colonel Esposito edited my work. It was a demanding task more-than-patient Ann sometimes murmured about being the last widow of the Napoleonic wars. It was, however, more than satisfying.
My last active service, 1965-8, was as the G-2 of the Washington Military District. Those were the happy days of Vietnam War protests and the 'siege' of the Pentagon, requiring the conversion of the District from a 'place where old elephants go to die' to a heads-up tactical headquarters.
Thereafter, in 1968 I 'hung up my sword and shield' here beside the Hudson River, and have continued to study war.
My military service certainly helped in this study. A military historian who has never been part of an army can't know how armies operate - unless you've had the energising experience of being shot at, you can hardly describe the experience. Even peacetime service is educational.
For civilian, would-be military historians at least treat yourself to a night march, without lights, on a strange and bad road in heavy rain - after fasting for 24 hours and having gone without sleep for 48. Average 3 miles an hour; next morning, try starting a fire with wet, green wood to make coffee - if you can find water for it. Do this carrying 60 pounds of pack and assorted hardware. Keep it up for several days, sleeping for short snatches, eating mostly cold food you carry with you, working out your route from an out-of-date map.
Popular interest in Napoleon and his times has varied through these past two centuries, but always was strong enough to support the publication of serious works such as Sir Charles Oman' s A History of the Peninsular War (1 902-1 93 0, reprinted 1 995-1 997); Theodore A. Dodge's Napoleon (1904); Ramsay W. Phipps' The Armies of the First French Republic (1935-1939); and John C. Ropes' The First Napoleon (1886) and The Campaign of Waterloo (1892). However these last thirty-odd years since the first printing of A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars have seen a world-wide explosion of interest in all aspects of the Napoleonic era. There is a Napoleon club in India; my foreign correspondents have included the official painter to the French Army, an officer in the Gendarmerie Nationale, a German author, a Dutch curator, a Finnish metallurgist, a Spanish artist, English and Canadian historians, an Italian businessman, a retired Japanese diplomat, and the lady librarian of a Chilean seminary.
It is doubtful that any other man has ever inspired such an outpouring of books and related literature. The number of writers on the Napoleonic period has generally increased; it would be too flattering to say the number of historians. There has been an explosion of pot-boiler scribblers, especially in England, since it became evident that Americans would buy anything with 'Napoleon' in the title. If you own Schom's or Hamilton-Williams' books, use them for kindling, compost, or other fitting dispositions. More work still needs to be done, for example, on the northern flank - the Norwegian defence against Sweden. Also logistics especially 1812 - as there are more indications that more was attempted, or done, during the retreat than stated in existing histories.
If you can, to get a good idea of military life in the Napoleonic period, go back to the original accounts of the soldiers themselves. No single one would suffice. I would recommend Amiel; Barres, who gives a matter-of-fact account of much service honourably performed; Blot, Elzear Blaze, who provides a cheerful description of French army life; Sebastien Blaze has an excellent description of the war in Spain; Bigarre; Brandt gives a delightful account of his adventures in Spain and Russia; Coignet honestly recounted everything he saw; Fezansac has one of the most interesting - and widely read - memoirs of the period; Larrey brings out the problems faced by the Napoleonic medical officer; Lejeune, who was also an artist of talent; Marbot had wonderful old-soldier stories and was an excellent soldier; Noel, an artillery officer; Parquin; and Pils. And that is just for starters . . .
And what would Napoleon have made of all this attention? He would have been pleased, as an approval of his aims (he once said something like 'immortality is the memory we leave in the minds of men), and proud, as an attestation of his place among mankind. But also he would have viewed it with a touch of that ironic humour with which he could see himself and his fortunes.
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Colonel Elting, who has just