Hi John, yes, I would agree that the worst that can be fairly said about Percival is that his generalship was pedantic and unimaginative (and occasionaly downright stupid - like not commencing work on defences because it would be 'Bad for morale'), and that Bennett's flight was at best ill advised, but that shouldn't detract from eithers achievments or their mens' performance. It's interesting to speculate what might have been if Wavell had been given overall command earlier. As so often in these situations it seems as if a main contributory factor in a military disaster was the political infighting within the army to discredit men like Wavell and Auchinleck who had the temerity to win battles by abandoning the 'approved' structural approach.

Pete M