When Sir Henry Wilson when he was head of the Army Staff College at Camberley asked Marshal Foch, who at that time very influentially ran the French Ecole Superieure de la Guerre (where he pushed the suicidal doctrine of all attack by infantry) “What would you say is the smallest British military force that would be of practical assistance to you?”, Foch replied, “One single private soldier – and we would take good care that he was killed”. It was Britain’s commitment, the Royal Navy and her wealth, that mattered to France, not the 6 divisions of the BEF that mattered to France.