Lt. General Marquis Alain de Mylcandonai,
I look forward to your able assistance in bringing the army teh
success we all want. Your efforts up to now have certainly not been in
vain, and your willingness to put the militay's needs above your own stands
as another indication of your noble devotion to our country. If there is
ever anything I can do to be of assitance to you, please feel free to let
me know.
Yours,
Lt. General Baron Soire de Success
At 06:06 PM 3/12/01 +0000, Paul Vernon Lydiate wrote:
>Lt. General Marquis Alain de Mylcandonai to
>Lt. General Baron Soire de Success
>Greetings!
>
>Mon Cher Soire,
>
>Congratulations on your promotion to full Lt.General and glowing mention in
>despatches. These, together with those received by Armand, vindicate the
>policies I instituted as Adjutant General as nothing else could do - General
>de La Rochelle was obviously more than happy with your respective
>performances.
>
>It was a great shame to hear about Jacques, of course, despite his being
>reported to have died as bravely as he lived. The Second Division seems to
>be the shakiest of all by far, which is why I intend to take command of it
>personally from July onwards.
>
>As to why I was not commanding the Cavalry Division, as planned, last
>month - it's down to those damned bureaucrats at Army HQ again. When I
>submitted my Divisional Command appointments I was told that these must be
>must be appointed in strict order laid down by precedent. This meant that if
>I had appointed myself to the Cavalry Division I would, technically, no
>longer have been in a position to appoint yourself to the First or Armand to
>the Frontier!!! I did all I could to instill some sense into these
>nincompoops - but to no avail. (There are rumours that their intransigence
>was encouraged by a Senior Minister with a poor grasp of military realities,
>but nothing concrete on this as yet).
>
>As you may imagine, Mon Ami, this left me in something of a quandry. Since I
>had no doubt that either Brigadier de Wich or Brigadier d'Armagnac (both
>excellent commanders, of course) would step in to take command of the
>Cavalry Division if I myself was unable to do so, I thought it best to
>forego my own command in the interests of ensuring that all the other
>Divisions were equally well-officered. Consequently, I was forced to kick my
>heels in Paris all month and it looks as though you will receive your
>General's baton long before I do.
>
>Anyway, I now have a commission to command the Second Division duly signed
>and sealed by His Majesty - and none of those pettifogging bureacrats dare
>argue with _that_! No power on earth will prevent me from joining you at the
>front for the final months of the campaign.
>
>Amitiès,
>
>Alain
